THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 

From  the  collection  of 
JULIUS  DOEP^JER,  Chicago 
Purchased,  1918. 

V./ 


THE 

ANCIENT  HISTORY 


OF  THE 

EGYPTIANS,  CARTHAGINIANS 
ISSYRIANS,  BABYLONIANS,  ME  DBS  AND  PERSIANS, 
MACEDONIANS   AND  GRECIANS. 

BIT  CHARLES  ROLLIN^ 

L«tc  Principal  of  the  University  of  Paris,  Professor  of  Eloquenct  Is 
the  Royal  College,  and  Mennber  of  the  Royal  Ar.ademy 
of  Inscriptions  and  Belles  Lettres. 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  FRENCH. 


IN  FOUR  VOLUMES. 
VOLUME  1. 


FROM   THE   LATEST   LONDON  EDITIOM, 

CAREFULLY  REVISED  AND  CORRECTED. 
ILLUSTRATED  WITH  MAPS  OF  ANCIENT  GEOGRAPHY 
ANr>  ENGRAVIaNGS  ADAPTED  TO  THE  WORK!. 


NEW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED  BY  LEAVITT  &  ALLEN, 
27  DEY  STREET. 
185*3. 


UlRKCTIONS  FOR  THE  BINDER 

VOLUME  1. 

f^TE  1.  Head  of  Rollin,  to  face  

2.  Vignette  Title— Joseph  bought,  &c      .  • 

3.  View  of  Alexandria,  to  face  page      .      •  • 

4.  Carthage,  

5.  Syria,  

6.  Babylon,  

VOLUME  IL  .  ..^ 

7.  Syracuse,  to  face  

8.  7ignette  Title — Xerxes  commands,  kc. 

VOLUME  IIL 

9.  Phoenicia,  to  face 

10.  Vignette  Title — Alexander's  entrance,  &c. 

VOLUME  IV. 

11.  Egypt,  to  face  •  • 

12.  Vignette  Title— A  Colossal,  &c  &e. 


TO  THE  PUBLIC. 


To  attempt  any  laboured  panegyric  of  an  author  of  so  distinguished  celebrity 
'd%  RoLLiN,  would  be  an  arduous  as  well  as  superfluous  undertaking. 

His  profound  erudition,  the  benevolence  of  his  intentions,  but  above  all,  the 
piety  of  his  sentiments,  which  clash  with  no  sect  or  party  among  Christians, 
have  already  placed  him  high  in  the  annals  of  fame,  and  have  procured  his 
writings  an  universal  perusal. 

A  peculiar  felicity  has  attended  Rollin  as  an  author. — His  various  perform 
ances  have  not  only  been  perused  with  avidity  by  the  public  at  large;  they 
have  also  merited  the  applause  of  the  learned  and  ingenious. — Writers  of  the 
most  enlightened  and  of  the  most  refined  taste  in  polite  literature,  such  as  Vol- 
taire, Atterbury,  &c.  have  honoured  him  with  the  highest  and  most  deserved 
encomiums. 

So  various  is  onr  author's  information,  and  so  consummate  his  knowledge  in 
every  subject  which  occupied  his  pen,  that,  viewing  him  in  this  light,  we 
would  be  ready  to  imagine  he  had  seldom  stirred  abroad  from  the  studious 
and  cloistered  retirement  of  a  college;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  when  we  con- 
sider the  easy  elegance  for  which  his  style  is  so  remarkable,  we  are  apt  tc 
conclude,  that  he  past  part  of  his  lime  in  courts. 

A  circiimstance  which  reflects  the  highest  honour  upon  this  author,  is  his 
uncommon  modesty.  Learning,  which  too  often  elates  the  mind,  and  pro- 
duces a  haughty  air  of  superiority,  had  no  such  effect  on  Rollin. — This  great 
man,  so  far  from  delivering  his  sentiments  in  a  dictatorial  tone,  ever  speaks  ia 
terms  the  most  unassuming. 

No  preceptor  ever  studied  so  carefully  the  genms  and  dispositions  of  youth, 
or  adapted  his  information  so  successfully  for  their  improvement,  as  our  au- 
thor. In  all  his  works,  it  is  not  the  pedagogue  who  instructs,  but  the  fond  pa 
rent — the  amiable  friend. 


465144 

• 


APPROBATION. 


Paris,  Seftember  3,  1729. 
1  HAVE  read,  by  order  of  the  lord-keeper,  a  manuscript,  entitled,  The  An- 
cient History  of  the  Egyptians,  Carthaginians,  Assyrians,  Babylonians,  Medes, 
Persians,  Macedonians,  and  Greeks,  &c.  In  this  work  appear  the  same  prin- 
ciples of  religion,  of  probity,  and  the  same  happy  endeavours  to  improve  the 
minds  of  youth,  which  are  so  conspicuous  in  all  the  writings  of  this  author. 
The  present  wofk  is  not  confined  merely  to  the  instruction  of  young  people, 
but  may  be  of  service  to  all  persons  in  general,  who  will  now  have  an  opportu- 
nity of  reading,  in  their  native  tongue,  a  great  number  of  curious  events,  which 
before  were  known  to  few  except  the  learned. 

Seccussp 


A  LETTER, 


Written  by  the  Right  Reverend  Dr.  Francis  AxxERBURr ;  late  Lord  BisHor 

of  Rochester  ;  to  M.  Rollin. 


Rev.  atque  Erudittssime  Vir, 
(JuM,  monente  amico  quodam,  qui  juxta  sedes  tuas  habitat,  scirem  te  Parisioa 
revertisse ;  statui  salutatum  te  ire,  ut  primiim  per  valetudinem  liceret.  Id 
officii,  ex  pedum  infirmitate  aliquaadiu  dilatum,  cum  tandem  me  imple^urum 
sperarem,  frustra  fui ;  domi  non  eras.  Restat,  ut  quod  coram  exequi  non  polui, 
scriptis  saltern  literis  praestem ;  tibique  ob  ea  omnia,  quibus  a  te  auctus  sum, 
beneficia,  grates  agam,  quas  habeo  eerie,  et  semper  habiturus  sum,  niaximas. 

Revera  munera  ilia  librorum  nuperis  a  te  annis  editorum  egregia  ac  perho- 
norifica  mihi  visa  sunt.  Multi  enim  facio,  et  te,  vir  prsestantissime,  et  tua 
omnia  qusecunque  in  isto  literarum  genere  perpolita  sunt;  in  quo  quidern  te 
ca3teris  omnibus  ejusmodi  scriptoribus  facile  antecellere,  atque  esse  eundem 
et  dicendi  et  sentiendi  magistrum  optimum,  prorsiis  existimo;  curaque  in  ex- 
colendis  his  studiis  aliquantulum  ipse  et  operae  et  temporis  posuerim,  liberc 
tamen  profiteor  me,  tua  cum  legam  ac  relegam,  ea  edoctum  esse  a  te,  non 
solum  quae  nesciebam  prorsus,  sed  etiam  quae  antea  didicisse  mihi  visus  sum. 
Modeste  itaque  nimium  de  opere  tuo  sentis,  ciim  juventuti  tantiim  instituendae 
elaboratum  id  esse  contendis.  Ea  cert^  scribis,  quae  a  viris  istiusmodi  rerum 
laud  imperitis,  cum  voiuptate  et  fructu  legi  possunt.  Vetera  quidem  et  satis 
cognita  revocas  in  memoriam  ;  sed  ita  revocas,  ut  illustres,  ut  ornes ;  ut  aliquid 
vetustis  adjicias  quod  novum  sit,  alienis  quod  omnino  tuum  :  bonasque  picturas 
bona  m  luce  collocando  efficis,  ut  etiam  iis,  a  quibus  ssepissime  conspectaj  sunt, 
elegantiores  tamen  solito  appareant,  et  placeant  magis. 

Certe,  dum  Xenophontem  saepius  versas,  ab  illo  et  ea  quae  a  te  p'urimis 
in  locis  narrantur,  et  ipsum  ubique  narrandi  modum  videris  traxisse,  stylique 
Xenophontei  nitorum  ac  venustam  simplicitatem  non  imitari  tantiim,  sed  plane 
assequi :  ita  ut  si  Gallice  scisset  Xenophon,  non  aliis  ilium,  in  eo  argumento 
quod  tractas,  verbis  usurum,  non  alio  prorsiis  more  scripturum  judicem. 

Haec  ego,  baud  assentandi  causa  (quod  vitiumprocul  a  me  abest,)  sed  vere  ex 
animi  sententia  dico.  Cum  enim  pulchris  a  te  donis  ditatus  sim,  quibus  in  eo- 
dem,  aut  in  alio  quopiam  doctrinae  genere  referendis  imparem  me  senlio,  volui 
tamen  propensi  erga  te  animi  gratique  testimonium  proferre,  et  te  aliquo  sal- 
tem  munusculo,  etsi  perquam  dissimili,  remunerari. 

Perge,  vir  docte  admodiim  et  venerande,  de  bonis  literis,  quae  nunc  ne- 
glectae  passim  et  spretae  jacent,  ben^  mereri ;  perge  juventutem  Gallicam 
(quando  illi  solummodo  te  utilem  esse  vis)  optimis  et  praeceptis  et  exemplis 
informare. 

Q,uod  ut  facias,  annis  aetatis  tuae  elapsis  multos  adjiciat  Deus!  iisque  decur- 
rentibns  sanum  te  praestet  atque  incolumem.    Hoc  ex  animo  optat  ac  vovet, 

Tui  observantissimus, 

Franciscus  Roffensi*. 

Pransurum  te  mecum  post  festa  dixit  mihi  amicus  ille  noster  qui  tibi  vicinai 
«st.  Cuni  statueris  tecum  quo  die  adfuturus  es,  id  illi  significabis.  Me  eerie 
4nnis  malisque  debilitatum,  quandocunque  veneris,  domi  invenies, 

6-  Kal.  Jan.  1731. 


TRANSLATION  OF  THE  FOREGOING  LETTER. 


Reverend  and  most  Learned  Sir, 

When  I  was  iaformed  by  a  friend  who  lives  near  you,  that  you  were  return 
ed  to  Paris,  I  resolved  to  wait  on  you,  as  soon  as  the  state  of  my  health  would 
ermit.  After  having  been  prevented  by  the  gout  for  some  time,  I  was  ia 
opes  at  length  of  paying  my  respects  to  you  at  your  house,  and  went  thither, 
but  you  were  not  at  home.  It  is  incumbent  on  me,  therefore,  to  do  fiiat  in 
writing,  which  I  could  not  in  person,  and  to  return  you  my  acknowledgments 
for  all  the  favours  you  have  been  pleased  to  confer  upon  me,  of  which,  I  beg 
you  will  be  assured,  that  I  shall  always  retain  the  most  grateful  sense. 

And  indeed  I  esteem  the  books  you  have  lately  published,  as  piesents  of 
exceeding  value,  and  such  as  do  me  very  great  honour.  For  I  have  the  high- 
est regard,  most  excellent  sir,  both  for  you  and  for  every  thing  that  comes 
from  so  masterly  a  hand  as  yours,  in  the  kind  of  learning  you  treat ;  in  which 
I  must  believe  that  you  not  only  excel  all  other  writers,  but  are  at  the  same 
time  the  best  master  of  speaking  and  thinking  well;  and  I  freely  confess,  that 
though  I  had  applied  some  time  and  pains  in  cultivating  these  studies,  when 
1  read  your  volumes  over  and  over  again,  I  was  instructed  in  things  by  you, 
of  which  I  was  not  only  entirely  ignorant,  but  seemed  to  myself  to  have  learned 
before.  You  have  therefore  too  modest  an  opinion  of  your  work,  when  you 
declare  it  composed  solely  for  the  instruction  of  youth.  What  you  write  may 
undoubtedly  be  read  with  pleasure  and  improvement,  by  persons  not  unac- 
quainted with  learning  of  the  same  kind.  For,  while  you  call  to  mind  an- 
cient facts,  and  things  sufficiently  known,  you  do  it  in  such  a  manner,  that  you 
illustrate,  you  embellish  them ;  still  adding  something  new  to  the  old,  some- 
thing entirely  your  own  to  the  labours  of  others ;  by  placing  good  pictures  in 
a  good  light,  you  make  them  appear  with  unusual  elegance  and  more  exalted 
Ixeauties,  even  to  those  who  have  seen  and  studied  them  most. 

In  your  frequent  correspondence  with  Xenophon,  you  have  certainly  ex- 
tracted from  him,  both  what  you  relate  in  many  places,  and  every  where  his 
very  manner  of  relating ;  you  seem  not  only  to  nave  imitated,  but  attained 
the  shining  elegance  and  beautiful  simplicity  of  that  author's  style ;  so  that, 
had  Xenophon  excelled  in  the  French  language,  in  my  judgment,  he  would 
have  used  no  other  words,  nor  written  in  any  other  method,  upon  the  subject 
you  treat,  than  you  have  done. 

I  do  not  say  this  out  of  flattery,  which  is  far  from  being  my  vice,  but  from 
my  real  sense  and  opinion.  As  you  have  enriched  me  with  your  fine  pre- 
sent*, which  I  know  how  incapable  I  am  of  repaying  either  m  the  same,  or  in 
any  other  kind  of  learning,  I  was  willing  to  testify  my  gratitude  and  affection 
for  you,  and  at  least  to  make  you  some  small,  though  exceedingly  unequal  return. 

Go  on,  most  learned  and  venerable  sir,  to  deserve  well  of  sound  literature, 
which  now  lies  universally  neglected  and  despised.  Go  on  in  forming  the 
youth  of  France,  since  you  will  have  their  utility  to  be  your  sole  view,  upon 
th  ^  best  precepts  and  examples. 

Which  that  you  may  effect,  may  it  please  God  to  add  many  years  to  your 
lile,  and  during  the  course  of  them  to  preserve  you  in  health  and  safety.  This 
is  the  earnest  wish  and  prayer  of 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

Francis  Roffen. 

P.  S.  Our  friend,  your  neighbour,  tells  me  you  mtend  to  dme  with  me  after 
the  holidays.  When  you  have  fixed  upon  the  day,  be  pleased  to  let  him  know 
it.  Whenever  you  come,  you  will  cei  ainly  find  one,  so  weak  with  age  and 
ills  as  I  am,  at  home. 


I 


CONTENT8 


INTRODUCTION. 

t  ill,  Utility  of  Profane  History,  especially  with  regard  to  Religion,       .  16 

Of  Government,   23 

Geogiaphy  of  Asia,       .      ....       .      .      .      .       •  27 

Of  Religion,      .       .       .      .      i  'i  Bi  i    .....  29 

Of  the  Feasts,      .      .      •       .   30 

The  Panathenea,   30 

Feasts  of  Bacchus,   32 

The  Feasts  of  Eleusis,       .........  33 

Of  Auguries,  Oracles,  &c  ,       .      .  io 

Of  Auguries,   36 

Of  Oracles,   37 

Of  the  Games  and  Combats,     ........  43 

Of  the  Athletae,  or  combatants,     .      .   46 

Of  Wrestling,   47 

Of  Boxing,  or  the  Cestus,     .      .      .      •      .      ....  49 

Of  the  Pancratium,    ....      .      .....  49 

Of  the  Discus,  or  Quoit,       .   50 

Of  the  Pentathlum,   50 

Of  Races,   51 

Of  the  foot-Race,      ..........  51 

\  Of  the  Horse-Races,   52 

Of  the  Chariot-Races,   52 

Of  the  Honours  and  Rewards  granted  to  the  Victors,  ....  55 
jThe  different  Taste  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  in  regard  to  the  Public 

Shows,   57 

Of  the  Prizes  of  Wit,  and  the  Shows  and  Representations  of  the  Theatre,  58 
Extraordinary  passion  of  the  Athenians  for  the  Entertainments  of  the  Stage. 

Emulation  of  the  Poets  in  disputing  the  Prizes  of  those  Representations. 

A  short  Idea  of  Dramatic  Poetry,   59 

The  Origin  and  Progress  of  Tragedy.  Poets  who  excelled  in  it  at  Athens : 

jEschylus,  Sophocles,  and  Euripides,   61 

Of  the  Ancient,  Middle  and  New  Comedy,   67 

The  Theatre  of  the  Ancients  described,     ......  72 

Fondness  for  the  Representations  of  the  Theatre  one  of  the  Principal  causes 

of  the  Decline,  Degeneracy,  and  Corruption  of  the  Athenian  State,    .  75 

Epochs  of  the  Jewish  History,   80 

 Roman  History,       .   80 

The  Origin  and  Condition  of  the  Elotae,  or  Helots,    ....  81 

Lycurgus,  the  Lacedaemcwtiian  Lawgiver,      .      .      .      .      .      .  82 

War  between  the  Argives  and  the  Lacedaemonians,  ....  82 

Wars  between  the  Messenians  and  Lacedaemonians,    ....  83 

The  First  Messenian  War,   83 

The  Second  Messenian  War,       ....••«  .86 

The  kingdom  of  Egypt,  •      •      •  90 

 Syria,   91 

—  Macedonia,   ...            •      .      •      •  91 

 Thrace,  and  Bithynia,  &c.             ....  92 


8  CONTENTS. 

Kings  of  Biihynia,  <             •      .      *  ^ . 

 Pergamus,          •      •      •      •      •             •             •  92 

 Pontus,   •  .93 

 Cappadocia^  •      •             .  93 

 Armenia,   .94 

 Epirus,   94 

Tyrants  of  Heraclea,    »       .      .      •   95 

'Kings  of  Syracuse,    ^6 

Other  Kings,                                                               .       .       ,  9G 

BOOK  I. 

THE  ANCIENT  HISTORY  OF  THE  EGYPTIANS. 

PART  I. 

Description  of  Egypt,  with  an  account  of  whatever  is  most  curious 

and  remarkable  in  that  country,        .......  97 

Chap.  1.  Thebais,     .       .       .   97 

 II.  Middle  Egypt,  or  Heptanomis,   98 

Sect.   1.  The  Obelioks,   99 

 11.  The  Pyramids,  '    .  100 

 III.  The  Labyrinth,   101 

 IV.  The  Lake  of  Moeris,   102 

 V.  The  Inundations  of  the  Nile,   102 

1.  The  Sources  of  the  Nile,   103 

2.  The  Cataracts  of  the  Nile,   103 

3.  Causes  of  the  Inundations  of  the  Nile,   104 

4.  The  time  and  continuance  of  the  inundations,       ....  104 

5.  The  Height  of  the  inundations,   104 

6.  The  Canals  of  the  Nile,  and  Spiral  Pumps,   105 

7.  The  Fertility  caused  by  the  Nile,   106 

8.  The  different  Prospects  exhibited  by  the  Nile,       .       .       .       .  107 

9.  The  Canal  formed  by  the  Nile,  by  which  a  communication  is  made 
between  the  Two  Seas,      .       .   107 

Chap.  III.  Lower  Egypt,   107 

PART  IL 

|0f  the  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Egyptians,    .       .       .      .  ,110 

'Chap.  1.  Concerning  the  Kings  and  Government,     .       .       .       .  110 

—  11.  Concerning  the  Priests  and  Religion  of  the  Egyptians,  .       .  114 

Sect.  I.  The  worship  of  the  various  Deities,   115 

 II.  The  Ceremonies  of  the  Egyptian  Funerals,    .       .       .  .118 

Chap.  III.  Of  the  Egyptian  Soldiers  and  war,   12G 

 IV.  Of  their  Arts  and  Sciences,         .       .       .       .       .       •  121 

 ^V.  Of  their  Husbandmen,  Shepherds,  and  Artificers,       .       .  122 

 VI.  Of  the  Fertility  of  Egypt,   124 

PART  in. 

The  History  of  the  Kings  of  Egypt,   128 

The  Kings  of  Egypt,    .......             .      .  129 

Twelve  Kings,                                          ...             .  139 

BOOK  II. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  CARTHAGINIANS. 
PART  I. 

Character^  Manners,  Religion,  and  Government  of  the  Carthaginians,  14S 

Btcv  I,  Canhage  formed  after  the  Model  of  Tyre,       .      .      .      .  1 4fr 


CONTENTS.  9 

Sect.    II.  The  Religion  of  the  Carthaginians,       .      .       .       •  .150 

 III.  F  orm  of  the  Government  of  Carthage,             •       .       .  153 

The  SufTetes,   153 

The  Senate,   154 

The  People,   154 

The  Tribunal  of  the  Hundred,   154 

Defects  in  the  Government  of  Carthage,   155 

Sect.  IV.  Trade  of  Carthage,  the  first  source  of  its  Wealth  and  Pov;^er.  15G 

 V.  The  Mines  of  Spain,  the  second  source  of  the  Riches  and 

Power  of  Carthage,   157 

 VL  War,   158 

 VII.  Arts  and  Sciences,   160 

 VIII.  The  Character,  Manners,  and  Qualities  of  the  Carthaginians,  162 

PART  IL 

The  History  of  the  Carthaginians,   163 

Chap.  I.  The  Foundation  of  Carthage,  and  its  Progress  till  the  time  of 

the  first  Punic  War,   164 

Conquests  of  the  Carthaginians  in  Africa,   165 

 Sardinia,  &c        .       .       •       .  166 

 Spain,      ......  167 

 Sicily,   168 

Chap.  II.  The  History  of  Carthage,  from  the  first  Punic  War  to  its 

Destruction,   185 

Article  I. 

The  first  Punic  War,        .........  186 

The  Libyan  War,  or  War  against  the  Mercenaries,      ....  197 

Article  H. 

The  Second  Punic  War,   203 

The  remote  and  more  immediate  Causes  of  the  Second  Punic  War,      .  204 

War  proclaimed,   207 

The  beginning  of  the  Second  Punic  War,   208 

Passage  of  the  Rhone,                                               ...  209 

The  March  after  the  Battle  of  the  Rhone,     ......  210 

The  Passage  over  the  Alps,   211 

Hannibal  enters  Italy,   213 

Battle  of  the  Cavalry  near  the  Ticinus,   213 

Battle  of  Trebia,                                                                        .  215 

Battle  of  Thrasymene,   217 

Hannibal's  conduct  with  respect  to  Fabi  IS,   219 

The  state  of  Affairs  in  Spain,   221 

The  Battle  of  Cannee,   221 

Hannibal  takes  up  his  Winter-quarters  in  Capua,      ....  225 

The  Transactions  relating  to  Spain  and  Sardinia,  .....  226 

The  ill  success  of  Hannibal.    The  Sieges  of  Capua  and  Rome,  .      .  227 

The  Defeat  and  Death  of  the  two  Scipios  in  Spain,       ....  228 

 Asdrubal,                                             .  228 

Scipio  conquers  all  Spain.    Is  appointed  Consul,  and  sails  into  Africa. 

Hannibal  is  recalled,   230 

The  Interview  between  Hannibal  and  Scipio  in  Africa,  followed  by 

a  Battle,   232 

A  Peace  concluded  between  the  Carthaginians  and  the  Romans.  The 

end  of  the  Second  Punic  War,                                            .       .  234 

A  short  Reflection  on  the  Governmen  of  Carthage  in  the  time  of  the 

Second  Punic  War,   236 


10 


CONTENTS. 


The  interval  between  the  Second  and  Third  Punic  Wars,     .      •      .  236 

Sect.  I.  Continuation  of  the  History  of  Hannibal,  '  .  .  •  .  236 
Hannibal  undertakes  and  completes  the  reformation  of  the  Courts  of 

Justice,  and  the  Treasury  of  Carthage,   237 

The  Retreat  and  Death  of  Hannibal,   238 

The  Character  and  Eulogium  of  Hannibal,   242 

Sect.  n.  Dissensions  between  the  Carthaginians  and  Masinissa,  King  of 

Numidia,     .       .       .      •   244 

Article  HI. 

The  Third  Punic  War,  .       .      -   248 

A  digression  on  the  Manners  and  Character  of  the  Second  Scipio  Africanus,  260 

The  History  of  the  Family  and  Posterity  of  Masinissa,      .       .  264 

BOOK  III. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  ASSYRIANS. 

Chap.  1.  The  First  Empire  of  the  Assyrians,  .  271 
Sect.  1.  Duration  of  that  Empire,      .      •      .  .271 

1.  The  Walls,      ........  -  275 

2.  The  Quays  and  Bridges,   276 

3.  The  Lake,  Ditches,  and  Canals,  made  for  the  draining  ol  the  river,  276 

4.  The  Palaces  and  the  hanging  Gardens,  .       .       .       .       •      .  277 

5.  The  Temple  of  Belus,      .       .       .   278 

Chap.  n.  The  Second  Assyrian  Empire,  both  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  283 

Kings  of  Babylon,   284 

 Nineveh,   284 

Chap.  rn.  The  History  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Medes,  .      .      .      .  292 

Lydians,   299 

BOOK  IV. 

THE  FOUNDATION  OF  THE  EMPIRE  OF  THE  MEDES  AND  PERSIANS,  BY  CYRUS, 

Containing  the  Reigns  of 

CYRUS,  CAMBYSES,  AND  SMERDIS  THE  MAGIAN. 

Chap.  J.  The  History  of  Cyrus,    ....      .       .      .      •  307 

Article  I. 

The  History  of  Cyrus,  from  his  Infancy  to  the  Siege  of  Babylon,       .  308 

Sect.  I.  Education  of  Cyrus,  .       .    '  .       .       .       ...       .  308 

 n.   Journey  of  Cyrus  to  his  Grandfather  Astyages,  and  his  return 

into  Persia,   309 

 in.  The  First  campaign  of  Cyrus,  who  goes  to  succour  his  Uncle 

Cyaxares  against  the  Babylonians,   331 

 IV.  The  Expedition  of  Cyaxares  and  Cyrus  against  the  Babylo- 
nians.   The  first  Battle,   318 

 ^V.  The  Battle  of  Thymbria,  between  Cyrus  and  CroBSUs,    .       .  326 

 VI.  The  Taking  of  Sardis  and  of  CrcEsus,   333 

Article  II. 

The  History  of  the  Besieging  and  Taking  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus,    .       .  335 

Sect.  I.  Predictions  of  the  Principal  Circumstances  relating  to  the  Siege 
and  the  Taking  of  Babylon,  as  they  are  set  down  in  different 

places  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,   335 

1.  The  PredicMon  of  the  Jewish  Capti  nty  at  Babvlon,  and  the  Time 

of  its  Duration,   336 

8.  Th«  Caus«8  of  God's  Wrath  against  Babylou,      ....  336 


CONTENTS.  11 

rig*. 

3.  The  Decree  pronounced  agaitjst  Babylon.    Prediction  of  the  calami- 

ties  that  were  to  fall  upon  her,  and  of  her  utter  Destruction,    .      .  336 

4.  Cyrus  called  to  destroy  Babylon,  and  to  deliver  the  Jews,     .       .  337 

5.  God  gives  the  Signal  to  the  Commanders,  and  to  the  Troops,  to 

march  against  Babylon,                                            .       .       .  337 

3.  Particular  circumstances  set  down,  relating  to  the  Siege,  and  the  taking 

of  Babylon,    338 

Sect.  II.  A  description  of  the  Taking  of  Babylcto,        ....  340 

 III.  The  Completion  of  the  Prophecy  which  foretold  the  total  Ruin 

and  destruction  of  Babylon,  •  342 

 IV.  What  followed  upon  the  taking  of  Babylon,    .      •      .      •  344 

Article  III. 

The  History  of  Cyrus,  from  the  taking  of  Babylon  to  the  time  of  his 

death,   348 

Sect.  I.  Cyrus  takes  a  Journey  into  Persia.    At  his  Return  from  thence 

to  Babylon,  he  forms  a  Plan  of  Government  for  the  whole  Empire. 

Daniels  Credit  and  Power,   348 

 II.  The  Beginning  of  the  united  Empire  of  the  Persians  and  Medes. 

The  Famous  Edict  of  Cyrus.    Daniel's  Prophecies,      •      .  350 

Reflections  on  Daniel's  Prophecies,   351 

Sect.  III.  The  last  years  of  Cyrus.^  The  Death  of  that  Prince,        .  354 

Character  and  Eulogy  of  Cyrus,         _  ,  355 

Sect.  IV.  Wherein  Herodotvis^and  Xenophon  differ  in  their  Accounts  of 

Cyrus,  \    .      ^    359 

Chap.  II.  The  History  of  Cambyses,   360 

 III.  The  History  of  ^merdis  the  Magian,        ....  366 

 IV.  The  Manners  ahd  Customs  of  the  Assyrians,  Babylonians, 

LydianSjvM^iis  and  Persians,      .       .       .       .      .       .  369 

Article  I. 

Of  their  Government,   369 

Sect.  I.  Their  Monarchial  Form  of  Government.    The  respect  they 

paid  to  their  Kings.    The  manner  of  Educating  their  Children,  369 

 IT.  The  Public  Council,  wherein  the  affairs  of  State  were  considered,  371 

 -HI.  The  Administration  of  Justice,       ......  373 

 IV.  The  care  of  the  Provinces,                                           .  375 

The  invention  of  Posts  and  Couriers,   378 

Sect.  V.  Administration  of  the  Revenues,   3i80 

Article  II. 

Of  their  War,       .       .       ...   381 

1.  Their  Entering  into  the  Service,  or  into  Military  Discipline,  •      .  381 

2.  Their  Armour,   .381 

3.  Chariots  armed  with  Scythes,   382 

4.  Their  Discipline  in  peace  as  well  as  in  War,   383 

5.  Their  Order  of  Battle,   384 

6.  Their  Manner  of  Attacking  and  Defending  strong  places,  .      •      •  386 

7.  The  condition  of  the  P2rsian  fo*-jes  after  the  time  of  Cyrus,  .      .  387 

Article  III. 

Arts  and  Sciences,   38'i 

Sect.  1.    Architecture,      .      .    3f/9 

 II.  Music,   ...             .      .      .      .      .      .      .  339 

 HI.  Physic,      .      .   390 

 IV.  Astronomy,   .      •    392 

 V,  Judic'  ftl  Aatrolo^,                  ......  993 


VZ  CONTENT* 


Article  IV. 


tleligion,   39- 

Their  Marriages  and  Manner  of  Burying  the  Dead,    .       .       .       ,  39S 

Article  V. 

The  cause  of  the  Deciension  of  the  Persian  Empire,  and  cf  the  change 

p     that  happened  in  their  Manners,       .   400 

Sect.  L    Luxury  and  Magnificence,    400 

 11.  The  abject  Submission  and  Slavery  of  the  Persians,       .  402 

 — Wv-4'4ie  wrong  Education  of  their  Princes,  another  cause  of  the 

Declension  of  the  Persian  Empire,      ....  404 
 IV.  Their  breach  of  Faith,  or  want  of  sincerity,    .      .      .  40.'> 

BOOK  V. 

THE   HISTORY    OF  THE  ORIGIN    AND   SETTLEMENT   OF   THE   SEVERAL  STATES 
AND  GOVERNMENTS  OF  GREECE. 

Art.  I.  A  Geographical  description  of  Ancient  Greece,     .      .      ,  407 

The  Grecian  Isles,  .409 

Art.  II.  Division  of  the  Grecian  History  into  four  several  Ages,        .  409 

Art.  III.  The  Primitive  Origin  of  the  Grecians,   410 

Art.  IV.  The  different  States  into  which  Greece  was  divided,  .  .  411 
Art.  V.    Colonies  of  the  Greeks  sent  into  Asia  Minor,  .       .      .  .414 

The  Grecian  dialects,   415 

Art.  VL  The  Republican  form  of  Government  almost  generally  estab- 
lished throughout  Greece,      .    '   416 

Art.  VII.  The  Spartan  Government.    Laws  established  by  Lycurgus,  417 

Institution  1.  The  Senate,   418 

 2.  The  division  of  the  Lands,  and  the  prohibition  of  Gold 

and  Silver  Money,   41S 

 3.  Of  Public  Meals,   419 

 4.  Other  Ordinances,   .      .  420 

Reflections  upon  the  Government  of  Sparta,  and  upon  the  Laws  of  Ly- 
curgus,   424 

i.  Things  commendable  in  the  Laws  of  Lycurgus,      ....  424 

1 .  The  nature  of  the  Spartan  Government,        .....  424 

2.  Equal  division  of  the  Lands:  Gold  and  Silver  banished  from  Sparta,  425 
The  excellent  Education  of  their  Youth,   426 

4^  Obedience,   427 

5.  Respect  towards  the  aged,   427 

11.  Defects  in  the  Laws  of  Lycurgus,   427 

K  The  choice  made  of  the  children  that  were  either  to  be  brought  up  or 

exposed,   428 

-"^^s  Their  care  confined  only  to  the  body,   428 

""f^.  Their  barbarous  cruelty  towards  their  Children,    ....  '428 

'i.  The  Mother's  inhumanity,   429 

5.  Their  excessive  Leisure,   429 

6.  Their  cruelty  towards  the  Helots,   429 

7.  Modesty  and  decency  entirely  neglected,  .  ...  429 
Art.  VIII.  The  Government  of  Athens.    The  Laws  of  Solon.  The 

History  of  that  Republic  from  the  time  of  Solon  to  the  Reign 

of  Darius  the  First,   430 

Art.  IX.  Illustrious  Men,  who  distinguished  themselves  in  Arts  and  Sci- 
ences,   •      .      .      .      .  442 

Tkf  Seven  Wise  Men  of  Greece,   447 


fas  tTiLU/  OF  PROFANE  HISTORY,  ESPECIALLY  WITH  REGARD  TO  RKLIQIOX. 

1  HE  study  of  profane  history  would  be  unworthy  of  a  What  is  to  be  obsrrvei 
serious  attention,  and  the  great  length  of  time,  be-  history,  besi.ies  the 
stowed  upon  it,  if  it  were  contined  to  the  bare  knowledge  chronoio^ry. 
of  ancient  transactions,  and  an  unpleasing  inquiry  into  the  eras  \^n  each  of 
these  happened.  It  h'ttle  concerns  us  to  know  that  there  were  once  such  Hier. 
as  Alexander,  Caesar,  Aristides,  or  Cato,  and  that  they  lived  in  this  or  that  pe- 
riod; that  the  empire  of  the  Assyrians  made  way  for  that  of  the  Babylonians, 
and  the  latter  lor  the  empire  of  theMedes  and  Persians,  who  were  themselves 
subjected  by  the  Macedonians,  as  these  were  afterwards  by  the  Romans,  But  it 
h'^hly  concerns  us  to  know  by  what  means  those  em-  i.  The  causes  of  the 
pires  were  founded  ;  the  steps  by  which  they  rose  to  the  ^'^^  empires, 
exalted  pitch  of  grandeur  we  so  much  admire  ;  what  it  was  that  constituted  their 
true  gloiy  and  felicity,  and  what  were  the  causes  of  their  declension  and  fail. 

It  is  of  no  less  importance  to  study  attentively  the  man-    ^.^^^J^^'J  nations  ""'"^ 
ners  of  different  nations  ;  their  genius,  laws,  and  customs ;    thf  ""grL  "  perscns""t£iat 
and  especially  to  acquaint  ourselves  with  the  character   governed  th^m. 
and  disposition,  the  talents,  virtues,  and  even  vices,  of  those  men  by  whom 
they  were  governed ;  and  whose  good  or  bad  qualities  contributed  to  the 
grandeur  or  decay  of  the^  states  over  which  they  presided. 

Such  are  the  great  objects  which  ancient  history  presents ;  exhibiting  to 
our  view  all  the  kingdoms  and  empires  of  the  world;  and  at  the  same  tin  e, 
all  the  great  men  who  are  any  way  conspicuous;  thereby  instructing  us,  hy 
example  rather  than  precept,  in  the  arts  of  empire  and  war,  the  principles  of 
government,  the  rules  of  policy,  the  maxims  oi  civil  society,  and  the  conduct 
of  life  that  suits  all  ages  and  conditions. 

We  acquire,  at  the  same  time,  another  knowledge,  re«Tf-rtsSiLdeVc'T 
i^hich  cannot  but  excite  the  attention  of  all  persons  who  ^^^"^  arsan  sciene-  s 
have  a  taste  and  inclination  for  polite  learning ;  I  mean,  the  manner  in  which 
arts  and  sciences  were  invented,  cultivated,  and  improved ;  we  there  discover 
and  trace,  as  it  were  with  the  eye,  their  origin  and  progress  ;  and  perceive 
with  admiration,  that  the  nearer  we  approach  those  countries  which  were  once 
inhabited  by  the  sons  of  Noah,  in  the  greater  perfection  we  find  the  arts  and 
sciences;  and  that  they  seem  to  be  either  neglected  or  forgotten,  in  proportion 
to  the  remoteness  of  nations  from  them  ;  so  that,  when  men  attempted  to  revive 
those  arts  and  sciences,  they  were  obliged  to  go  back  to  the  source  from 
fvhence  they  originally  flowed. 

I  give  only  a  transient  view  of  these  objects,  though  so  very  important,  in 
this  place ;  because  I  have  already  treated  them  with  some  extent  elsewhere,* 

But  another  object,  of  infinitely  greater  importance,      ^  The  observing,  e*- 
claims  our  attention.    For  although  profane  history  treats   £euv«n\acred  Tnd 
onl^  of  nations  who  had  imbibed  all  the  chimeras  of  a    fane  history, 
tuperstitious  worship,  and  abandoned  themselves  to  all  the  irregularities  of 
wrhich  human  nature,  after  the  fall  of  the  first  man,  became  capable  ;  it  never- 


Vo!  in.  and  lY  of  the  m«?thoc!  of  leaching:  and  studjios:  th«  Belles  L«ttrea. 


1^  i.NTKoin*i '::<).•>( 

Iheless  proclaims  universally  the  greatness  of  the  Almighty,  his  power,  hii 
justice,  and,  above  all,  the  admirable  wisdom  with  which  his  providence  go* 
verns  the  universe. 

If  the  inherent  conviction  of  this  last  truth  raised,  according  to  Cicero's 
observation,*  the  Romans  above  all  other  nations ;  we  may,  in  like  manner, 
affirm,  that  nothing  gives  history  a  greater  superiority  to  many  other  branches 
of  literature,  than  to  see  in  a  manner  imprinted  in  almost  every  page  of  it,  the 
precious  footsteps  and  shining  proofs  of  this  great  truth,  viz.  that  Gk)d  disposes 
all  events  as  supreme  Lord  and  Sovereign ;  tnat  he  alone  determines  the  fate  oi 
kings  sind  the  duration  of  empires  ;  and  that  he,  for  reasons  inscrutable  to  all 
but  himself,  transfers  the  government  of  kingdoms  from  one  nation  to  another. 

God  presided  at  the  We  discover  this  important  truth  in  going  back  to  the 
jtpersion  of  men,  after   most  rcmotc  antiquit)r,  and  the  origin  of  profane  history ; 

*      '  I  mean  to  the  dispersion  of  the  posterity  of  Noah  into  the 

several  countries  of  the  earth  where  they  settled.  Liberty,  chance,  views  of 
interest,  a  love  for  certain  countries,  and  similar  motives,  were,  in  out- 
ward appearance,  the  only  causes  of  the  different  choice  which  men  made 
in  these  various  migrations.  But  the  Scriptures  inform  us,  that  amidst  the 
trouble  and  confusion  that  followed  the  sudden  change  in  the  language  of 
Noah's  descendants,  God  presided  invisibly  over  all  their  councils  and  de- 
liberations ;  that  nothing  was  transacted  but  by  the  Almighty's  appointment ; 
and  that  he  alone  guided  and  settled  all  mankindt  agreeably  to  the  dic- 
tates of  his  mercy  and  justice.  The  Lord  scattered  them  abroad  from  thence 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth.l 

God  only  hai  fixed  the      We  must  therefore  consider  as  an  indisputable  princi- 
wit'h'^L^plctT'hii  own   P'®'       as  the  basis  and  foundation  to  the  study  of  profane 
people  and  the  reign  of   nistoij,  that  the  providcuce  of  the  Almiffhty  has,  from  all 
s®"-  eternity,  appointed  the  establishment,  duration,  and  de- 

struction of  kingdoms  and  empires,  as  well  in  regard  to  the  general  plan  of 
the  whole  universe,  known  only  to  God,  who  constitutes  the  ordor  dvA  won- 
derful  harmony  of  its  several  parts,  as  particularly  with  respect  to  the  people 
of  Israel,  and  still  more  with  regard  to  the  Messiah,  and  the  establishment  of 
the  church,  which  is  his  great  work,  the  end  and  design  of  all  his  other  works, 
and  ever  present  to  his  sight. — Known  to  the  Lord  are  all  Ms  works  from  the 
beginning.^ 

God  has  vouchsafed  to  discover  to  us  in  holy  Scripture,  a  part  of  the  rela- 
tion of  the  several  nations  of  the  earth  to  his  own  people ;  and  the  little  so 
discovered,  diffuses  great  light  over  the  history  of  those  nations,  of  whom  we 
shall  have  but  a  very  imperfect  idea,  unless  we  have  recourse  to  the  inspired 
vvriters.  They  alone  display,  and  bring  to  light,  the  secret  thoughts  of  princes, 
tVieir  incoherent  projects,  their  foolish  pride,  their  impious  and  cruel  ambition ; 
they  reveal  the  true  causes  and  hidden  springs  of  victories  and  overthrows ;  of 
the  grandeur  and  declension  of  nations  ;  the  rise  and  ruin  of  states  ;  and  teach 
us  ^vhat  judgment  the  Almighty  forms  both  of  princes  and  empires,  and  conse- 
quently, what  idea  we  ourselves  ought  to  entertain  of  them. 

Powerful  kings  ap-  Not  to  mention  Egypt,  that  served  at  first  as  the  cradle 
pointed  to  pmi»h  or  pro-    ^jf  I  may  be  allowed  the  expression)  of  the  holy  nation  ; 

"^'^^  *  and  which  afterwards  was  a  severe  prison,  and  a  fiery  fur- 

•lace  to  it  ;!l  and,  at  last,  the  scene  of  the  most  astonishing  miracles  that  God 
ever  wrought  in  favour  of  Israel :  not  to  mention,  I  say,  Egypt,  the  mighty 
empires  oT  Nineveh  and  Babylon  furnish  a  thousand  proofs  of  the  truth  here 
advanced. 


*  Pietate  ac  religiooe,  atque  hac  una  sapientia  quod  deorum  immortaliLim  numine  omnia  regi  guberna- 
rique  perspeximus,  omnes  g-entes  nationesque  superavimus. — Orat.  de  Arusp.  Resp.  n.  19. 

^  The  ancients  themselves,  according  to  Pirjdar,  (Olymp.  Od.  rii.)  retained  some  idea,  that  the 
dispersion  of  men  was  not  the  effect  of  chance,  but  that  thej  had  been  settled  in  differeat  countries  br  the 
app9iattnt>nt  of  Providence. 

I  Gen.  »i.  8,-9.  }  Acts,  xv.  18. 

|(  I  will  bring  you  out  from  under  the  burdens  of  the  Egyptians,  and  I  will  rid  j^u  •ui  •t  tb»ir  H«adaf «. 
Gxod.  r\.  f     Out  of  tbt  irctrfarm^;  ervoeuta  £g7pt    Deut.  ir.  2(X 


lflTR0DUC110^.  15 

Their  most  powerful  monarchs,  Tiglath-Pilesar,  Salmanazar,  Sennacherib, 
Nebuchadnezzar,  and  many  more,  were  in  God's  hand,  as  so  many  instru- 
ments, which  he  employed  to  punish  the  transgressions  of  his  people.  He 
lifted  up  an  ensign  to  the  nations  from  far^  and  hissed  unto  them  from  the  end 
of  the  earth,  to  come  and  receive  his  orders.*  He  himself  put  tne  sword  into 
fiieir  hands,  and  appointed  their  marches  daily.  He  breathed  courage  and 
ardour  »nto  their  soldiers  :  made  their  armies  mdefatigable  in  labour,  and  in- 
vincible in  battle  ;  and  spread  terror  and  consternation  wherever  they  direct- 
ed their  steps. 

The  rapidity  of  their  conquests  ought  to  have  enabled  them  to  discern  the 
Invisible  hand  that  conducted  them.  But,  says  one  of  these  kings  t  in  the 
name  of  the  rest.  By  the  strength  of  my  hand  I  have  done  it,  and  Sy  my  wis* 
dam ;  for  I  am  jprudent :  And  I  have  removed  the  bounds  of  the  people  and 
have  robbed  their  treasures,  and  I  have  put  down  the  inhabitants  like  a  valiant 
man.  And  my  hand  hath  found  as  a  nest  the  riches  of  the  people  ;  and  at  one 
gathereth  eggs  that  are  left,  h^e  I  gathered  all  the  earth,  and  there  was  none 
Jiat  moved  the  wing,  or  opened  the  mouth  or  peeped,^ 

But  this  monarch,  so  august  and  wise  in  his  own  eye,  how  did  he  appear  in 
that  of  the  Almighty  ?  Only  as  a  subaltern  agent,  a  servant  sent  by  his  mas- 
ter :  The  rod  of  his  anger,  and  the  staff*  in  his  hand.§  God's  design  was  to 
chastise,  not  to  extirpate  his  children.  But  Sennacherib  had  it  in  his  heart 
to  destroy  and  cut  ojf  all  nations, \\  What  then  will  be  the  issue  of  this  kind  of 
contest  between  the  designs  of  God,  and  those  of  this  prince  ?1[  At  the  time 
that  he  fancied  himself  already  possessed  of  Jerusalem,  the  Lord,  with  a  sin- 
gle blast,  disperses  all  his  proud  hopes;  destroys,  in  one  night,  a  hundred 
fourscore  and  five  thousand  of  his  forces  :  and  putting  a  hook  in  his  nose, 
and  a  bridle  in  his  lips^*  (as  though  he  had  been  a  wild  beast,)  he  leads  him 
back  to  his  own  dominions,  covered  with  infamy,  through  the  midst  of  those 
nations,  who,  but  a  little  before,  had  beheld  him  in  all  his  pride  and  haugh- 
tiness. 

Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon,  appears  still  more  visibly  governed  by 
a  Providence,  to  which  he  himself  is  an  entire  stranger,  although  it  presides 
over  all  his  deliberations,  and  determines  all  his  actions. 

Being  come  at  the  hea3  of  his  army  to  two  highways,  the  one  of  which  led 
to  Jerusalem,  and  the  other  to  Rabbah,  the  chief  city  of  the  Ammonites,  this 
king,  not  knowing  which  of  them  would  be  best  for  him  to  strike  into,  debates 
for  sometime  with  himself,  and  at  Ust  casts  lots.tt  God  makes  the  lot  fall  on 
Jerusalem,  to  fulfil  the  menaces  he  had  pronounced  against  that  city ;  viz.  to 
destroy  it,  to  burn  the  temple,  and  lead  its  inhabitants  into  captivity. 

One  would  imagine,  at  first  sight,  that  this  king  had  been  prompted  to  be- 
siege Tyre,  merely  from  a  political  view,  viz.  that  he  might  not  leave  behind 
him  so  powerful  and  well  fortified  a  city ;  nevertheless,  a  superior  will  had 
decreed  the  seij^e  of  Tyre.JJ  God  designed,  on  one  side,  to  humble  the  pride 
of  Ithobal  its  king,  who  fancying  himself  wiser  than  Daniel,  whose  fame  was 
spread  over  the  whole  East ;  and  ascribing  entirely  to  his  rare  and  uncommon 
prudence  the  extent  of  his  dominions,  and  the  greamess  of  his  riches,  persuad 
ed  himself  that  he  was  a  ^od,  and  sat  in  the  seat  of  God,^^ 

On  the  other  side,  he  also  designed  to  chastise  the  luxury,  the  voluptuous- 
ness, and  the  pride  of  those  haughty  merchants,  who  thought  themselves  kingi 
of  the  sea,  and  sovereigns  over  crowned  heads  ;  and  especially  that  inhuman 
joy  of  the  Tyrians,  who  looked  upon  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  (^the  rival  of  Tyre'i 
RS  their  own  aggrandisement.  These  were  the  motives  which  prompted  Goa 
bimself  to  lead  Nebuchadnezzar  to  Tyre ;  and  to  make  him  execute,  though 


♦  Ifai.  r.  26,  30.  x.  28,  34.  xiii.  4,  5.  t  Sennacherib.  t  Isai.  x.  13,  14.  $  Itai  x.  5. 

H  Ibid.  T.  7.  IT  Ibid.  ver.  12. 

BecAut*  thy  raje  against  me,  and  thr  turauit  is  come  up  into  mine  ears,  therefore  I  will  put  my  hook 
(•to  thy  nose,  and  my  bridle  in  thy  lips,  and  I  will  turn  thee  back  by  the  way  by  which  thou  earnest.  5 
C>iiC«,  xU.  2S.  Kr^l^.  xxi.  19,23.  Erek  ««Ti,  xxrii.  xxviii.  Esmk  xxviii  S 


U  fNTRODU'v  "no. N. 

unknowingly,  his  commandfe.  Idcirco  ecce  ego  addi  cam  ad  Tyrum  A'«- 
buchodonosor. 

*  To  recompense  this  monarch,  whose  arm^  the  Almighty  had  causc^d  to 
serve  a  great  service  against  Tyre^  (these  are  God's  own  words  ;)  and  to  com- 
pensate the  Babylonish  troops,  for  the  grievous  toils  they  had  sustained  during 
a  thirteen  years  seige  :  /  will  give,  saith  the  Lord  God,  the  land  of  Egypt 
unto  JS''ehuchadnezzar ,  king  of  Babylon ;  and  he  shall  take  her  multitude^  and 
take  her  spoil,  and  take  her  prey,  and  it  shall  be  the  wages  for  his  arrny.X 

The  same  Nebuchadnezzar,  eager  to  immortalize  his  name  by  the  grandeur 
of  his  exploits,  was  determined  to  heighten  the  glory  of  his  conquests  by  his 
splendour  and  magnificence,  in  embellishing  the  capital  of  his  empire  with 
pompous  edifices,  and  the  most  sumptuous  ornaments.  But  while  a  set  of  adu- 
lating courtiers,  on  whom  he  lavished  the  highest  honours  and  immense  riches, 
make  all  places  resound  with  his  name,  an  august  senate  of  watchful  spirits  is 
formed,  who  weigh,  in  the  balance  of  truth," the  actions  of  kings,  and  pro- 
nounce upon  them  a  sentence  from  which  there  lies  no  appeal.  The  king 
of  Babylon  is  cited  before  this  tribunal,  in  which  there  presides  a  Supreme 
Judge,  who,  to  a  vigilance  which  nothing  can  elude,  adds  a  holiness  that  will 
not  allow  of  the  least  irregularity.  Vigil  et  sanctus.  In  this  tribunal  all  Ne- 
buchadnezzar's actions,  which  were  the  admiration  and  wonder  of  the  public, 
are  examined  with  rigour ;  and  a  search  is  made  into  the  inward  recesses  of 
his  heart,  to  discover  his  most  hidden  thoughts.  How  will  this  formidable  in- 
quiry end?  At  the  instant  that  Nebuchadnezzar,  walking  in  his  pala^^e,  and 
revolving,  with  a  secret  complacency,  his  exploits,  his  grandeur  and  magnifi- 
cence, is  saying  to  himself.  Is  not  mis  great  Babylon  that  I  built  for  the  house 
of  the  kingdom,  by  the  might  of  my  power,  and  for  the  honour  of  my  majesty 
in  this  very  instant,  when,  by  vainly  flattering  himself  that  he  held  his  power 
and  kingdom  from  himself  alone,  he  usurped  the  seat  of  the  Almighty  :  a  voice 
from  heaven  pronounces  his  sentence,  and  declares  to  him,  that,  his  kingdom 
was  departed  from  him,  that  he  should  be  driven  from  men,  and  his  dwelling  be 
with  the  beasts  of  the  field,  until  he  knew  that  the  Most  High  ruled  in  the  king^ 
doms  of  men,  and  gave  them  to  whomsoever  he  would,  \\ 

This  tribu'ial,  which  is  for  ever  assembled,  though  invisible  to  mortal  eyes, 
pronounced  the  like  sentence  on  those  famous  conquerors,  on  those  heroes  of 
the  pagan  world^  who,  like  Nebuchadnezzar,  considered  themselves  as  the 
sole  authors  of  their  exalted  fortune  ;  as  independent  of  authority  of  eveiy 
kind,  and  as  not  holding  of  a  superior  power. 

As  God  appointed  some  princes  to  be  the  instruments  of  his  vengeance,  he 
made  others  the  dispensers  of  his  goodness.  He  ordained  Cyrus  to  be  the 
deliverer  of  his  people  ;  and  to  enable  him  to  support  with  dignity  so  glori- 
ous a  function,  he  endued  him  with  all  the  qualities  which  constitute  the  great- 
est captains  and  princes  ;  and  caused  that  excellent  education  to  be  given  him, 
which  the  heathens  so  much  admired,  though  they  neither  knew  the  author 
Dor  the  true  cause  of  it. 

We  see  in  profane  history  the  extent  and  swiftness  of  his  conqu«;sts,  the  in- 
trepidity of  his  courage,  the  wisdom  of  his  views  and  designs  ;  his  greatness 
of  soul,  his  noble  generosity  ;  his  truly  paternal  affection  for  his  subjects  ;  and, 
in  them,  the  grateful  returns  of  love  and  tend.erness,  which  made  them  con 
Rider  him  rather  as  their  protector  and  father,  than  as  their  lord  and  sovereign. 
We  find,  I  say,  all  these  particulars  in  profane  history  :  but  we  do  not  per- 
ceive the  secret  principle  of  so  many  exalted  qualities,  nor  the  hidden  spring 
which  set  them  in  motion. 

But  Isaiah  affords  us  this  light,  and  delivers  himself  in  words  suitable  to  the 
greatness  and  majesty  of  the  God  who  inspired  him.  He  represents  this  all- 
powerful  God  of  armies  as  leading  Cyrus  by  the  hand,  marcning  before  him, 
conducting  him  from  city  to  city,  ana  from  province  to  province ;  subduing 

m    .11—  I'  I     ^  9 

•  This  incident  is  rplated  more  nt  large  in  the  history  of  the  Egyptians,  under  the  reign  of  AmMte. 
t  Ezek.  xxix    18. 'JO.  t  i  .  1 — 34,    '  Dan.  iv.  30.  ||  Dub.  W.  91^H 


nations  before  him,  loosening  the  loins  of  kings,  br€aki7ig  in  pieces  gates  >  f  brass, 
cutting  in  sunder  the  bars  of  iron,  throwing  down  the  walls  and  bulwarks  ot 
cities,  and  putting  him  in  possession  o/*  the  treasures  of  darkness ,  and  the  hidden 
riches  qf  secret  places,'^ 

The* prophet  also  tells  us  the  cause  and  motive  of  all  these  events.1  It  was 
in  order  to  punish  Babylon,  and  to  deliver  Judah,  that  the  Almighty  conducts 
Cjrus,  step  by  step,  and  gives  success  to  all  his  enterprises.  1  have  raised 
him  u J)  in  righteousness,  and  I  will  direct  all  his  ways,  for  Jacob  my  servant^- 
sake,  and  Israel  mine  elect,l  But  this  prince  is  so  blind  and  ungrateful,  that  he 
does  not  know  his  Master,  nor  remember  his  benefactor.  I  have  surnamed 
ihee,  though  thou  hast  not  known  me  ; — /  girded  thee,  though  thou  hast  not 
known  me.§ 

Men  seldom  form  to  themselves  a  right  judgment  of      A  fine  irn«<g-e  cf  the  re- 
true  g\ovy,  and  the  duties  essential  to  regal  power.    The  ^""^ 
Scripture  only  gives  us  a  full  idea  of  them,  and  this  it  does  in  a  wonderful  man- 
ner,il  under  the  image  of  a  very  large  and  strong  tree,  whose  top  reaches  to 
heaven,  and  w^hose  branches  extend  to  the  extremities  of  the  earth.    As  its  fo 
liage  is  very  abundant,  and  it  is  bowed  dow^n  with  fruit,  it  constitutes  theorna 
ment  and  felicity  of  the  plains  around  it.    It  supplies  a  grateful  shade,  and  a 
secure  retreat  to  beasts  of  every  kind  ;  animals,  both  w^ild  and  tame,  are  safely 
lodged  under  its  hospitable  branches  ;  the  birds  of  heaven  dwell  in  the  boughs 
of  it,  and  it  supplies  food  to  all  living  creatures. 

Can  there  be  a  more  just  or  more  instructive  idea  of  the  kingly  office,  whose 
true  grandeur  and  solid  glory  does  not  consist  in  that  splendour,  pomp,  and 
magHificence  which  surround  it  ;  nor  in  that  reverence  and  exterior  homage 
vvhich  are  paid  to  it  by  subjects  ;  but  in  the  real  services  and  solid  advan- 
tages it  procures  to  nations,  whose  support,  defence,  security,  and  asylum,  it 
forms,  (both  from  its  nature  and  institution,)  at  the  same  lime  that  it  is  the 
fruitful  source  of  terrestrial  blessings  of  every  kind ;  especially  wi^.h  regard 
to  the  poor  and  weak,  who  ought  to  find,  beneath  the  shade  and  protection  cf 
royalty,  a  sweet  peace  and  tranquillity  not  to  be  interrupted  or  disturbed  ; 
while  the  monarch  himself  sacrifices  his  ease,  and  experiences  alone  those 
storms  and  tempests  from  which  he  shelters  others  ? 

Methinks  the  reality  of  this  noble  image,  and  the  execution  of  this  great 
plan  (religion  only  excepted,)  appears  in  the  government  of  Cyrus,  of  which 
Xenophon  has  given  us  a  picture,  in  his  beautiful  preface  to  the  bistoiy  of 
that  prince.  He  has  there  specified  a  great  number  of  nations,  which,  though 
far  distant  one  from  another,  and  differing  widely  in  their  manners,  customs,  and 
language,  were  however  all  united  by  the  same  sentiments  of  esteem,  rever- 
ence, and  love  for  a  prince,  whose  government  they  wished,  if  possible,  to 
have  continued  for  ever,  so  much  happiness  and  tranquillity  did  they  enjoy 
under  it.^ 

To  this  amiable  and  salutary  government,  let  us  op-  A  iust  ioea  of  the  con- 
pose  the  idea  which  the  sacred  writings  give  us  of  those  querors  of  antiquity, 
monarchs  and  conquerors,  so  much  boasted  by  antiquity,  who,  instead  of  mak- 
ing the  happiness  of  mankind  the  sole  object  of  their  care,  were  prompted 
by  no  other  motives  than  those  of  interest  and  ambition.  **The  Holy 
Spirit  represents  them  under  the  symbols  of  monsters  generated  from  the 
agitation  of  the  sea,  from  the  tumult,  confusion,  and  dashing  of  the  waves 


*  Thus  saith  the  Lord  to  his  anointed,  to  Cyrus,  whose  ri^ht  hand  I  have  ho. den,  to  subdue  nations 
before  nim  ;  and  I  will  loose  the  loins  of  kings,  to  open  before  him  the  two-leaved  gates,  and  the  gates 
•hall  not  be  shut.  I  will  go  before  thee,  and  make  the  crooked  places  straight:  I  will  break  in  pieces  tue 
g-ates  of  brass,  and  cut  in  sunder  the  bars  of  iron.  And  I  will  give  thee  the  treasures  of  darkness,  and  hid- 
den riches  of  secret  places,  that  tiiou  mayest  know  that  I  the  Lord,  which  call  thee  by  thy  name,  am  th« 
God  of  Israel." — Isa.  xlv.  1 — 3. 

t  Jsai.  xlv.  13,  14.  %  Isai.  xlv.  13   .  §  Isai.  xlv.  4,  5.  |j  Dan.  iv.  7,  9. 

V  E5uvTi6n  tTTi^i^piiav  tpi^aXtrv  TOcrauTtiv  tb  »raviaj  auTW  xctp'C^<7-0ai»  c5<7T€  it\      aorS  yvwun  (i^.'fif 

,  ♦*  T)a.D.  vii. 

VOL.  I. 


18 


Mie  against  the  other  ;  and  under  the  image  of  cruel  wild  beasts,  which  spread 
terror  and  desolation  universally,  aad  are  for  ever  gorging  themselves  wiA 
blood  and  slaughter.    How  strong  and  expressive  is  this  colouring ! 

Nevertheless,  it  is  often  from  such  destructive  models  that  the  rules  and 
maxims  of  the  education  generally  bestowed  on  the  children  of  the  great  are 
boi rowed ;  and  it  is  these  ravagers  of  nations,  these  scourgers  of  mankind, 
they  are  'iestined  to  resemble.  By  inspiring  them  with  the  sentiments  of  a 
boundless  ambition,  and  the  love  of  false  glory,  they  become  (to  borrow  an 
expression  from  Scripture)  yowwof  lions:  they  learn  to  catch  the  prey^  and  de- 
vour men — to  lay  waste  cities,  to  turn  lands  and  their  fatness  into  desolation  by 
the  noise  of  their  roaring.^  And  when  this  young  lion  is  grown  up,  God  telfs 
us,  that  the  noise  of  his  exploits,  and  the  renown  of  his  victories,  are  nothing 
but  a  frightful  roaring,  which  fills  all  places  with  terror  and  desolation. 

The  examples  I  have  hitherto  mentioned,  and  which  are  extracted  from  the  • 
history  of  the  Egyptians,  Assyrians,  Babylonians,  and  Persians,  prove  suffi- 
ciently the  supreme  power  exercised  by  God  over  all  empires  ;  and  the  rela- 
tion he  thought  fit  to  establish  between  the  rest  of  the  nations  oi  the  earth,  and 
his  own  peculiar  people  The  same  truth  appears  as  conspicuously  under 
the  kir^s  of  Syria  and  Eeypt,  successors  of  Alexander  the  Great :  between 
whose  history,  and  that  of  the  Jews  under  the  Maccabees,  every  body  knows 
the  close  connexion. 

To  these  incidents,  I  cannot  forbear  adding  another,  which,  though  univer- 
sally known,  is  not  therefore  the  less  remarkable  ;  I  mean,  the  taking  of  Je- 
rusalem by  Titus.  When  he  had  entered  that  city,  and  viewed  all  the  for- 
tifications of  it,  this  prince,  though  a  heathen,  owned  the  all-powerful  arm  of 
the  God  of  Israel,  and,  in  a  rapture  of  admiration,  cried  out,  "  It  is  manifest 
that  the  Almighty  has  fought  for  us,  and  has  driven  the  Jews  from  those  tow- 
ers, since  neither  the  utmost  human  force,  nor  that  of  all  the  engines  in  the 
world,  could  have  effected  it."t 

God  has  always  dis-      Besidcs  thc  visible  and  sensible  connexion  of  sacred 

posed  01  human  events  j  r  i  •  ^  a1  •  i  i 

relatively  to  the  re i-n  of  J^^d  proiano  history,  there  IS  another  more  sacred  and 
the  Messiah.  "  more  distinct  relation  with  respect  to  the  Messiah,  for 
whose  coming  the  Alnpighty,  whose  work  was  ever  present  to  his  sight,  pre- 
pared mankind  from  far,  even  by  the  state  of  ignorance  and  dissoluteness  in 
which  he  suffered  them  to  be  immersed  during  four  thousand  years.  It  was 
to  show  the  necessity  there  was  of  our  having  a  Mediator,  that  God  permitted 
the  nations  to  walk  after  their  own  ways  ;  and  that  neither  the  light  of  reason, 
nor  the  dictates  of  philosophy,  could  dispel  their  clouds  of  error,  or  reforr 
their  depraved  inclinations. 

When  we  take  a  view  of  the  grandeur  of  empires,  the  majesty  of  princes, 
the  glorious  actions  of  great  men,  the  order  of  civil  societies,  and  the  harmony 
of  the  different  members  of  which  they  are  composed,  the  wisdom  of  legisla- 
tors, and  the  learning  of  philosophers,  the  earth  seems  to  exhibit  nothing  to  the 
eye  of  man  but  what  is  great  and  resplendent ;  nevertheless,  in  thf  eye  of 
God,  it  was  equally  barren  and  uncultivated,  as  at  the  first  instant  of  the  cre- 
ation by  the  Almighty The  earth  was  wrTHOUT  form  and  void.J  This 
is  saying  but  little  :  it  was  wholly  polluted  and  impure,  (the  reader  will  ob- 
serve that  I  speak  here  of  the  heathens,)  and  appeared  to  God  only  as  the 
haunt  and  retreat  of  ungrateful  and  perfidious  men,  as  it  did  at  the  time  of  tie 
fcod.    The  earth  was  corrupt  before  God,  and  was  filled  with  iniquity.^ 

Nevertheless,  the  sovereign  arbiter  of  the  universe,  who,  pursuant  to  the 
dictates  of  his  wisdom,  dispenses  both  light  and  darkness,  and  knows  how  to 
check  the  impetuous  torrent  of  human  passions,  would  not  permit  mankind, 
though  abandoned  to  the  utmost  corruptions,  to  degenerate  into  absolute  bar- 
barit^T)  and  brutalize  themselves,  in  a  manner  by  the  extinction  of  the  first 
fvinciples  of  the  law  of  nature,  as  is  seen  in  several  savage  nations.   Such  an 


t  Jtfcpb.  1.  iii-  c.  46. 


i  Oen.  i.  2 


i  aen.  ri.  II 


INTRODUCTION. 

obitacle  would  have  retarded  too  much  the  rapid  course  promised  hy  hitn  to 
the  first  preachers  of  the  doctrine  of  his  Son. 

He  darted  from  far  into  the  minds  of  men  the  rays  of  several  great  rufns, 
to  dispose  them  for  the  reception  of  others  of  a  more  important  nature.  He 
prepared  them  for  the  instructions  of  the  gospel,  by  those  of  philosophers ; 
and  it  was  v^^ith  this  view  that  God  permitted  the  heathen  professors  to  exa- 
mine, in  their  schools,  several  questions,  and  establish  several  principles, 
which  are  nearly  allied  to  religion  ;  and  to  engage  the  attention  of  mankind, 
by  the  spirit  and  beauty  of  their  disputations.  It  is  well  known,  that  the  phi- 
losophers inculcate,  in  every  part  of  their  writings,  the  existence  of  a  God,  the 
necessity  of  a  Providence  that  presides  over  the  government  of  the  world,  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  the  ultimate  end  of  man,  the  reward  of  the  good  and 
tlie  punishment  of  the  wricked,  the  nature  of  those  duties  which  constitute  the 
bond  of  society,  the  character  of  the  virtues  that  are  the  basis  of  morality, 
as  prudence,  lustice,  fortitude,  temperance,  and  such  like  truths,  wh?cn, 
though  (ncapable  of  guiding  men  to  righteousness,  yet  they  were  of  use  to . 
«<catter  certain  clouds,  and  to  dispel  certain  obscurities. 

It  is  xn  effect  of  the  same  Providence,  w^hich  prepared  from  far  the  ways 
of  the  gospel,  that,  when  the  Messiah  revealed  himself  in  the  flesh,  God  had 
united  together  a  great  number  of  nations,  by  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues  ; 
and  had  subjected  to  one  monarch,  from  the  ocean  to  the  Euphrates,  all  the 
people  not  united  by  language,  in  order  to  give  a  more  free  course  to  the 
preaching  of  the  apostles.  When  profane  history  is  studied  with  judgment 
and  maturity,  it  must  lead  us  to  these  reflections,  and  point  out  to  us  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  Almighty  makes  the  empires  of  the  earth  subservient  to  the 
reign  of  his  Son. 

It  ought  likewise  to  teach  us  the  value  of  all  that  glit-  Exterior  taU  nts  in- 
ters most  in  the  eye  of  the  world,  and  is  most  capable  of  ^"^"^'^  hcaihens. 
dazzling  it.  Valour,  fortitude,  skill  in  government,  profound  policy,  merit 
in  magistracy,  capacity  for  the  most  abstruse  sciences,  beauty  of  genius,  deli- 
cacy of  taste,  and  perfection  in  all  arts :  these  are  the  objects  which  profane 
history  exhibits  to  us,  which  excite  our  admiration,  and  often  our  envy.  But 
at  the  same  time,  this  very  history  ought  to  remind  us,  that  the  Ahnighty, 
eve'  since  the  creation, has  indulged  to  his  enemies  all  thoge  shining  qualities 
whi  :h  the  world  esteems,  and  on  which  it  frequently  bestows  the  highest  eulo- 
giuius ;  and,  on  the  contrary,  that  he  often  refuses  them  to  his  most  faithful 
servants,  whom  he  endues  with  talents  of  an  infinitely  superior  nature,  though 
men  neither  know  their  value,  nor  are  desirous  of  them.  Hapjpy  is  thatpeo- 
jde  that  is  in  such  a  case ;  yea,  happy  is  that  people  whose  God  is  the  Lord,* 

1  shall  conclude  this  first  part  of  my  preface  with  a  re-  We  must  not  be  too 
flection  which  results  naturally  from  what  has  been  said,  refuse  in  our  applause* 
Since  it  is  certain,  that  all  these  great  men,  who  were  so  ^ 
much  boasted  of  ki  profane  history,  were  so  unhappy  as  not  to  know  the  true 
God,  and  to  displease  him ;  we  should  therefore  be  particularly  careful  not 
to  extol  them  too  much.  St.  Austin,  in  his  Retractions,  repents  his  having 
lavished  so  many  encomiums  on  Plato,  and  the  followers  of  his  philosophy ; 
because  these,  says  he,  were  impious  men,  whose  doctrine,  in  many  pointf, 
was  contrary  to  that  of  Jesus  Christ.! 

However,  we  are  not  to  imagine,  that  St.  Austin  supposes  it  to  be  unlawful  for 
us  to  admire  and  praise  whatever  is  either  beautiful  in  the  actions,  or  true  in 
the  maxims  of  the  heathens.  He  {  only  advises  us  to  correct  whatever  is 
erroneous,  and  to  approve  whatever  is  conformable  to  rectitude  and  justice 


*  Psal.  cxViY.  15. 

f  Laus  ipia.  qua  Platonem  rel  Platonicos  seu  academicos  philosophos  tantum  extuli  quantum  impiof 
komines  non  oportuit,  non  immerito  mihi  diiplicuit*,  prsesertim  quorum  contra  errores  magnos  defeadcada 
Mt  Christiana  doctrina. — Retract.  1.  i.  c.  1. 

^  Id  m  quoque  corri|;enduin,  quod  prarum  est ;  quod  autem  rectum  ttU  approbAodum.— De  Bvfi*  com 


so 


INTRODUCTION. 


in  them    He  applauds  the  Romans  on  many  occasions,  and  particularly  in 

his  books  De  GW^a^e  Dei,  *  which  is  one  of  the  last  and  finest  of  his  works. 
He  there  shows,  that  the  Almighty  raised  them  to  be  victorious  over  nations, 
and  sovereigns  of  a  great  part  of  the  earth,  because  of  the  gentleness  and  equity 
of  their  goveinment  (alluding  to  the  happy  ages  of  the  commonwealth  :)  thus 
bestowing  on  virtues,  that  were  merely  human,  rewards  of  the  same  kind  with 
which  that  people,  though  very  judicious  in  other  respects,  were  so  unhappy 
as  to  content  themselves.  St.  Austin  therefore  does  not  condemn  the  encomiums 
which  are  bestowed  on  the  heathens,  but  only  the  excess  of  them. 

Students  ought  to  take  care,  and  especially  we,  who  by  the  duties  of  our  pro- 
fession are  obliged  to  be  perpetually  conversant  with  heathen  authors,  not  to  en- 
^e^  too  far  into  the  spirit  of  them  ;  not  to  imbibe  unperceived  their  sentiments, 
by  lavishing  too  much  applause  on  their  heroes ;  nor  to  give  into  e-xcesses, 
which  the  heathens  indeed  did  not  consider  as  such,  because  they  were  not 
acquainted  with  virtues  of  a  purer  kind.  Some  persons,  whose  friendship  I 
esteem  as  I  ought,  and  for  whose  learning  and  judgment  I  have  the  highest  re- 
gard, have  found  this  defect  in  some  parts  of  riay  work,  on  the  Method  of  teach- 
ing and  studying  the  Belles  Lettres,  fyc,  and  are  of  opinion  that  I  have  gone 
too  great  lengths  in  the  encomiums  I  bestow  on  the  illustrious  men  of  antiquity. 
I  indeed  own,  that  the  expressions  on  those  occasions  are  sometimes  too  strong 
and  too  uiiguarded  :  however,  I  imagined  that  I  had  supplied  a  proper  correc- 
tive to  this,  by  the  hints  with  which  I  have  interspersed  those  four  volumes, 
and  therefore,  that  it  would  be  only  losing  time  to  repeat  them  ;  not  to  mention 
my  having  laid  down,  in  different  places,  tne  principles  which  the  fathers  of  the 
church  establish  on  this  head,  in  declaring  with  St.  Austin,  that  without  true 
piety ,  that  is,  without  a  sincere  woi-ship  of  God,  there  can  be  no  true  virtue  ;  and 
that  no  virtue  can  be  sucn,  whose  object  is  worldly  glory  ;  a  truth,  says  this 
father,  acknowledged  universally  by  those  who  are  inspired  with  real  and 
solid  piety.  Illud  constat^  inter  cmnes  veraciier  pios^  neminem  sine  vera 
pietate,id  estveri  Dei  veroculiu,  ver am  posse  habere  virtutem ;  nec  earn  veram 
e.sse,  quando  ghrice  servet  humance.] 

When  1  observed  that  Perseus  had  not  resolution  enough  to  kill  himself,J  I 
did  not  thereby  pretend  to  justify  the  practice  of  the  heathens,  who  looked 
upon  suicide  as  lawful:  but  simply  to  relate  an  incident,  and  the  judgment 
whicli  Paulus  ^milius  passed  on  :t.  Had  I  barely  hinted  a  word  or  two 
against  that  custom,  it  would  have  obviated  all  mistake,  and  left  no  room  for 
censure. 

The  ostracism.,  employed  at  Athens  against  persons  of  the  greatest  merit 
theft  connived  at,  as  one  w^ould  imagine,  by  Lycui^us  in  Sparta  ;  an  equality 
with  regard  to  possessions  established  in  the  same  city,  by  the  authority  of 
the  state,  and  things  of  a  like  nature,  may  admit  of  some  difficulty.  However 
I  shall  pay  a  more  immediate  attention  to  these  particulars,  §  when  the  course 
of  the  history  brings  me  to  them  ;  and  shall  be  proud  of  receiving  such  lights 
a.^  the  learned  and  unprejudiced  may  please  to  communicate. 

In  a  work  like  that  I  now  offer  to  the  public,  intended  more  immediately 
for  the  instruction  of  youth,  it  were  heartily  to  be  wished,  there  might  not  bs 
a  single  thought  or  expression  that  could  contribute  to  inculcate  false  or  dan- 
gerous principles.  When  I  first  set  about  writing  the  present  history,  I  pro- 
posed this  for  my  maxim,  the  importance  of  which  I  perfectly  conceive,  but 
am  far  from  imagining  that  I  have  always  observed  it,  though  it  was  my  in- 
tention to  do  so ;  and  therefore  on  this,  as  on  many  other  occasions,  I  shall 
stand  in  need  of  the  reader's  indulgence. 

As  I  write  principall}^  for  the  instruction  of  youth,  and  for  persons  who  do 
not  intend  to  make  ver^  deep  researches  into  ancient  histoiy,  I  shall  not  crowd 
this  work  with  a  sort  of  emdition,  that  otherwise  might  have  been  introduced 


♦  Lib.  V.  cap.  10,  21,  &c.  f  I>«  C'ivitate  Dei,  lib.  v.  c.  19.  %  Vol.  IV.  p. 

I  Thii  Mr.  Kollin  has  f'r  ne  admirably,  in  the  several  volume*  of  bis  Ancient  History. 


21 


naturally  iiiti>  it,  Lul  does  not  suit  my  purpose.  My  design  is,  in  givijig  a 
continued  series  of  ancient  history,  to  extract  from  the  Greek  and  Latin  au- 
thors all  that  1  skall  judge  most  useful  and  entertaining  with  respect  to  the 
transactich?,  :md  most  instructive  with  regard  to  the  reliections. 

I  wish  it  A^ere  possible  for  me  to  avoid  the  dry  sterility  of  epitomes,  which 
conrey  no  distinct  idea  to  the  mind  ;  and  at  the  same  time  the  tedious  accu- 
racy of  long  histories,  which  tire  the  reader's  patience.  I  am  sensible  that  it 
is  aifficult  to  steer  exactly  between  the  two  extremes  ;  and  although,  in  the 
two  parts  of  history  which  conmience  this  work,  1  have  retrenched  a  greet 
part  of  what  we  meet  with  hi  ancient  authors,  they  may  still  be  thought  too 
long;  but  I  was  afraid  of  spoiling  the  incidents,  by  being  too  studious  of  bre- 
vity. However,  the  taste  of  tlie  public  shall  be  my  guide,  to  which  I  will 
cnaeavour  to  conform  hereafter. 

I  was  so  happy  as  not  to  displease  th^e  public  in  my  first  attempt.*  I  wisi* 
the  present  work  may  be  equally  successful,  but  dare  not  raise  my  hopes  so 
high.  The  subjects  I  there  treated,  tji>.  polite  literature,  poetry,  eloquence, 
and  curious  pieces  of  history,  gave  me  ^n  opportunity  of  introducing  into  it, 
from  ancient  and  modern  authors,  whatever  is  most  beautiful,  affecting,  deli- 
cate, and  just,  with  regard  both  to  thought  and  expression.  The  beauty  and 
justness  of  the  things  themselves  which  I  offered  the  reader,  made  him  more 
mdulgent  to  the  mariner  in  which  they  were  presented  to  him  ;  and  besides, 
the  variety  of  the  subjects  supplied  the  want  of  those  graces  w^hich  might 
have  been  expected  from  the  style  and  composition. 

But  I  have  not  the  same  advantage  in  the  present  work,  the  choice  of  the 
subjects  not  being  entirely  at  my  discretion.  In  a  series  of  history,  an  author 
is  often  obliged  to  introduce  a  great  many  things  that  are  not  always  ve- 
ry interesting,  especially  with  regard  to  the  origin  and  rise  of  empires; 
these  parts  are  gerferally  overrun  with  thorns,  and  otfer  very  few  tlowers. 
However,  the  sequel  furnishes  matter  of  a  more  pleasing  nature,  and  events 
that  engage  more  strongly  the  reader's  attention  ;  and  I  shall  take  care  to 
make  use  of  whatever  is  most  valuable  in  the  best  authors.  In  the  mean  time, 
I  must  intreat  the  reader  to  remember,  that  in  a  widely  extended  and  beauti- 
ful region,  the  eye  does  not  every  where  meet  with  golden  harvests,  smiling 
meads,  and  fruitful  orchards ;  but  sees,  at  different  intervals,  wild  and  less 
cultivated  tracts  of  land.  And  to  use  another  comparison  after  Pliny,  tsome 
trees  in  the  spring  emulously  shoot  forth  a  numberless  multitude  of  blossoms, 
which,  by  this  rich  dress,  (the  splendour  and  vivacity  of  whose  colours  chann 
the  eye,)  proclaim  a  happy  abundance  in  a  more  advanced  season  ;  while 
other  treeSjJ  of  a  less  gay  and  florid  kind,  though  they  bear  good  fruits,  have 
not,  however,  the  fragrance  and  beauty  of  blossoms,  nor  seem  to  share  in  the 
joy  of  reviving  nature.  The  reader  will  easily  apply  this  image  to  the  com 
position  of  history. 

To  adorn  and  enrich  my  own,  I  will  be  so  ingenuous  as  to  conless,  that  I 
do  not  scruple,  nor  am  ashamed,  to  rifle  wherever  I  coiiie  ;  and  that  I  often 
do  not  cite  the  authors  from  whom  I  transcribe,  because  of  the  liberty  I  take 
to  make  some  slight  alterations.  I  have  made  the  best  use  in  my  power  of  the 
solid  reflections  that  occur  in  the  second  and  third  parts  ol  the  Bi.shop  of 
MesLUX^s^  Universal  History,  which  is  one  of  the  most  beautifiil  and  mo«t 
usetul  books  in  our  language.  1  have  also  received  great  assistance  trom  the, 
learned  Dean  Prideaux's  Connexion  of  the  Old  and  Aetw  Testament^  in  which 
he  has  traced  and  cleared  up,  in  an  admirable  manner,  the  particulars  relating 


*  The  method  of  teaching  and  studying  the  Belles  Lettres,  &c.  The  English  translation  (in  four  vol- 
oi»e«)  of  this  excellent  piece  of  criticism,  has  gone  through  several  editions. 

t  Arborum  flos,  est  pleni  veris  indicium,  et  anni  renascentis  flos  gaudium  ar-bortiin.  Ttmc  se  novas,  air 
■aque  quam  sunt,  ostendunt,  tunc  varils  colorum  picturis  in  certamen  usque  luxuriant.  Sed  hoc  negatv;a 
plerisque.  Noa  enim  omnes  florent,  et  sunt  tristes  quasdam,  quasque  non  sentiant  gaudia  annorum  ;  ns. 
idk  flare exkilarantur,  natnlcsve  pcmorum  recursus  annuoi  versicolori  nuncio  promiltuti*. — Plio.  Nat.  Hit* 
}  mvi.  «.  36. 


f2  INTRODUCIXOIV. 

to  ancient  histoiy.    I  shall  take  the  same  libert3r  with  whate%  er  comet  in 
way  that  may  suit  my  design,  and  contribute  to  its  perfection. 

1  am  veiy  sensible,  that  it  is  not  so  much  for  aperson^s  reputation  thus  to  make 
use  of  other  men'?  lal)ouis,and  that  it  is  in  a  manner  renouncing  the  name  and 
quality  of  author.  But  I  am  not  over- fond  of  that  title,  and  shall  be  extremely 
well  pleased,  and  thmk  myself  veiy  happj^,  if  I  can  but  deserve  the  name  of 
a  good  compiler,  and  supply  my  readers  with  a  tolerable  history,  who  not 
be  over-solicitous  to  inquire  what  hand  it  comes  from,  provided  they  are  pleased 
with  it. 

Students,  with  a  veiy  moderate  application,  may  easily  go  through  this 
course  of  history  in  a  year,  without  interrupting  their  other  studies.  Accord- 
ing to  my  plan,  my  work  should  be  given  to  the  highest  form  but  one.  Youth? 
ID  this  class  are  capable  of  pleasure  and  improvement  from  this  history  ;  and 
I  would  not  have  them  enter  upon  that  of  the  Romans,  till  they  study  rhetoric. 

It  would  have  been  useful,  and  even  necessary,  to  have  given  some  idea  of 
the  ancient  authors  from  whom  I  have  extracted  the  following  materials.  But 
the  course  itself  of  the  history  will  show  this,  and  naturally  give  me  an  oppor- 
tunity of  producing  them, 

»u<rhTto  foim^?  thl  Tu-  mean  time  it  may  not  be  improper  to  take  notice 

^unes,  prodigies,  and  or"  of  the  superstitious  creduHtj  objected  to  most  of  these 
acies  of  the  ancients.  authors,  with  regard  to  auguries,  auspices,  prodigies, 
dreams,  and  oracles  ;  and,  indeed,  we  are  shocked  to  see  writers,  so  judicious 
in  all  other  respects,  lay  it  down  as  a  kind  of  law,  to  relate  these  particulars 
with  a  scrupulous  accuracj^,  and  to  dwell  gravely  on  a  tedious  detail  of  tri- 
fling and  ridiculous  ceremonies,  such  asthe  flight  of  birds  to  the  rightor  left  hand, 
signs  discovered  in  the  smoking  entrails  of  beasts,  the  greater  or  less  greed- 
iness of  chickens  in  pecking  corn,  and  a  thousand  similar  absurdities. 

It  must  be  confessed,  that  a  reader  of  judgment  cannot,  without  astonish- 
ment, see  the  most  illustrious  peisons  amonff  the  ancients,  for  wisdom  and 
Knowledge ;  generals  who  were  the  least  liable  to  be  influenced  by  popular 
opinions,  and  most  sensible  how  necessary  it  is  to  take  advantage  of  auspicious 
moments  ;  the  wisest  councils  of  princes  perfectly  well  skilled  in  the  arts  of 
government ;  the  most  august  assemblies  of  grave  senators  ;  in  a  Vvord,  the 
most  powerful  and  most  learned  nations  in  all  ages  ;  to  see,  1  say,  all  these  so 
unaccountably  weak  as  to  make  the  decision  of  the  greatest  affairs,  such  as  the 
declaring  war,  the  giving  battle,  or  pursuing  a  victory,  depend  on  the  trifling 
practices  and  customs  above  mentioned  ;  deliberations  that  were  of  the  utmost 
importance,  and  on  which  the  fate  and  welfare  of  kingdoms  frequently  de- 
pended. 

But,  at  the  same  time,  we  must  be  so  just  as  to  own,  that  their  manners  cus- 
toms and  laws,  would  not  permit  men  in  these  ages  to  dispense  with  the  obser 
vation  of  these  practices ;  that  education,  hereditary  tradition  transmitted  from 
immemorial  time,  the  universal  belief  and  consent  of  different  nations,  the  pre- 
cepts and  even  examples  of  philosophers  ;  that  all  these,  I  say,  made  the  prac- 
tices in  question  appear  venerable  in  their  eyes  ;  and  that  these  ceremonies, 
bow  absurd  soever  they  may  appear  to  us,  and  are  really  so  in  themselves* 
constituted  part  of  the  religion  and  public  worship  of  the  ancients. 

Their's  was  a  false  religion,  and  a  mistaken  worship ;  and  yet  the  principle 
of  it  was  laudable,  and  founded  in  nature  ;  the  stream  was  corrupted,  but  the 
fountain  was  pure.  Man,  when  abandoned  to  his  own  ideas,  sees  nothing  be- 
yond the  present  moment.  Futurity  is  to  him  an  abyss  invisible  to  the  most 
eagle-eyed,  the  most  piercing  sagacity,  and  exhibits  nothing  on  which  he  maj 
fix  his  views,  or  fonn  any  resolution  with  certainty.  He  is  equallj^  feeble  and 
impotent  with  regard  to  the  execution  of  his  designs.  He  is  sensible  that  he 
is  dependent  entirely  on  a  Supreme  Power,  that  disposes  all  events  with  abso- 
lute authority,  and  which,  in  spite  of  his  utmost  efforts,  and  of  the  v/isdom  of 
the  best  concerted  schemes,  by  only  raising  the  smallest  obstacles  and  slighteti 
disappointments,  renders  it  impossible  for  him  to  execute  his  measures. 


mXRODUOTION. 


13 


This  obscurity  and  weakness  oblige  him  to  have  recourse  to  a  superior  knc  w 
ledre  and  power :  he  is  forced,  both  by  his  immediate  wants,  and  the  strong 
desire  he  has  to  succeed  in  all  his  undertakings,  to  address  that  Being,  who  he 
is  sensible  has  reserved  to  himself  alone  the  knowledge  of  futurity,  and  the 
power  of  disposing  it  as  he  sees  fitting.  He  accordingly  directs  prayers,  make? 
vows,  and  offers  sacrifices,  to  prevail,  if  possible  with  the  Deity  to  reveal  him- 
self, either  in  dreams,  in  oracles,  or  other  signs,  which  may  manifest  his  will ; 
fully  convinced  that  nothing  can  happen  but  by  the  divine  appointment,  and 
lhat  it  a  man's  greatest  interest  to  know  this  supreme  will,  in  order  to  con 
*brm  his  actions  to  it. 

This  religious  principle  of  dependence  on,  and  veneration  of,  the  Supreme 
Eejag,  natural  to  man:  it  is  imprinted  deep  in  his  heart ;  he  is  reminded 
of  it  by  the  inward  sense  of  his  extreme  indigence,  and  by  al)  the  objects 
which  surround  him  ;  and  it  may  be  affirmed,  that  this  perpetua'  recourse  to 
the  Deity  is  one  of  the  principal  foundations  of  religion,  and  the  strongest 
band  by  which  man  is  united  to  his  Creator. 

Those  who  were  sc  happy  as  to  know  the  true  God,  and  were  chosen  to  be 
his  peculiar  people,  never  failed  to  address  him  in  all  their  wants  and  doubts, 
in  order  to  obtain  hi<?  succour  and  the  manifestation  of  his  >vill.  He  accord- 
ingly was  so  gracious  as  to  reveal  himself  to  them ;  to  conduct  them  by 
apparitions,  dreams,  oracles,  and  prophecies  ;  and  to  protect  them  by  miracles 
of  the  most  astonishing  kind. 

But  those  who  were  so  blind  as  to  substitute  falsehood  in  the  place  of  tmth, 
directed  themselves,  for  the  like  aid,  to  fictitious  and  deceitful  deities,  who 
were  not  able  to  answer  their  expectations,  nor  recompense  the  homage  that 
mortals  paid  them,in  any  other  way  thanby  error  and  illusion,  and  a  fraudulent 
imitation  of  the  conduct  of  the  true  God. 

Hence  arose  the  vain  observation  of  dreams,  which,  from  a  superstitious  cre- 
dulity, they  mistook  for  salutary  warnings  from  heaven ;  those  obscure  and 
equivocal  answers  of  oracles,  beneath  whose  veil  the  spirits  of  darkness  con- 
cealed their  ignorance  ;  and,  by  a  studied  ambiguity  reserved  to  themselves 
an  evasion  or  subterfuge,  whatever  might  be  the  issue  of  the  event.  To  this 
are  owing  the  prognostics,  with  regard  to  futurity,  which  men  fancied  they 
should  find  in  the  entrails  of  beasts,  in  the  flight  and  singing  of  birds,  in  the  as- 
pect of  the  planets,  in  fortuitous  accidents,  and  in  the  caprice  of  chance ;  those 
dreadful  prodigies  that  filled  a  whole  nation  with  terror,  and  which,  it  was 
believed,  nothing  could  expiate  but  mournful  ceremonies,  and  even  sometimes 
the  effusion  of  human  blood  ;  in  fine,  those  black  inventions  of  magic,  those 
delusions,  enchantments,  sorceries,  invocations  of  ghosts,  and  many  other  kinds 
of  divination. 

All  I  have  here  related  was  a  received  usage,  observed  by  the  heathen  na- 
tions in  general ;  and  this  usage  was  founded  on  the  principles  of  that  religion 
of  which  I  have  given  a  short  account.  We  have  a  signal  proof  of  this  in  the 
Cyropydia,*  where  Cambyses,  the  father  of  Cyrus,  gives  that  young  prince 
such  noble  instructions,  instructions  admirably  well  adapted  to  form  the  great 
captain,  and  great  prince.  He  exhorts  him  above  all  things,  to  pay  the  high- 
est reverence  to  the  gods  ;  and  :iot  to  undertake  any  enterprise,  whether  im- 
portant or  inconsiderable,  without  first  calling  upon  and  consulting  them  ;  he 
enjoins  him  to  honour  priests  and  augurs,  as  being  their  ministers,  and  the  in- 
terpreters of  their  will ;  but  yet  not  to  trust  or  abandon  himself  implicitly  and 
blindly  to  them,  till  he  had  first  learnt  every  thing  relating  to  the  science  of  di- 
vination, of  auguries  and  auspices.  The  reason  he  gives  for  the  subordination 
and  dependence  in  which  kings  ought  to  live  with  regard  to  the  gods,  and  the 
necessity  they  are  under  of  consulting  them  in  all  things,  is  this  •  how  clear 
lighted  soever  mankind  may  be  in  the  ordinary  course  of  affairs,  their  views 
we  always  very  narrow  and  limited  with  regard  to  futurity;  whereas  the 


•  Xaaoph.  io  Cyrop.  1  I  p.  25.  Tl 


«4 


OJTRODUCTIOX 


Deity,  at  a  single  glance,,  takes  in  all  ages  and  events.  As  th^  gods,"  say 
Cambjses  to  his  son,  are  eternal,  they  know  equally  al  /shings,  past,  present, 
and  to  come."  "With  regard  to  the  mortals  who  address  them,  they  give 
salutary  counsels  to  those  whom  they  are  pleased  to  favour,  that  they  may 
not  be  ignorant  of  what  things  they  ought,  6y  ough-t  not,  to  undertake.  If  it 
is  observed,  that  the  de»*^es  do  not  give  the  like  counsels  to  all  men,  we  arc 
not  to  wonder  at  it,  since  no  necessity  obliges  them  to  attend  to  the  weJfare  of 
those  persons  on  whom  they  do  not  vouchsafe  to  confer  their  favour." 

Such  was  the  doctrine  of  the  most  learned  and  most  enlightened  nations, 
with  respect  to  the  different  kinds  of  divination  ;  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  the 
authors  who  wrote  the  histoiy  of  those  nations,  thought  it  incumbent  on  them 
to  give  an  exact  detail  of  such  particulars  as  constituted  part  of  their  religion 
and  worship,  and  was  frequently  in  a  manner  the  soul  of  their  deliberation,  and 
the  standard  of  their  conduct.  1  therefore  was  of  opinion,  for  the  same  reason, 
that  it  would  not  be  proper  for  me  to  omit  entirely,  in  the  ensuing  history, 
what  relates  to  this  subject,  though  I  have,  however,  retrenched  a  great  part 
of  it. 

Archbishop  Usher  is  my  usual  guide  in  chronology.  In  the  history  of  the 
Carthaginians,  I  commonly  set  down  four  eras  :  the  year  from  the  creation  of 
the  world,  which,  for  brevity's  sake,  I  mark  thus,  A.  M. ;  those  of  the  founda- 
tion of  Carthage  and  Rome  ;  and  lastly,  the  year  that  precedes  the  birth  of 
our  Saviour,  vvnich  I  suppose  to  be  the  4004th  of  the  world ;  wherein  I  follow 
Usher  and  others,  though  they  suppose  it  to  be  four  years  earlier. 

To  know  in  what  manner  the  states  and  kingdoms  were  founded,  that  have 
divided  the  universe  ;  the  steps  whereby  they  arose  to  that  pitch  of  grandeur 
related  in  history  ;  by  what  ties  families  and  cities  were  united,  in  order  to 
constitute  one  body  or  society,  and  to  live  together  under  the  same  laws  and  a 
common  authority ;  it  will  be  necessaiy  to  trace  things  back,  in  a  manner,  to 
the  infancy  of  the  world,  and  to  those  ages,  in  which  mankind,  being  dispers 
ed  into  diife rent  regions,  (after  the  confusion  of  tongues,)  began  to  people  the 
earth. 

In  these  early  ages,  every  father  was  the  supreme  head  of  his  family;  the 
arbiter  and  judge  of  whatever  contests  and  divisions  might  arise  within  it ;  the 
natural  legislator  over  his  little  society ;  the  defender  and  protector  of  those 
who,  by  their  birth,  education,  and  weakness,  were  under  his  protection  and 
safeguard. 

But  although  these  masters  enjoyed  an  independent  authority,  they  made 
a  mild  and  paternal  use  of  it.  So  far  from  being  jealous  of  tlieir  power,  they 
neither  governed  with  haughtiness,  nor  decided  with  tyranny.  As  they  were 
obliged  by  necessity  to  associate  their  family  in  their  domestic  labours,  they 
also  summoned  them  together,  and  asked  their  opinion  in  matters  of  importance. 
In  this  manner  all  affairs  were  transacted  in  concert,  and  for  the  common  good. 

The  laws  which  paternal  vigilance  established  in  this  little  dome^jtic  senate, 
being  dictated  with  no  other  view  than  to  promote  the  general  welfare,  con- 
certed with  such  children  as  were  come  to  years  of  maturity,  and  accepted 
by  the  inferiors  with  a  full  and  free  consent,  were  religiously  kept  and  preserv- 
ed in  families,  as  an  hereditary  polity,  to  which  they  owed  their  peace  and 
security. 

But  different  motives  gave  rife  to  different  laws.  One  man,  overjoyed  at  the 
birth  of  a  tirst-born  son,  resolved  to  distinguish  him  from  his  future  children,  by 
bestowing  on  him  a  more  considerable  share  of  his  possessions,  and  giving  hira 
a  greater  authority  in  his  family.  Another,  more  attentive  to  the  interest  of  a 
beloved  wife,  or  darling  daughter,  whom  he  wanted  to  settle  in  the  world, 
thought  it  incumbent  on  him  to  secure  their  rights  and  increase  their  advantages. 
The  solitary  and  cheerless  state  to  which  a  wife  would  be  reduced,  in  case  she 
should  become  a  widow,  affected  more  intimately  another  man,  and  made  him 
provide  beforehand  for  the  subsistence  and  comfort  of  a  woman  who  formed 
his  felicity. 


INTRODUCTION 


In  proportion  as  every  family  increased,  by  the  birth  of  ch.Mren,  atnl  their 
marrying  into  oth  ir  faniilies,  they  extended  their  little  domain,  and  formed,  by 
insensible  degrees,  towns  and  cities.  From  these  different  views,  and  others  oi 
the  like  nature,  arose  the  peculiar  customs  of  nations,  as  well  as  their  rights, 
which  are  infinitely  various 

These  ^Q.-ieties,  growing  in  process  of  time  very  nunrierous,  and  the  families 
being  divided  mio  several  branches,  each  of  which  had  its  head,  whose  dilTercnf 
interests  and  characters  might  interrupt  the  general  tranquillity  ;  it  was  neces- 
sary to  intrust  cne  person  with  the  government  of  the  wiiole,  in  order  to  unite 
all  these  chiefs  or  heads  under  a  sinerle  authority,  and  to  maintain  the  public 
peace  by  a  uniform  administration.  The  idea  which  men  still  retained  of  lh« 
paternal  government,  and  the  happy  effects  they  had  experienced  from  it, 
prompted  them  to  choose  from  among  their  wisest  and  most  virtuous  men,  him 
mwhom  they  had  observed  the  most  tender  and  fatherly  disposition.  Nei- 
ther ambition  nor  cabal  had  the  least  share  in  this  choice ;  probity  alone,  and 
the  reputation  of  virtue  and  equity,  decided  on  these  occasions,  and  gave  the 
preference  to  the  most  worthy.* 

To  heighten  the  lustre  of  their  newly  acquired  dignity,  and  enable  them  the 
better  to  put  the  laws  in  execution,  as  well  as  to  devote  themselves  entirely  to 
the  public  good,  to  defend  the  state  against  the  invasions  of  their  neighbours, 
and  the  Factions  of  discontented  citizens,  the  title  of  king  was  bestoued  upon 
them,  a  throne  was  erected,  and  a  sceptre  put  into  their  hands  ;  homage  was 
paid  them,  of?icers  were  assigned,  and  guards  appointed  for  the  security  of 
their  peisons  ;  tributes  w«re  granted  ;  they  were  invested  with  full  powers  to 
administer  justice,  and  for  this  purpose  were  armed  with  a  sword,  in  order  to 
restrain  injustice,  and  punish  crimes. 

At  first,  every  city  had  its  particular  king,  who,  being  more  solicitous  to  pre- 
serve his  dominion  than  to  enlarge  it,  confined  his  ambition  within  the  limits 
of  his  native  country.!  But  the  almost  unavoidable  feuds  which  break  out  be- 
tween neighbours,  jealousy  against  a  more  powerful  king,  the  turbulent  and 
restless  spirit  of  a  prince,  his  martial  disposition,  or  thirst  of  aggrandizing  him- 
self, and  displaying  his  abilities,  gave  rise  to  wars  which  frequently  ended  in 
the  entire  subjection  of  the  vanquished,  whose  cities  were  by  that  means  pos- 
sessed by  the  victor,  aixl  insensibly  increased  his  dominions.  Thus,  a  first 
victory  paving  a  way  to  a  second,  and  making  a  prince  more  pow^erful  and 
enterprising,  several  cities  and  provinces  were  united  under  one  monarch,  and 
formed  kingdoms  of  a  greater  or  less  extent,  according  to  the  degree  of  ardour 
with  which  the  victor  had  pushed  his  conquests.  J 

The  ambition  of  some  of^ these  princes  being  too  vast  to  confine  itself  within 
a  single  kingdom,  it  broke  over  all  bounds,  and  spread  universally  like  a  tor- 
rent, or  the  ocean  ;  swallow^ed  up  kingdoms  and  nations  ;  and  gloried  in  de- 
priving princes  of  their  dominions  who  had  not  done  them  the  least  injury  ;  in 
carrying  fire  and  sword  into  the  most  remote  countries,  and  in  leaving,  every 
where,  bk)()dy  traces  of  their  progress  !  Such  was  the  origin  of  these  famous 
empires  which  included  a  great  part  of  th  world. 

Princes  made  various  uses  of  victory,  according  to  the  diversity  of  their  dis* 
positions  or  interests.  Some  considering  themselves  as  absolute  masters  of  the 
conquered,  and  imagining  they  were  sufficiently  indulgent  in  sparing  their  lives, 
bereaved  them  as  well  as  their  children,  of  their  possessions,  their  country,  anU 
their  liberty ;  subjected  them  to  a  most  severe  captivity  ;  employed  them 
in  those  arts  which  are  necessary  for  the  support  of  life,  in  the  lowest  and 
most  servile  offices  of  the  house,  in  the  painful  toils  of  the  held;  and  fre- 
quently forced  them,  by  the  most  inhuman  treatment,  to  dig  in  mines,  and  ran- 


*  Q,uos^d  fastigium  hujus  majestatig  non  ambitio  popularia,  sed  spectata  inter  bonos  moderatio  proir»b#. 
bat. — Justin.  1.  i.  c.  1. 

t  Fines  imperii  tueri  magis  quam  proferre  a>!>8  erat ,  Inti*a  suam  cuiqtie  patrinra  rcgna  finiebaot«f^' 
Jofltin.  1.  i.  c.  1. 

t  J^'>miti8  proximis,  cum  aro'-^'irn"  viruMn  ri.|-M.-»r  t>^.  s|"ri<;  t'-p  nt-ifpt,  ff  prAxinir*  q'ti*»'^tl«  Tioloria  i!\»rp> 


20.  INTRODUCTION 

sack  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  merely  to  satiate  their  avarice :  and  hence  maD 
kind  were  divided  into  freemen  and  slaves,  masters  and  bonaraen. 

Others  introduced  the  custom  of  transporting  whole  nations  into  new  coun* 
tries,  where  they  settled  them,  and  gave  them  lands  to  cultivate. 

Other  princes,  ag-ain,  of  more  gentle  dispositions,  contented  themselves  with 
only  obliging  the  vanquished  nations  to  purchase  their  liberties,  and  the  enjoy- 
ment of  their  Jaws  and  privileges,  by  annual  tributes  laid  on  them  for  that 
purpose  ;  and  sometimes  they  would  suffer  kings  to  sit  peaceably  on  theii 
thrones,  upon  condition  of  their  paying  them  some  kind  of  homage. 

But  such  of  these  monarchs  as  were  the  wisest  and  ablest  politicians,  thought 
st  glorious  to  establish  a  kind  of  equality  betweenthe  nations  newly  conquered 
and  their  other  subjects,  granting  the  former  almost  all  the  rights  and  privi 
leges  which  the  others  enjoyed.  And  by  this  means  a  great  number  of  na- 
tions, that  were  spread  over  different  ana  far  distant  countries,  constituted,  in 
some  measure,  but  one  city,  at  least  but  one  people. 

Thus  I  have  given  a  general  and  concise  idea  of  mankind,  from  the  earliest 
monuments  which  history  has  preserved  on  this  subject,  the  particulars  whereof 
I  shall  endeavour  to  relate,  in  treating  of  each  empire  and  nation.  I  shall 
not  touch  upon  the  history  of  the  Jews  nor  that  of  the  Romans.  I  begin  with 
the  Egyptians  and  Carthaginians,  because  the  former  are  of  very  great  anti' 
quity,  and  as  the  history  of  both  is  less  bl-ended  with  that  of  other  nations  ; 
whereas  those  of  other  states  are  more  interwoven,  and  sometimes  succeed 
one  another. 

REFLECTIONS  ON  THE  DIFFERENT  SORTS  OF  GOVERNMENTS. 

The  multiplicity  of  governments  established  among  the  different  nations  ot 
whom  I  am  to  treat,  exhibits,  at  first  view,  to  the  eye  and  to  the  understand- 
ing, a  spectacle  highly  worthy  our  attention,  and  shows  the  astonishing  variety 
which  the  sovereign  of  the  world  has  constituted  in  the  empu'ps  that  divide  it, 
by  the  diversity  of  inclinations  and  manners  observable  in  each  of  those  na- 
tions. We  herein  perceive  the  characteristic  of  the  Deity,  who,  ever  resem- 
blmg  himself  in  all  the  works  of  his  creation,  takes  a  pleasure  to  paint  and 
display  therein,  under  a  thousand  shapes,  an  infinite  wisdom,  by  a  wonderful 
fertility,  and  an  admirable  simplicity  :  a  wisdom  that  can  form  a  single  work, 
and  compose  a  whole,  perfectly  regular,  from  all  the  different  parts  of  the 
universe,  and  all  the  productions  of  nature,  notwithstanding  the  infinite  man- 
ner in  which  they  are  multiplied  and  diversified. 

In  the  East,  the  form  of  government  that  prevails  is  the  monarchical ;  which 
being  attended  with  a  majestic  pomp,  and  a  haughtiness  almost  inseparable 
from  supreme  authority,  naturally  tends  to  exact  a  more  distinguished  respect, 
and  a  more  entire  submission,  from  those  in  subjection  to  its  power.  When 
we  consider  Greece,  one  would  be  apt  to  conclude,  that  liberty  and  a  repub- 
lican spirit  had  breathed  themselves  into  every  part  of  that  country,  and  had 
inspired  almost  all  the  different  people  who  inhabited  it  with  a  violent  desire 
of  independence  ;  diversified,  however,  under  various  kinds  of  government, 
but  all  equally  abhorrent  of  subjection  and  slavery.  In  one  part  of  Greece 
the  supreme  power  is  lodged  in  the  people,  and  is  what  we  call  a  democracy ; 
in  another,  it  is  vested  in  the  assembly  of  wise  men,  and  those  advanced  is 
years,  to  which  the  name  aristocracy  is  given  ;  in  a  third  republic,  the  go- 
vernment is  lodged  in  a  small  number  of  select  and  powerful  persons  and  is 
called  oligarchy ;  in  others,  again,  it  is  a  mixture  of  all  these  parts,  or  of  seve- 
ral of  them,  and  sometimes  even  of  regal  power. 

It  is  manifest,  that  this  variety  of  governments,  which  all  tend  to  the  same 
point,  though  by  different  ways,  contributes  veiy  much  to  the  beauty  of  the 
universe  ;  and  that  it  can  proceed  from  no  other  being  than  Him  who  governs 
it  with  infinite  wisdom,  and  who  diffuses  universally  an  order  and  symmetiy, 
the  effect  of  which  is  to  unite  the  several  parts  together,  and  by  that  means  to 
Ibrm  one  work  of  the  u  hole.    For  although  in  tin's  diversity  of  government*^, 


INTRODUCTION. 


'21 


some  are  better  than  others,  we  nevertheless  may  very  Justly  affirm,  that  there 
%$  no  power  but  of  God;  and  that  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God* 
But  neither  every  use  that  is  made  of  this  pov^er,  nor  eveiT  means  for  iht 
attainment  of  it,  are  from  God,  though  every  power  be  of  him :  and  wher. 
we  see  these  governments  degenerating  sometimes  to  violence,  factions,  des- 
potic sway,  and  tyranny,  it  is  wholly  to  the  passions  of  mankind  that,  we  mu») 
iscribe  those  irregularities,  which  are  directly  opposite  to  the  primitive  inst) 
•ution  of  states,  and  which  a  superior  wisdom  afterward  reduces  to  order 
ilwavs  making  them  contribute  to  the  execution  of  his  designs,  full  of  equity 
tndfustice. 

Tliis  scene  or  spectacle,  as  I  before  observed,  highly  deserves  our  atten- 
tion and  admiration,  and  will  display  itself  gradually,  in  proportion  as  I  ad- 
vance in  relating  the  anoient  history,  of  which  it  seems  to  me  to  form  an 
essential  part.  It  is  with  the  view  of  making  the  reader  attentive  to  this  ob 
ject,  that  I  think  it  incumbent  on  me  to  add  to  the  account  of  facts  and  events, 
what  regards  the  manners  and  customs  of  nations  ;  because  these  show  their 
genius  and  character,  which  we  may  call,  in  some  measure,  the  soul  of  history. 
For  to  take  notice  only  of  eras  and  events,  and  confine  our  curiosity  and  re- 
searches to  them,  would  be  imitating  the  imprudence  of  a  traveller,  who,  in 
visiting  many  countries,  should  content  himself- with  knowing  their  exact  dis- 
tance irom  each  other,  and  consider  only  the  situation  of  the  several  places,  the 
manner  of  building,  and  the  dresses  of  the  people,  without  giving  himself  the 
least  trouble  to  converse  with  the  inhabitants,  in  order  to  inform  himself  of  their 
genius,  manners,  disposition,  laws,  and  governments.  Homer,  whose  design 
was  to  give,  in  the  person  of  Ulysses,  a  model  of  a  wise  and  intelligent  travel- 
ler, tells  us,  at  the  very  opening  of  his  Odyssey,  that  his  hero  informed  himself 
very  exactly  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  several  people  whose  cities  he 
visited  ;  in  which  he  ought  to  be  imitated  by  every  person  who  applies  himself 
to  the  study  of  history. 

A  GEOGAAPHICAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  ASIA. 

As  Asia  will  hereafter  be  the  principal  scene  of  the  hish^ry  we  are  now  enter- 
ing upon,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  give  the  reader  such  a  general  idea  of  it, 
4S  may  communicate  somti  knowledge  of  its  most  considerable  provinces  and 
cities. 

The  northern  and  eastern  parts  of  Asia  are  less  known  in  ancient  history. 
To  the  north  are  Asiatic  Sarmatia  and  Asiatic  Scythia,  which  answer  to 
Tartary. 

Sarmatia  is  situated  between  the  riveTTanais,  which  divides  Europe  and  Asia, 
and  the  river  Kha  or  Volga,  Scythia  is  divided  into  two  parts  ;  the  one  on 
<his,  the  other  on  the  other  side  of  mount  Imaus.  The  nations  of  Scythia  besi 
known  to  us  are  the  Sacce  and  the  Massagetce, 

The  most  eastern  parts  are,  Serica,  Cathay;  Sinarum  Regio,  China  ;  and 
India.  ^  This  last  country  was  better  known  anciently  than  the  two  former.  It 
was  divided  into  two  parts  ;  the  one  on  this  side  the  river  Gtvuges,  included  be- 
tween that  river  and  the  Indus^  which  now  composes  the  dominions  of  the  Grea? 
Mc^ul ;  the  other  part  was  that  on  the  other  side  of  the  Ganges. 

The  remaining  part  of  Asia,  of  which  much  greater  mention  is  made  in  hisH 
ioiy,  may  be  divided  into  five  or  six  parts,  taking  it  from  east  to  west. 

1.  The  Greater  Asia,  which  begins  at  the  river  Indus.  The  chief  provinces 
are,  Gedrosia,  Carmania,  Arachosia,  Drangiana,  Bactriana,  the  capi- 
tal of  which  was  Bacina  ;  Sogdiana,  Margiana,  Hyrcania,  near  the  Caspian 
sea ;  Parthia,  Media,  the  city  Ecbatana :  Persia,  the  cities  of  Persepolit 
znd  Etymais  ;  Susiana,  the  city  of  Susa;  Assyria,  the  city  of  JVineveh^  siiudL" 
ted  on  the  river  Tigris;  Mesopotamia,  between  the  Euphrates  and  Tigriit 
Babylonia,  the  city  of  Babylon  on  the  river  Euphrates. 


•  Ron*  xiii.  1. 


INTRODl  CTIO.N. 


I!.  Asia  between  the  Pontus  Euxinus  and  the  Caspian  Sea.  Therein 
we  raay  distingvaish  four  provinces.  1.  Colchis,  the  river  Phasts,  and  mount 
Caucasus,  2.  Iberia  3.  Albania  ;  which  two  last-mentioned  provinces  now 
form  part  of  Georgia.  4.  The  greater  Armenia.  This  is  separated  from  the 
lessei  by  ^he  Euphrates ;  from  Mesopotamia  by  mount  Taurus ;  and  from  As- 
syria by  mount  Niphates,  Its  cities  are  Artaxata  and  Tigranocerta ;  and  the 
river  Araxes  runs  through  it. 

III.  Asia  Minor.  This  may  be  divided  into  four  or  five  parts,  according 
to  the  different  situation  of  its  provinces. 

1.  Northward^  on  the  shore  of  the  Pontus  Euxinus;  Pontus,  under  three 
different  names.  Its  cities  ^.re  Trapezus,  not  far  from  which  are  the  people 
called  Chaiybes  or  Chaodoei:  Themiscyra,  a  city  on  the  river  Thermodoon, 
famous  for  having  been  the  abode  of  the  Amazons.  Paphlagonia,  Bithvnia  ; 
the  cities  of  which  are,  JV^aa,  Prusa,  JVicomedia,  Chalcedon,  opposite  to  Con- 
stantinople, and  Heraclea. 

2.  Westward^  going  down  by  the  shores  of  the  ^gean  sea  ;  Mysia,  of  which 
there  are  two.  The  Lesser,  in  which  stood  Cyzicus^  Lampsacus,  Parvum, 
Ahydos  opposite  to  Sestos,  from  which  it  is  separated  only  by  the  Dardanelles  ; 
Darda,num^Sigceum^  Ilion^  or  Troy ;  and  almost  on  the  opposite  side,  the  little 
island  of  Tenedos,  The  rivers  are  the  Arsepe,  the  Granicus,  and  the  Simois. 
Mount  Ida.  This  region  is  sometimes  called  Phrygia  Minor,  of  which  Troas 
is  part. 

The  Greater  Mysia.    Antandros,  Trajanopolis^Adramyttium.  Pergamus, 
Opposiie  to  this  Mysia  is  the  island  of  Lesbos  ;  the  cities  of  which  are,  Me 
thymna^  where  the  celebrated  Arion  was  born  ;  diwdi  Mitylene^  which  has  given 
to  the  whole  island  its  modern  name,  Metelin. 
o  L I A .    Elea, ,  Cuma ,  Phoccea . 

loNiA.  Smyrna^  Clazomence,  Teas,  Lcbedus^  Colophon,  Ephesus^  Priene^  AH 
Ictus, 

Caria.  Laodicea^  Antiochia^  Magnesia,  Alahanda,  The  river  Maiander 
Doris.    Halicarnassus,  Cnidos. 

Opposite  to  these  four  last  countries  are  the  islands  Chios,  Samos,  Patmos 
Cos  ;  and  lower  towards  the  south,  Rhodes. 

3.  Southward,  along  the  Mediterranean  : 

Lycia.  The  cities  of  which  are,  Telmessus,  Patara,  The  river  Xanthu} 
Here  begins  mount  Taurus,  which  runs  the  whole  length  of  Asia,  and  assume 
different  names,  according  to  the  several  countries  through  which  it  passes. 

Pamphylia.    Perga,  Aspendus,  Sida, 

CiLiciA.  Seleucia,  Corycium,  Tarsus,  on  the  river  Cydnus,  Opposite  t 
Cilicia  is  the  island  of  Cyprus,    The  cities  are,  Salamis,  Amathus,  and  Papho 

4.  Along  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  going  up  northward  : 

The  Lesser  Armenia.  Comana,  Arabyza,  Melitene,  Satala,  The  r/zTif 
Melas,  which  empties  itself  into  the  Euphrates. 

5.  Inlands: 

Capfadocia     The  cities  of  which  are,  NeoccEsarea^  Comana,  Pontics ^3tiha9 
tia,  Sebastopolis y  Dioccesarea,  Ccesarea,  otherwise  called  Mazaca,  and  Tyana 
Lycaonia  and  Isauria.    Iconium,  Isauria. 
PisiDiA.    Seleucia,  and  Antiochia  of  Pisidia, 

Lydia.    Its  cities  are,  Thyatira,  Sardis,  Philadelphia.  The  rif  v^s  are,  Cay 
sirus,  and  Hermus,  into  which  the  Pactolus  empties  itself.    MoUiH  Stpylus  and 
Tmoius. 

Phrygia  Major.   Synnada,  Apamia. 

IV.  Syria,  now  named  Suria,  called  under  the  Roman  emp<;rors.  ^h&East, 
ihe  chief  provinces  of  which  are, 

1.  Palestine,  by  which  name  is  sometimes  understood  d!l  Judea.  Its  citiei 
are,  Jerusalem,  Samaria,  and  Coesarei  Palestina,  The  river  Jordan  waters  it. 
The  name  of  Palestine  is  also  give.;  to  the  land  of  Canaan,  which  extendeU 


INTRODUCTION.  ^ 

Along  the  Mediterranean  ;  tlie  chief  cities  of  which  are  Gaza,  Ascalon,  Jizofwt. 
Accaron,  and  Gath. 

2.  Ph(enicia,  whose  cities  are,  Ptolemais,  ^2/^«>  Sidon,  and  Beryius,  Its 
mountains,  Liha7ius  aiud  Anti-Ldbanus, 

3.  Syria,  properly  so  called,  or  Antiochena  ;  the  cities  whereof  are,  AtUi-^ 
ochta,  Apamia,  Laodicea,  and  Seleucia, 

4.  CoMAGENA.    The  city  of  Samosata. 

5.  CcELosYRiA^  The  cities  are,  Zeugma,  Thapsacus,  Palmyra,  and  Dama$* 

€US. 

V  Arabia  Petrjea.  Its  cities  are,  Petra  and  Bostra.  Mount  Casttt*^ 
Deserta.  Felix. 

of  religion. 

It  is  observable,  that  in  all  ages  and  regions,  the  several  nations  of  the  world ; 
however  various  and  opposite  in  their  characters,  inclinations,  and  manners, 
have  always  united  in  one  essential  point ;  the  inherent  opinion  of  an  adoration 
due  to  a  supreme  Being,  and  of  external  methods  necessary  to  evince  such  a  be- 
lief. Into  whatever  countiy  we  cast  our  eyes,  we  find  priests,  altars,  sacrifices, 
festivals,  religious  ceremonies,  temples,  or  places  consecrated  to  religious  wor- 
ship. In  every  people  we  discover  a  reverence  and  awe  of  the  divinity  ;  a  ho- 
mage and  honour  paid  to  him  ;  and  an  open  profession  oi  an  entire  dependence 
upon  him  in  all  their  undertakings  and  necessities,  in  all  their  adversities  and 
langers.  Incapable  of  themselves  to  penetrate  futurity,  and  to  ascertain 
events  in  their  own  favour,  we  find  them  intent  upon  consulting  the  divinity  by 
oracles,  and  by  other  methods  of  a  like  nature  ;  and  to  merit  his  protection  by 
prayers,  vows,  and  offerings.  It  is  by  the  same  supreme  authority  they  believe 
the  most  solemn  treaties  are  rendered  inviolable.  It  is  this  that  gives  sanction 
to  their  oaths  ;  and,  to  it  by  imprecations  is  referred  the  punishment  of  such 
crimes  and  enormities  as  escape  the  knowledge  and  power  of  men.  On  their 
private  occasions,  voyages,  journeys,  marriages,  diseases,  the  divinity  is  stil 
invoked.  With  him  their  every  repast  begins  and  ends.  No  war  is  declared, 
no  battle  fought,  no  enterprise  formed,  without  his  aid  being  first  implored  ;  to 
which  the  glory  of  the  success  is  constantly  ascribed  by  public  acts  of  thanks  - 
giving,  and  by  the  oblation  of  the  most  precious  of  the  spoils,  which  they  never 
fail  to  set  apart  as  the  indispensable  right  of  the  divinity. 

They  never  vary  in  regard  to  the  foundation  of  this  belief.  If  some  fe  w  per- 
sons, depraved  by  false  philosophy,  presume  from  time  to  time  to  rise  up 
s^ainst  this  doctrine,  they  are  immediately  disclaimed  by  the  public  voice. 
They  continue  singular  and  alone,  without  making  parties,  or  forming  sects ; 
the  whole  weight  of  the  public  authority  falls  upon  them ;  a  price  is  set  upon 
their  heads ;  while  they  are  universally  regarded  as  execrable  persons,  the 
bane  of  civil  society,  with  whom  it  is  criminal  to  have  any  kind  of  commerce. 

So  general,  so  uniform,  so  perpetual  a  consent  of  all  the  nations  of  the  uni- 
verse, which  neither  the  prejudice  of  th^  passions,  the  false  reasoning  of  some 
philosophers,  nor  the  authority  and  example  of  certain  princes,  have  ever  been 
able  to  weaken  or  vary,  can  proceed  only  from  a  first  principle,  which  pervades 
the  nature  of  man ;  from  an  inherent  sense  implanted  in  his  heart  by  the  Au 
thor  of  his  being,  and  from  an  original  tradition  as  ancient  as  the  world  itself 

Such  were  the  source  and  origin  of  the  religion  of  the  ancients  ;  truly  worthy 
of  man,  had  he  been  capable  of  persisting  in  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  these 
first  principles  :  but  the  errors  of  the  mind  and  the  vices  of  the  heart,  those 
sad  effects  of  the  corruption  of  human  nature,  have  strangely  dis.figured  fheir 
original  beauty.  There  are  still  some  faint  rays,  some  brilliant  sparks  of  light, 
which  a  general  depravity  has  not  been  able  utterly;  to  extinguish ;  but  they 
ape  incapable  of  dispelling  the  profound  darkness  of  the  gloom  which  prevails 
almost  universally,  and  presents  nothing  to  view  but  absurdities,  follies,  ex- 
travagancies; licentiousness,  ani  disorder;  in  a  word,  a  hideous  chaos  of  frantic 
excesses  nnd  rnornujiis  vices. 


so 


INTRODUCTION. 


Can  any  thing  be  more  admirable  than  these  maxims  of  Cicero?*  That  w 
(Night  abore  all  things  to  be  convinced  that  there  is  a  Supreme  Being,  who 

f ^'resides  over  all  the  events  of  the  world,  and  disposes  of  them  as  sovereign 
ord  and  arbiter :  that  it  is  to  him  mankind  are  indebted  for  all  the  good  they  en- 
joy :  that  he  penetrates  into,  and  is  conscious  of  whatever  passes  in  the  most 
secret  recesses  of  our  hearts :  that  he  treats  the  just  and  the  impious  according 
to  their  respective  merits  ;  that  the  true  means  of  acquiring  his  favour,  and  of 
being  pleasing  in  his  sight,  is  net  by  the  use  of  riches  and^agnificence  in  his 
worsb'p,  but  by  presenting  him  with  a  heart  pure  and  blameless,  and  by  adoring 
him  with  an  unfeigned  and  profound  veneration. 

Sentiments  so  sublime  and  religious,  were  the  result  of  the  reflections  of  the 
few  who  employed  themselves  in  the  stu  iy  of  the  heart  of  man,  and  in  tracing 
him  to  the  first  principles  of  his  institution,  of  which  they  still  retained  some 
happy,  though  imperfect  ideas.  But  the  whole  system  of  their  religion,  the 
tendency  of  th'^ir  public  feasts  and  ceremonies,  the  soul  of  the  pagan  theology, 
of  which  the  poets  were  the  only  teachers  and  professors;  the  very  example 
of  the  gods,  whose  violent  passions,  scandalous  adventures,  and  abominable 
crimes  w-!re  celebrated  in  their  hymns  or  odes,  and  proposed  in  some  measure 
for  the  •!  ?  •  i-  ion,  as  well  as  adoration  of  the  people ;  these  were  certainly  very 
unfit  w  Jiis  to  enlighten  the  minds  of  men,  and  to  form  them  to  virtue  and  mo- 
rality. It  is  remarkable,  that  in  the  greatest  solemnities  of  the  pagan  religion, 
and  in  their  most  sacred  and  revered  mysteries,  far  from  perceiving  any  thing 
to  recommend  virtue,  piety,  or  the  practice  of  the  most  essential  duties  of  or- 
dinary life ;  we  find  the  authority  of  laws,  the  imperious  power  of  custom, 
the  presence  of  magistrates,  the  assembly  of  all  orders  of  the  state,  the  exam- 
ple of  fathers  and  mothers,  all  conspire  to  train  up  a  whole  nation  from  their 
infancy  in  an  impure  and  sacrilegious  worship,  under  the  name,  and  in  a  man- 
ner under  the  sanction,  of  religion  itself :  as  we  shall  soon  see  in  the  sequel. 

After  these  general  reflections  upon  paganism,  it  is  time  to  proceed  to  a  par- 
fkular  account  of  the  religion  of  the  Greeks.  I  shall  reduce  this  subject, 
though  infinity  in  itself,  to  tour  articles,  which  are,  1.  The  feasts.  2.  The  ora- 
cles, auguries,  and  divinations.  3.  The  games  and  combats.  4.  The  public 
shows  and  representations  of  the  theatre.  In  each  of  these  articles,  I  shall 
treat  only  of  what  appears  most  worthy  of  the  reader's  curiosity,  and  has 
ra(»st  relation  to  thii  history.  I  omit  saying  any  thing  of  sacrifices,  having 
given  a  sufficient  idea  of  them  eleswhere.t 

OF  THE  FEASTS. 

An  infinite  number  of  feasts  were  celebrated  in  the  several  cities  of  Greece, 
and  especially  at  Athens,  of  which  I  shall  only  describe  three  of  the  most  fa- 
mous ;  the  Panathenea,  the  feasts  of  Bacchus,  and  those  of  Eleusis. 

THE  PANATHENEA. 

This  feast  was  celebrated  at  Athens  in  honour  of  Minerva,  the  tutelary  god- 
dess of  that  city,  to  which  she  gave  her  name,];  as  well  as  to  the  feast  we 
speak  of.  Its  institution  was  ancient,  and  it  was  called  at  first  Athenea  ;  but 
after  Theseus  had  united  the  several  towns  of  Attica  into  one  city,  it  took  the 
name  of  Panathenea.  These  feasts  were  of  two  kinds,  the  great  and  the  less, 
which  were  solemnized  with  almost  tlie  same  ceremonies  ;  the  less  annually, 
and  the  great  upon  the  expiration  of  every  fourth  year. 

In  these  feasts  were  exhibited  racing,  the  gymnastic  combats,  and  the  con- 
tentions for  the  prizes  of  music  and  poetry.    Ten  commissaries,  elected  from 


*  Sit  hoc  jam  a  principio  persuasum  civibijs  :  domlnos  esse  omnium  rerum  ac  moderatores  decs,  eaque 
quae  g-P;ruutnr  eorum  geri  judicio  ac  numine  ;  eosdemque  optime  de  g-enere  bomioum  mereri;  et,  qualil 
quisqne  sit,  quid  a^?'  quid  in  se  admittal,  qua  inente,  qua  piotate  religiones  colat,  intueri:  pioruna^ue  et 
wnpiorum  habere  rationem.  Ad  divos  adeunto  caste.  Pietatem  adhibento,  opes  amoveuto.— CiC.  4« 
Leg.  1.  ii.  n.  15  et  19. 

f  Maaoer      Tsach'mjj,  &c.  Vol.  I  t  ASnvn. 


L\Tii;;Di;C'J'}ON 


3i 


be  ten  tribes,  presided  on  this  occasion,  to  regulate  the  forms,  and  distribute 
the  rewards  to  the  victors.    This  festival  continued  several  days. 

The  first  day  in  the  morning:,  a  race  was  run  on  foot,  each  of  the  runners  car- 
rying a  lighted  torch  in  his  hand,  which  they  exchanged  continually  with  each 
other  without  interrupting  their  race.  They  started  from  Ceramicus,  one  ot 
the  suburbs  of  Athens,  and  crossed  the  whole  city.  The  first  that  came  to  the 
goal,  without  having  put  out  his  torch,  carried  the  prize.  In  the  afternoon, 
they  ran  the  same  course  on  horseback. 

The  gymnastic  or  athletic  combats  followed  the  races.  The  place  of  thot 
exercise  was  upon  the  banks  of  the  liissus,  a  small  river,  which  runs  througl) 
Athens,  and  empties  itself  into  the  sea  at  the  Piraeus. 

Pericles  first  instituted  the  prize  of  music.  In  this  dispute  were  sung  the 
praises  of  Harmodius  and  Aristogiton,  who,  at  the  expense  of  their  lives,  de 
livered  Athens  from  the  tyranny  of  the  Pisistratides  ,  ^o  which  was  afterwarda 
added  the  eulogy  of  Thrasybulus,  who  expelled  the  thirty  tyrants.  These 
disputes  were  not  only  warm  among  the  musicians,  but  much  more  so  among 
the  poets,  and  it  was  highly  glorious  to  be  declared  ^jctor  in  them.  ^schy« 
lus  is  reported  to  have  died  with  grief  upon  seeing  the  prize  adjudged  to  So- 
phocles, who  was  much  younger  than  himself. 

These  exercises  were  followed  by  a  general  procession,  wherein  a  sail  ^vas 
carried  with  great  pomp  and  ceremony,  on  which  were  curiously  dekncated 
the  warlike  actions  of  Pallas  against  the  Titans  and  giants.  This  sail  was 
affixed  to  a  vessel,  which  was  called  by  the  name  of  the  goddess.  The  ves- 
sel, equipped  with  sails,  and  with  a  thousand  oars,  was  conducted  from  Ciram- 
icus  to  the  temple  of  Eleusis,  not  by  horses  or  beasts  of  draught,  but  by  ma- 
chines concealed  in  the  bottom  of  it,  which  put  the  oars  in  motion,  and  made 
the  vessel  glide  along. 

The  march  was  solemn  and  majestic.  At  the  head  of  it  were  old  men,  who 
carried  olive  branches  in  their  hands,  ^a\k:(p'ooi  ;  and  these  were  chosen  for  the 
symmetry  of  their  shape,  and  the  vigour  of  their  complexion.  Athenian  ma- 
trons, of  great  age,  also  accompanied  them  in  the  same  eauipage. 

The  grown  and  robust  men  formed  the  second  class.    They  were  armed  at 
all  points,  and  had  bucklers  and  lances.    After  them  came  the  strangers  who 
mhabited  Athens,  carrying  mattocks,  with  other  instruments  proper  fortilloge. 
Next  followed  the  Athenian  women  of  die  same  age,  attended  by  the  foreign 
ers  of  their  own  sex,  carrying  vessels  in  their  hands  for  the  drawing  of  water 

The  third  class  was  composed  of  the  young  persons  of  both  sexes,  and  <  ' 
the  best  families  in  the  city.    The  youth  wore  vests,  with  crowns  upon  th<^ 
heads,  and  sang  a  p»eculiar  hymn  in  honour  of  the  goddess.    The  maids  cai 
ried  baskets,  in  which  were  placed  the  sacred  utensils  proper  for  the  cerem.o 
ny,  covered  ^^tjk  veils  to  keep  them  from  the  sight  of  the  spectators.  The 
person,  to  whoWcare  those  sacred  things  were  intrusted,  was  bound  to  observe 
a  strict  continence  for  several  dd.js  before  he  touched  them,  or  distributed 
them  to  the  Athenian  virgins     or  rather,  as  Demosthenes  says,  his  Avhole  life 
and  conduct  ought  to  have  been  a  perfect  model  of  virtue  and  purity.    It  wa? 
a  high  honour  for  a  young  woman  to  be  chosen  for  so  noble  and  august  an  office, 
and  an  insupportable  affront  to  be  deemed  unworthy  of  it.    We  find  ths- 
Hipparchus  treated  the  sister  of  Hanriodius  with  this  indignity,  which  ex 
tremely  incensed  the  conspirators  against  the  Pisistratides.    These  Athenian 
virgins  were  followed  by  the  foreign  young  women,  who  carried  umbrellas  aiid 
seats  for  them. 

The  children  of  both  sexes  closed  the  pomp  of  the  procession. 

In  this  august  ceremony,  the  pcx^4^a:5ci  were  appointed  to  sing  certain  verses  ot 
Homer ;  a  manifest  proof  of  their  estimation  of  the  works  of  that  poet,  even 
with  regard  to  religion.  Hipparchus,  son  of  Pisistratus,  first  introduced  this 
custom. 


tetreina  Aristofratin. 


I  have  observed  elsewhere,  tiiat  in  the  gymnastic  games  of  th'.4  feast,  a  he- 
rald proclaimed,  that  the  people  of  Athens  had  conferred  a  crown  of  gold  upon 
the  celebrated  physician  Hippocrates,  ingratitude  for  the  signal  services  which 
he  had  rendered  the  state  during  the  pestilence. 

In  this  festival,  the  people  of  Athens  put  themselves,  and  the  whole  repub- 
lic, under  the  protection  of  Minerva,  the  tutelary  goddess  of  their  city,  and 
implored  of  her  all  kinds  of  prosperity.  From  the  battle  of  Marathon,  in  these 
public  acts  of  worship,  express  mention  was  made  of  the  Platseans,  and  they 
were  joined  in  all  things  with  the  people  of  Athens. 

FEASTS  OF  BACCHUS. 

The  worship  of  Bacchus  had  been  brought  out  of  Egypt  to  Athens,  where 
several  feasts  had  been  established  in  honour  of  that  god ;  two  particularly 
more  remarkable  than  all  the  rest,  called  the  great  and  the  less  feast*^  of  Bac- 
chus. The  latter  were  a  kind  of  preparation  for  the  former,  and  were  cele* 
brated  in  the  open  lield  about  autumn.  They  were  named  Lenea,  from  a  Greek 
word  that  signifies  a  wine-press.*  The  great  feasts  were  commonly  called 
Dionysia,  from  one  of  the  n  imes  of  that  god,t  and  were  solemnized  in  the 
spring,  within  the  city. 

In  each  of  these  feasts  the  public  were  entertained  with  games,  shows,  and 
dramatic  representations,  v/liich  were  attended  with  a  vast  concourse  of  peo- 
ple, and  exceeding  magnificence,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter :  at  the  same  time 
the  poets  disp^t^d  the  prize  of  poetry,  submitting  to  the  judgment  of  arbi- 
trators, expressly  chosen,  their  pieces,  Avhether  tragic  or  comic,  which  were 
ihen  represented  1  efore  the  people. 

These  feasts  continued  many  days.  Those  who  wwe  initiated,  minrjcked 
whatever  the  poe*s  had  thought  fit  to  feign  of  the  god  Bacchus.  7  iiey  co- 
vered themselves  \A  i(h  the  skins  of  w^ild  beasts,  carried  a  thyrsus  in  their  hands, 
a  kind  of  pike  with  ivy  leaves  twisted  round  it. 

They  had  drums,  horns,  pipes,  and  other  instnjments  proper  to  make  a 
great  noise  ;  and  wore  upon  their  heads  wreaths  of  ivy  and  vine-branches, 
and  of  other  trees  sacred  to  Bacchus.  Some  represented  Silenus,  some  Pan. 
others  the  Satyrs,  all  dressed  in  a  suitable  masquerade.  "Many  of  them  were 
mounted  on  asses  ;  others  dragged  goats  along,  for  sacrifices. J  Men  and  wo- 
men, ridiculously  transformed  in  this  manner,  appeared  night  and  day  in  pub- 
h*c,  and  imitating  drunkeDness,  and  dancing  with  the  most  indecent  postures, 
ran  in  throngs  about  the  mountains  and  forests,  screaming  and  howling  furi 
ously ;  the^  vvomen  especially  seemed  more  outrageous  than  the  men,  and, 
ijuite  out  of  their  senses,  m  their  furious  transports,^  invoked  the  god  whose 
ieast  they  celebrated  with  loud  cries  ;  £u.>r  Bixxs.  or  w  'idxxf.  or  IdSaxxfi  or 

This  troop  of  Bacchanalians  w^as  followed  by  the  virgins^lRhe  noblest  fa- 
milies m  the  city,  who  were  called  Havi^qjcjoi,  from  cariying^  baskets  on  their 
heads  covered  with  vine  and  ivy  leaves.  ^4  ' 

To  these  ceremonies  others  were  added,  obscene  to  the  last  excess,  and 
worthy  of  the  god  who  could  be  honoured  in  such  a  manner.  The  specta- 
Yjrs  gave  into  the  })revailing  humour,  and  were  seized  w^ith  the  sam.e  frantic 
spirit.  Nothing  was  seen  but  dancing,  drunkenness,  debauchery,  and  all  that 
liie  most  abandoned  licentiousness  could  conceive  of  gross  and  abominable 
And  this  an  entire  people,  reputed  the  wisest  of  all  Greece,  not  only  suffered, 
but  admired  and  practised.  1  say  an  entire  people  ;  for  Plato,  speaking  ol 
the  Bacchanals,  says  in  direct  terma,  that  he  had  seen  the  whole  ciiy-  of 
Athens  drunk  at  oiice.H 

Livy  informs  us,  that  this  licentiousness  of  the  Bacchanalian!  having  secretly 


*  A"nv6f.  t  I^ionysius.  X  (^^ouls  were  sacrlficedl,  because  they  spoiled  the  vises. 

^  From  thJS  fury  of  the  Bacchanalians,  these  ft^asts  were  Gislinguished  by  the  name  of  Orgia,  'O^yt- 
■R,  furor. 

y  rittfrav  iSfacTttUTiv  Tr>v  7roX.iv  wtg]  ret  Airv'jcria  n^Ouxaav  — F/ib.  1.  ds  I  eg.  p.  637. 


INTRODUCTION. 


13 


crept  into  Rome,  the  most  horrid  disorders  were  commiuea  mere  under  the 
cover  of  the  night;  besides  which,  persons,  who  were  initiated  into  these 
impure  and  abominable  masteries,  were  obliged,  under  the  most  horrid  impre 
cations,  to  keep  them  inviolably  secret.  The  senate,  being  apprised  of  the 
affair,  put  a  stop  to  those  sacrilegious  feasts  by  the  most  severe  penalties  ;  and 
6rst  ba-nished  the  practisers  of  them  from  Rome,  and  afterwards  from  Italy.* 
These  examples  inform  us,  how  far  a  mistaken  sense  of  religion,  that  covers 
the  greatest  crimes  with  the  sacred  name  of  the  Divinity,  is  capable  of  mis- 
leading the  mind  of  nian.t 

THE  FEASTS  OF  EL^IUSIS. 

Theue  js  nothing  in  all  the  pagan  antiquity  more  celebrated  than  the  feast 
of  Ceres  Eleusina.  The  ceremonies  of  this  festival  were  called,  by  way  of 
eminence,  the  Mysteries,  from  being,  according  to  Pausanias,  as  much  above 
all  others  as  the  gods  are  above  men.  Their  origin  and  institution  are  attribu- 
ted to  Ceres  herself,  who,  in  the  reign  of  Erechtheus,  coming  to  Eleusis,  a 
small  town  of  Attica,  in  search  of  her  daughter  Proserpine,  whom  Pluto  had 
carried  away,  and  finding  the  country  afflicted  with  a  famine,  invented  corn 
as  a  remedy  for  that  evil,  with  which  she  rewarded  the  inhabitants.  She 
not  only  taught  them  the  use  of  corn,  but  instructed  them  in  the  principles  of 
probity,  charity,  civilitj^,  and  humanity ;  from  whence  her  mysteries  were 
called  ^fcrptocpojia  and  Initia.  To  these  first  happy  lessons,  fabuPous  antiquity 
ascribed  the  courtesy,  politeness,  and  urbanity,  so  remarkable  among  tlie 
Athenians.]: 

These  mysteries  were  divided  into  the  less  and  the  greater,  of  which  the 
former  served  as  a  preparation  for  the  latter.  The  less  was  solemnized  in  the 
month  Anthesterion,  which  answers  to  our  November :  the  great  in  the 
month  Boed-romion,  or  August.  Only  Athenians  were  admitted  to  these 
mysteries  ;  but  of  them  each  sex,  age,  and  condition,  had  a  right  to  be  re- 
ceived. All  strangers  were  absolutely  excluded,  so  that  Hercules,  Castor, 
and  Pollux,  were  obliged  to  be  adopted  as  Athenians,  in  order  to  their  admis- 
sion ;  which  however  extended  only  to  the  lesser  mysteries.  I  shall  consider 
principally  the  great,  which  were  celebrated  at  Eleusis. 

Those  who  demanded  to  be  initiated  into  them,  were  obliged,  before  their 
reception,  to  purify  them.selves  in  the  lesser  mysteries,  by  bathing  in  the  river 
Ilissus,  by  saying  certain  prayers,  offering  sacrifices,  and,  above  all,  by  living 
in  strict  continence  during  an  interval  oi  time  prescribed  them.  That  time 
was  em})loyed  in  instructing  them  in  the  principles  and  elements  of  the  sacred 
doctrine  of  the  great  mysteries. 

When  the  time  for  their  initiation  arrived,  they  were  brought  into  the  tem- 
ple ;  and  to  inspire  the  greater  reverence  and  terror,  the  ceremony  was  per- 
lormed  in  the  night.  Wonderful  things  passed  upon  this  occasion.  Visions 
were  seen,  and  voices  heard  of  an  extraordinary  kind.  A  sudden  splendour 
dispelled  the  darkness  of  the  place,  and  disappearing  immediately,  added 
new  horrors  to  the  gloom.  Apparitions,  claps  of  thunder,  earthquakes,  height- 
ened the  terror  and  amazement ;  while  the  person  admitted,  stupified,  and 
sweating  through  fear,  heard  trembling  the  mysterious  volumes  read  to  him,  if 
in  such  a  condition  he  was  capable  of  hearing  at  all.  These  nocturnal  ritei 
were  atie;*kaed  with  many  disorders,  which  the  severe  law  of  silence,  imposed 


*  Lir.  I.  xxxix.  n.  8,  18. 

I  Nihilinspeciem  fallaciuB  eat  quam  prava  religio,  ubi  deorum  numen  praetenditur  scelenbns.— Lit, 
xrxix.  n.  16. 

i  Multa  eximia  divinaque  vldentur  Athenae  tuas  peperiase,  atque  in  vitam  hominum  attulisse  ;  turn  ni)  il 
melius  illis  mysterils,  quibus  ex  agresli  immanique  vita  exculti  ad  huinanitatum  et  mitigati  sumus,  initiaq  -ie 
ut  appeliantur,  ita  revera  principia  vitae  cog-novimus. — Cic.  1.  ii.  de  Leg.  n.  36. 

Teque  Ceres,  et  Libera,  qut^rum  sacra,  sicut  opiniones  hominum  ac  religiones  ferunt,  longe  maximis  atqtM 
occuLis^imis  ceremoniis  continentur :  a  quibus  initia  vitas  atque  victus,  legum,  morum,  mansuetudiniB,  h» 
manitatis  exenavla  hcminibus,  et  civitalibus  data  ac  dispertata  esse  dicuntur. — Id.  Cie.  in  Verr-  d«  Ssai^ 
vile.  n.  186 

'  Vol  I. 


34 


INTRODUCTION. 


on  ine  person  iniiiated,  prevented  from  coming  to  light,  as  St.  Gregory  Nazi 
anzen  observes.*  What  cannot  superstition  effect  upon  the  mind  of  man,  when 
once  his  imag-ination  is  heated !  The  president  in  this  ceremony  was  called  hi- 
erophantes.  He  wore  a  peculiar  habit,  and  was  not  permitted  to  marry.  The 
first  who  served  in  this  function,  and  whom  Ceres  herself  instructed,  was  Eu- 
molpus  ;  from  whom  his  successors  were  called  EuiTiolpides.  He  had  thre<» 
colleagues  ;  one  who  carried  a  torch  ;t  another  a  herald,  whose  office  was  1o 
pronounce  certain  mysterious  words     and  a  third  to  attend  at  the  altar. 

Besides  these  officers  one  of  the  principal  magistrates  of  the  city  was  ap- 
|>ointed,  to  take  c-pre  that  all  the  ceremonies  of  this  feast  were  exactly  observed* 
He  was  called  the  king,  and  was  one  of  the  nine  Archons.§  His  business  was 
to  offer  prayers  and  sacrifices.  The  people  gave  him  four  assistants,  ||onc 
chosen  from  the  family  of  the  Eumolpides,  a  second  from  that  of  the  Ceryces, 
and  the  two  last  from  two  other  families.  He  had,  besides,  ten  other  ministers 
to  assist  him  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty,  and  particularly  in  offering  sacrifi- 
ces, from  whence  they  derive  their  name.ff 

The  Athenians  initiated  their  children  of  both  sexes  very  early  into  these 
mysteries,  and  would  have  thought  it  criminal  to  let  them  die  without  such 
an  advantage.  It  was  their  general  opinion,  that  this  ceremony  was  an  en- 
gagement to  lead  a  more  virtuous  and  regular  life  ;  that  it  recommended 
them  to  the  peculiar  protection  of  the  goddess  to  whose  service  they  devoted 
themselves,  and  was  the  means  of  a  more  perfect  and  certain  happiness  in  the 
other  world :  while,  on  the  contrary,  such  as  had  not  been  initiated,  besides 
the  evils  they  had  to  apprehend  in  this  life,  were  doomed,  after  their  descent 
to  the  shades  below,  to  wallow  eternally  in  dirt,  filth,  and  excrement.  **Dio- 
genes  the  Cynic  believed  nothing  of  the  matter,  and  when  his  friends  endeav- 
oured to  persuade  him  to  avoid  such  a  misfortune,  by  being  initiated  before 
his  death — "  What,"  said  he,  "shall  Agesilaus  and  Epaminondas  lie  among 
mud  and  dung,  while  the  vilest  Athenians,  because  they  have  been  initiated, 
possess  the  most  distinguished  places  in  the  regions  of  the  blessed  ?"  Socrates 
was  not  more  credulous  ;  he  would  not  be  initiated  into  these  mysteries,  which 
was  perhaps  one  cause  of  rendering  his  religion  suspected. 

Without  this  qualification,  none  were  admitted  to  enter  the  temple  of  Ceres  ; 
and  Livy  informs  us  of  two  Acarnanians,  who,  having  followed  the  crowd 
into  it  upon  one  of  the  feast-days,  although  out  of  mistake  and  with  no  ill 
design,  were  both  put  to  death  without  mercy. It  It  was  also  a  capital  crime 
to  divulge  the  secrets  and  mysteries  of  Ibis  feast.  Upon  this  account  Diago- 
ras  the  Melian  was  proscribed,  and  had  a  reward  set  upon  his  head.  He  in- 
tended to  have  made  the  secret  cost  the  poet  iEschylus  his  life,  for  speaking 
too  freely  of  it  in  some  of  his  tragedies.  The  disgrace  of  Alcibiades  pro- 
ceeded from  the  same  cause.  Whoever  had  violated  the  secret  was  avoid- 
ed as  a  wretch  accursed  and  excoinmunicated.JJ  Pausanias,  in  several  pas- 
sages, wherein  he  mentions  the  temple  of  Eleusis,  and  the  ceremonies  practised 
there,  stops  short,  and  declares  he  canno'.  proceed,  because  he  had  been  for- 
bidden by  a  dream  or  vision. §§ 

^  This  feast,  the  most  celebrated  of  profane  antiquity,  was  of  nine  days  con- 
tinuance. It  began  on  the  fifteenth  of  the  month  Boedromion.  After  some 
|)reTious  ceremonies  and  sacrifices  on  the  first  three  days,  upon  the  fourth  in 
tike  evening  began  the  procession  of  the  Basket ;  which  was  laid  upon  an  open 


*  Ol5f V  EXa;j-!*  TaDra,  »al  of  twv  (7JC07ru|Xivcov  xai  (riwirfij  ^vtwv  d^^icbv  tTrdTrras. — Orat.  de  Sacr.  Lumi* 

Dio^en.  Laert.  1.  ri.  p.  389.          \\  ibir.  1.  xxxi.  n.  14. 

XX  Esl  et  fideli  tuta  silentio  Safe  in  the  silent  tongue,  Trhlch  none  can  blaoMi 

Merces.    Vetabo,  qui  Cereris  sacrum  The  faithful  secret  merit  fame  :  , 

"'ul^arit  arcana,  sub  iisdem  Beneath  one  roof  ne'er  let  him  rest  with  mt. 

Sit  Trablbus,  fragilemque  mecam  Who  Ceres'  mysteries  reveals; 

8«Iriit  phaselum.  In  one  frail  bark  ne'er  let  us  put  to  sea, 

Hor.  Od.  3.  lib.  iii.  Nor  tempt  the  tarriag  winds  with  tpnm^iar  waim 
y  Lib.  i.  p.  26,  &  71. 


INTRODUCTION 


tliariot  slowly  drawn  by  six  oxen,  and  followed  by  great  numbers  of  the 
Athenian  women.*  They  all  carried  mysterious  baskets  in  their  hands,  filled 
with  several  things  which  they  took  great  care  to  conceal,  and  covered  with  a 
veil  of  purple.  This  ceremony  represented  the  basket  into  which  Proserpinci 
put  the  flowers  she  was  gathering  Vv^hen  Pluto  seized  and  carried  her  off. 

The  fifth  day  was  called  tne  day  of  the  Torches;  because  at  night  the  men 
and  w^omen  ran  about  with  them,  in  imitation  of  Ceres,  w  ho  having  lighted  a 
toich  at  the  fire  of  Mount  iEtna,  wandered  about  from  place  to  place  in  search 
of  her  daughter. 

The  sixth  w^as  the  most  famous  day  of  all.  It  was  called  lacchus,  the  nam.e 
of  Bacchus,  son  of  Jupiter  and  Ceres,  w^hose  statue  was  then  brought  out  with 
j^reat  ceremony,  crowned  with  myrtle,  and  holding  a  torch  in  its  hand.  The 
procession  began  at  Ceramicus,  and  passing  through  the  principal  parts  of  the 
city,  continued  to  Eleusis.  The  way  leading  to  it  was  called  the  sacred  way^ 
and  lay  across  a  bridge  over  the  river  Cephisus.  This  procession  was  very  nu- 
merous, and  generally  consisted  of  thirty  thousand  persons. 

The  temple  of  Eleusis,  where  it  ended,  was  large  enough  to  contain  the 
whole  multitude  ;  and  Strabo  says,  its  extent  w^as  equal  to  that  of  the  theatres, 
which  every  body  knows  were  capable  of  holding  a  much  greater  number  oi 
people.!  The  whole  way  resounded  with  the  sound  of  trumpets,  clarions,  and 
other  musical  instruments.  Hymns  were  sung  in  honour  of  the  goddesses,  ac- 
companied with  dancing  and  other  extraordinary  marks  of  rejoicing.  The 
rot.t  before  mentioned,  through  the  sacred  way  and  over  the  Cephisus,  was  the 
usual  way  :  but  after  the  Lacedaemonians,  in  the  Peloponnesian  war,  had  forti- 
fied Decelia,  the  Athenians  were  obliged  to  make  their  procession  by  sea,  till 
Alcibiades  re-established  the  ancient  custom. 

The  seventh  day  was  solemnized  by  games,  and  the  gymnastic  combats,  in 
which  the  victor  was  rewarded  with  a  measure  of  barley  ;  w^ithout  doubt,  be- 
cause it  was  at  Eleusis  the  goddess  first  taught  the  method  of  raising  that  grain, 
and  the  use  of  it.  The  two  following  days  were  employed  in  some  particular 
ceremonies,  neither  important  nor  remarkable. 

During  this  festival,  it  was  prohibited,  under  very  great  penalties,  to  arrest 
any  person  whatsoever,  in  order  to  their  being  imprisoned,  or  to  present  any 
bill  of  complaint  to  the  judges.  It  was  regularly  celebrated  every  fifth  year, 
that  is,  after  a  revolution  of  four  years:  and  no  histoiy  observes  that  it  "was 
ever  interrupted,  except  upon  the  taking  of  Thebes  by  Alexander'  the  Great,  j: 
The  Athenians,  w^ho  were  then  upon  the  point  of  celebrating  the  great  myste- 
ries, were  so  much  affected  with  the  ruin  of  that  city,  that  they  could  not  re- 
solve, in  so  general  an  afflicton,  to  solemnize  a  festival  which  breathed  nothing 
but  merrim.ent  and  rejoicing.  §  It  was  continued  down  till  the  time  of  the  Chris- 
tian emperors ;  and  Valentinian  would  have  abolished  it,  if  Pr^textatus,  the 
pioconsul  of  Greece,  had  not  represented,  in  the  most  lively  and  affecting 
terms,  the  universal  sorrow  which  the  abrogation  of  that  feast  would  occasion 
among  the  people  ;  upon  which  it  was  suffered  to  subsist.  It  is  supposed  to  have 
been  finally  suppressed  by  Theodosius  the  Great ;  as  were  all  the  rest  tiie 
pagan  solemnities. 

OF  AUGURIES,  ORACLES,  &.C. 

Nothing  is  more  frequently  m.entioned  in  ancient  histoiy,  than  oracles,  au- 
guries, and  divinations.  No  w^ar  was  made,  or  colony  settled  ;  nothing  of  con- 
sequence was  undertaken,  either  public  or  private,  without  the  gods  being  first 
consulted.  This  was  a  custom  universally  established  among  the  Egyptian, 
Assyrian,  Grecian,  and  Roman  nations  ;  which  is  no  doubt  a  proof,  as  has  been 
aiready  observed,  of  its  being  derived  from  ancient  tradition,  and  thdt  it  had  its 


•  Tardaque  Eleuslnas  matris  volve Jtic  j^wfsti-a.  The  Eleiisinian  mother's  mystic  car 

Vire^.  Georj  lib.  i-  ver.  l^''3.        Slfw  roHmg^— — 
f  H«r.  t  viiL  c  65.    Strabo.  I.  iz.  ^  $9o.       i  Phii.  in  Vii.  p  67L       {  Zozim.  Hist.  1.  ir 


S6 


c?rigin  in  the  religion  and  wc  rship  of  the  true  God.  It  is  not  indeed  to  be  qucj^ 
tioned,  but  that  God  before  the  deluge  did  manifest  his  will  to  mankind  in  dil 
ferent  methods,  as  he  h>s  since  done  to  his  people,  sometimes  in  his  own  per- 
son, and  viva  voce,  sometimes  by  the  ministry  of  angels,  or  of  prophets  inspi* 
|pd  by  himself,  and  at  other  times  by  apparitions  or  in  dreams.  When  the  de- 
-  ^(.pndants  of  Noah  dispersed  themselves  into  different  regions,  they  carried 
ihis  tradition  along  with  them,  which  was  everywhere  retained,  though  alter- 


rients  have  insisted  more  upon  the  necessity  of  consulting  the  godson  all  oc- 
casions by  augurs  and  oracles,  than  Xenophon,  and  he  founds  that  necessity,  a? 
i  have  more  than  once  observed  eslewhere,  upon  a  principle  deduced  from  the 
most  refined  reason  and  discernment.  He  represents,  in  several  places,  ih'A 
man  of  himself  is  very  frequently  ignorant  of  what  is  advantageous  or  perni- 
cious to  him  ;  that  far  from  being  capable  of  penetrating  the  future,  the  pre- 
sent itself  escapes  him :  so  narrow  and  short  sighted  is  he,  in  all  his  views,  tha^ 
the  slightest  obstacles  can  frustrate  his  greatest  designs ;  that  the  Divinitv 
alone,  to  whom  all  ages  are  present,  can  impart  a  certain  knowledge  of  the  fu 
lure  to  him  ;  that  no  other  being  has  power  to  facilitate  the  success  of  his  enter- 
prises ;  and  that  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  he  will  guide  and  protect  those  whc 
adore  him  with  the  most  sincere  affection,  who  invoke  him  at  all  times  w^ith  the 
greatest  confidence  and  fidelity,  and  consult  hhn  with  most  sincerity  and  re 
signation. 


What  a  reproach  it  is  to  human  reason,  that  so  luminous  a  principle  shoulO 
have  given  birth  to  the  absurd  reasonings  and  wretched  notions  in  favour  of 
the  science  of  augurs  and  soothsayers,  and  been  the  occasion  of  espousing  wit}/ 
1)1  ind  devotion  the  most  ridiculous  puerilities  ;  should  have  made  the  most 
important  atlairs  of  state  depend  upon  a  bird's  happening  to  sing  upon  the 
right  or  left  hand;  upon  the  greediness  of  chickens  in  pecking  their  grain; 
^lie  inspection  of  the  entrails  of  beasts;  the  liver's  being  entire  and  in  good 
condition,  which,  according  to  them,  did  sometimes  entirely  disappear,  with- 
out leaving  any  trace  or  mark  of  its  having  ever  subsisted!  To  these  super- 
stitious observances  may  bs  added,  accidental  rencounters,  words  spoken  by 
chance,  and  afterwards  turned  into  good  or  bad  presages  ;  forebodings,  prodi- 
gies, monsters,  eclipses,  comets,  every  extraordinary  phenomenon,  every  un 
forseen  accident,  with  an  infinity  of  chimeras  of  the  like  nature. 

Whence  could  it  happen,  that  so  many  great  men,  illustrious  generals,  able 
politicians,  and  even  learned  philosophei-s,  have  actually  given  in  to  such  absurd 
imaginations  ?  Plutarch,  in  particular,  so  estimable  in  other  respects,  is  to  be 
pitied  for  his  servile  observance  of  the  senseless  customs  of  the  pagan  idolatry, 
and  his  ridiculous  credulity  in  dreams,  signs,  and  prodigies.  He  tells  us  some« 
where,  that  he  abstained  a  great  while  from  eating  eggs,  upon  account  of  a 
dream,  with  which  he  has  not  thought  fit  to  make  us  farther  acquainted.* 

Tl'e  wisest  of  the  pagans  did  not  want  a  just  sense  of  the  art  of  divination, 
and  ( ften  spoke  of  it  to  each  other,  and  even  in  public,  with  the  utmost  con-- 
tempt,  and  in  a  manner  sufnciently  expressive  of  its  ridicule.  The  grave  cei> 
sor  Cato  was  of  opinion,  that  one  soothsayer  could  not  look  at  another  without 
laughing.  Hannibal  was  amazed  at  the  simplicity  of  Prusias,  whom  he  had 
advised  to  give  battle,  upon  his  being  diverted  from  it  by  the  inspection  of  the 
enti'ails  of  a  victim.  "What,"  said  he,  "have  you  more  confidence  in  the  liver 
of  a  beast,  than  in  so  old  and  experienced  a  captain  as  I  am  ?  "  Marcellu.?. 
who  had  been  five  times  consul,  and  was  augur,  said,  that  he  had  discovered 
Si  method  of  not  being  put  to  a  stand  by  the  sinister  flight  of  birds,  which  was, 
te  keep  himself  close  shut  up  in  his  litter. 
.  Cicero  explains  hie  '^ielf  upon  augury  without  ambiguity  or  reserve.  No* 


OF  AUGURIES. 


*  S\-mp©s,  lib  it    Q.na";t.  %  p.  635. 


LNTRODUCTION. 


37 


tH)dy  was  more  capaole  of  speaking-  pertinently  upon  it  than  himself  (as  M. 
Morin  observes  in  his  dissertation  upon  the  same  subject.)  As  he  was  adopt 
ed  into  the  college  of  augurs,  he  had  made  himself  acquainted  with  the  most 
concealed  of  their  secrets,  and  had  all  possible  opportunity  of  informing  him- 
self fuily  in  their  scieiice.  That  he  did  so,  sufficiently  appears  from  the  two 
books  he  has  left  us  upon  divination,  in  v/hich  it  may  be  said  he  has  exhausted 
the  subject.  In  his  second,  wherein  he  refutes  his  brother  Quintus,  who  had 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  augurs,  he  disputes  and  defeats  his  false  reasonings 
with  a  force,  and  at  the  same  time  with  so  refined  and  delicate  a  raillery,  a? 
leaves  us  nothing  to  wish  ;  and  he  demonstiates  by  proofs,  that  rise  upon  each 
other  in  their  force,  the  falsit}^  contrariety,  and  impossibility  of  that  art.* 
But  what  is  very  surprising,  in  the  mic'st  of  all  his  arguments,  he  takes  occa- 
sion to  blame  the  generals  and  magistrates,  who  on  important  conjunctures, 
had  contemned  the  prcgnostics;  and  maintains,  that  the  use  of  them,  as  great 
an  abuse  as  it  was  in  his  ov/n  opinion,  ought  nevertheless  to  be  respected,  out 
of  regard  to  religion,  and  the  prejudice  of  the  people. 

All  that  I  have  hitherto  said,  tends  to  prove,  that  paganism  was  divided  into 
two  sects,  almost  equally  enemies  of  religion :  the  one  by  their  superstitious 
and  blind  regard  for  the  h^gurs,  and  the  other  by  their  irreligious  contempt 
and  derision  of  them. 

The  principle  of  the  first,  founded  on  one  side  upon  the  ignorance  and  weak- 
ness of  man  in  the  affairs  of  life,  and  on  the  other  upon  the  prescience  of  the 
Divinily,  and  his  almighty  providence,  was  true;  but  the  consequence  dedu- 
ced from  it,  in  regard  to  the  augurs,  false  and  absurd.  They  ought  to  have 
proved  that  ii  was  certain  the  Divinity  himself  had  established  these  external 
signs,  to  denote  his  intentions,  and  that  he  had  obliged  himself  to  a  punctual 
conformity  to  them  upon  all  occasions  ;  but  they  had  nothing  of  this  kind  in 
tl'.eir  system.  Augury  and  soothsaying,  therefore,  were  the  effect  and  inven- 
tion of*^the  ignorance,  rashness,  curiosity,  and  blind  passions  of  m.i.n.  who  pre- 
sumed to  interrogate  God,  and  would  oblige  him  to  give  answers  upc/ii  every 
idle  imagination  and  unjust  enterprise. 

The  others,  who  gave  no  real  credit  to  any  thing  advanced  by  the  science 
of  the  auguis,  did  not  fail,  however,  to  observe  their  trivial  cerem.onies,  out  of 
policy,  for  the  better  subjecting  the  minds  of  the  people  to  themselves,  and  to 
reconcile  them  to  their  own  purposes  b}^  the  assistance  of  superstition :  but  by 
their  contempt  for  auguries,  and  the  entire  conviction  of  their  falsity,  they  wei  e 
led  into  a  disbelief  of.  the  Divine  Providence,  and  to  despise  religion  itself; 
conceiving  it  inseparable  from  the  numerous  absurdities  of  this  kind,  which 
rendered  it  ridiculou*:,  and  consequently  umrorthy  a  man  of  sense. 

Both  the  one  and  the  other  behaved  in  this  manner,  because,  having  mista- 
ken the  Creator,  and  abused  the  light  of  nature,  which  might  have  taught  them 
to  know  and  to  adore  him,  they  were  deservedly  abandoned  to  their  own  dark- 
ness and  absurd  opinions ;  and,  if  we  had  not  been  enlightened  by  the  true  re- 
ligion, even  at  this  day  we  might  have  given  ourselves  up  to  the  same  super- 
stitions. 

OF  ORACLES. 

No  country  was  ever  richer  in,  or  more  productive  of  oracles,  than  Greece. 
1  shall  confine  myself  to  those  which  were  the  most  noted. 

The  oracle  of  Dodona,  a  city  of  the  Molossians,  was  much  celebrated; 
where  Jupiter  gave  answers,  either  by  vocal  oaks,  or  doves,  which  had  also 
their  language,  or  by  resounding  basins  of  brass,  or  by  the  mouths  of  priesta 
and  priestesses.! 


*  Krrabal  multis  in  rebus  antiquitas :  qua  rn  vel  usu  jarn,  veldoctrina,  velvetustate  immutatam  videmui. 
ReliKKtur  autem  et  ad  opinlonem  vulgi,  et  ad  magnas  utilitates  reip.  mos,  religio,  disciplina,  jus  aug-iirwrn, 
eollegii  auctorilas.  Nee  vero  ncn  omni  supplicio  dipni  P.  Claudius,  L.  Junius  consules,  qui  contra'^ausipj- 
tiR  navigaVunt.  Parendum  enim  full  reliirioni,  ncc  nalrius  mos  tarn  contumaciter  repudiandus. — Divm.  L 
•  n.  70,  71.  ^1 

4  C«rT»in  i«7«tf»!"i»>nti  wern  fa^ttr.  il  to  iVie  toes  of  ciks.  \*hirh  b   icir  iJ:etcn  by  the  Wrn-  M  t—Hl 


I 


tNTUOOUCTlON 

The  oracle  of  Trophonius  in  Bceotia,  Ihougli  he  was  a  mere  hero,  wa«  m 
^eat  reputation  *  After  many  preliminary  ceremonieSj  as  washing  in  the 
river,  offering  sacrifices,  drinking  a  water  called  Lethe,  from  its  quality  ot 
making  people  forget  every  thing,  the  votaries  went  down  into  his  cave,  by 
small  ladders,  through  a  very  narrow  passage.  At  the  bottom  was  another  lit- 
tle cavern,  of  which  the  entrance  was  also  very  small.  There  they  lay  down 
upon  the  ground,  with  a  certain  composition  oi  honey  in  each  hand,  which  they 
were  indispensably  obliged  to  cairy  with  them.  Their  feet  were  placed  within 
the  opening  of  the  little  cave  ;  which  was  no  sooner  done,  than  they  perceived 
themselves  borne  into  it  with  great  force  and  velocity.  Futurity  was  there  re- 
vealed to  them  ;  but  not  to  all  in  the  same  manner.  Some  saw,  others  heard 
rronders.  From  thence  they  returned  quite  stupified  and  out  of  their  senses* 
and  were  placed  in  the  chair  of  Mnemosyne,  goddess  of  memory  ;  not  without 
great  need  of  her  assistance  to  recover  their  remembrance,  after  their  great  fa- 
tigue, of  what  they  had  seen  and  heard ;  admitting  they  had  seen  or  heard 
any  thing  at  all.  Pausanias,  who  had  consulted  that  oracle  himself,  and  gone 
through  all  these  ceremonies,  has  left  a  most  ample  description  of  it,  to  which 
Plutarch  adds  some  particular  circumstances,  which  I  omit,  to  avoid  a  tedious 
prolixity.t 

The  temple  and  oracle  of  the  Branchidae,f  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mile- 
tus, so  called  from  Branchus,the  son  of  Apollo,  was  very  ancient,  and  ingrea' 
esteem  with  all  the  lonians  and  Dorians  of  Asia.  Xerxes,  in  his  return  frou* 
Greece,  burnt  this  temple,  after  the  priests  had  delivered  its  treasures  to  him 
That  prince,  in  return,  granted  them  an  establishment  in  the  remotest  part  of 
Asia,  to  secure  them  against  the  vengeance  of  the  Greeks.  After  the  war  was 
over,  the  Milesians  re-established  that  temple,  with  a  magnificence,  which,  ac- 
cording to  Strabo,  surpassed  that  of  all  the  other  temples  of  Greece.  When 
Alexander  the  Great  had  overthrown  Darius,  he  utterly  destroyed  the  city 
where  the  priests  Branchidae  had  settled,  of  which  their  descendants  were  at 
that  time  in  actual  possession,  punishing  in  the  children  the  sacrilegious  perfi 
dy  of  their  fathers. 

Tacitus  relates  something  very  singular,  though  not  very  probable,  of  the 
oracles  of  Claros,  a  town  of  Ionia,  in  Asia  Minor,  near  Colophon.  "  German- 
icus,"  says  he,  "  went  to  consult  Apollo  at  Claros.  It  is  not  a  wom.an  whc, 
gives  the  answers  there,  as  at  Delphos,  but  a  man  chosen  out  of  certain  fami- 
lies, and  almost  always  of  Miletus.  It  suffices  to  let  him  know  the  number  and 
names  of  those  who  come  to  consult  him.  After  which  he  retires  into  a  cave, 
and  having  drank  of  the  waters  of  a  spring  within  it,  he  delivers  answers  in 
verse  upon  what  the  persons  have  in  their  thoughts,  though  he  is  often  igno- 
rant, and  knows  nothing  of  composing  in  measure.  It  is  said,  that  he  foreto/d 
to  Germanicus  his  sudden  death,  but  in  d^rk  and  ambiguous  terms,  according 
to  the  custom  of  oracles. "§ 

I  omit  a  great  number  of  other  oracles,  to  proceed  to  the  most  famous  oi 
them  all.  it  is  obvious  that  I  mean  the  oracle  of  Apollo  at  Delphos.  Pie  was 
worshipped  there  under  the  name  of  the  Pythian,  a  title  derived  from  the  serpent 
Python,  which  he  had  killed,  or  from  a  Greek  word  that  signifies  to  inquire^ 
ru9icr0ai,  because  people  came  thither  to  consult  him.  From  thence  the  Delphic 
priestess  was  called  Pythia,  and  tb«  games  there  celebrated,  the  Pythian 
^mes. 

Delphos  was  an  ancient  city  of  Phocis  in  Achaia.    It  stood  upon  the  declivi 
ty,  and  about  the  middle  of  the  mountain  Parnassus,  built  upon  a  small  exteni 
of  even  ground,  and  surrounded  with  precipices,  which  fortified  it  without  the 
help  of  art.    Diodorus  says,  that  there  was  a  cavity  upon  Parnassus,  from 


other  means,  g'ave  a  confused  sound.    Servius  observes,  that  the  same  word  in  the  Thessalian  lang-uaje 

nifies  dove  and  jprophetess,  which  had  given  room  for  the  fabulous  tradition  of  doves  that  spoke,    ft  vra? 

•asy  to  make  those  brazen  basins  sound  by  some  secret  means,  and  to  <^'\yt  what  signification  they  pleased 

!o  a  confused  and  inarticulate  rotse. 
♦  Pausan.  1.  ix.  p.  90^,  601.  -f  Plut.  dc  Gen.  Soer.  p.  59a 

t  H«rod.  1.  i.  o.  157.    StreH.  1.  xlv.  p.  634.  \  Ta'^t.  ^nn-il.  1  ii.  M 


NTBODUCTION 


39 


irh^ktoe  an  exhalation  rose,  ^rhich  made  the  goats  dance  and  skip  about,  and 
intoxicated  the  brain.*  A  shepherd  having  approached  it,  out  of  adesiie  to 
know  the  causes  of  so  extraordinary  an  efi'ect,  was  immediately  seized  witii 
violent  agitations  of  body,  and  pronounced  words,  which,  without  doubt,  he 
did  not  understand  himself;  but  which,  however,  foretold  futurity.  Others 
made  the  same  experiment,and  it  was  soon  rumoured  throughout  the  neigh- 
bouring countries.  The  cavity  was  no  longer  approached  without  reverence. 
The  exhalation  was  concluded  to  have  something  divine  in  it.  A  priestess  was 
appointed  for  the  reception  of  its  effects,  and  a  tripod  placed  upon  the  vent, 
called  by  the  Latins  Cortina,  perhaps  from  the  skin  that  covered  it.j  From 
thence  she  gave  her  oracles.  The  city  of  Delphos  rose  insensibly  round  about 
this  cave,  where  a  temple  was  erected,  which  at  length  became  very  maenifi- 
cent»  The  reputation  of  this  oracle  almost  effaced,  or  at  least  very  much  ex- 
ceeded, that  of  all  others. 

At  first  a  single  Pythia  sufficed  to  answer  those  who  came  to  consult  the  ora- 
cle, not  yet  amounting  to  any  great  number  :  but  in  process  of  time,  when  it 
g;rew  info  universal  repute,  a  second  was  appointed  to  mount  the  tripod  al- 
ternately with  the  first,  and  a  third  chosen  to  succeed  in  case  of  death  or  dis- 
ease. There  were  other  assistants  besides  these  to  attend  the  Pythia  in  the 
lanctuary,  of  whom  the  most  considerable  were  called  prophets ;  J  it  was 
their  business  to  take  care  of  the  sacrifices,  and  to  inspect  the  victims.  To 
these  the  demands  of  the  inquirers  were  delivered,  either  by  word  of  mouth, 
or  in  writing,  and  they  returned  the  answers,  as  we  sliall  see  in  the  sequel. 

We  must  not  confound  the  Pythia  with  the  Sibyl  of  Delphos.  The  ancients 
represent  tFie  latter  as  a  woman  that  roved  from  countiy  to  country, uttering 
her  predictions.  She  was  at  the  same  time  the  Sibyl  of  Delphos,  Erythra?, 
Babylon,  CuniJB,  and  many  other  places,  from  her  having  resided  in  them  all. 

The  Pythia  could  iiot  prophesy  till  she  was  intoxicated  by  the  exhalation 
from  the  sanctuary.  This  miraculous  vapour  had  not  that  effect  at  all  times, 
and  upon  all  occasions.  The  god  was  not  always  in  the  inspiring  humour. 
At  first  he  imparted  himself  only  once  a  year,  but  at  length  he  was  prevailed 
upon  to  visit  the  Pythia  every  month.  All  days  were  not  proper,  and  upon 
some  it  was  not  permi  .ted  to  consult  the  oracle.  These  unfortunate  days  occa- 
sioned an  oracle's  being  given  to  Alexander  the  Great,  worthy  of  remark.  He 
went  to  Delphos  to  consult  the  god,  at  a  time  when  the  priestess  pretended  it 
was  forbidden  to  ask  him  any  questions,  and  would  not  enter  the  temple.  Alex- 
ander, who  was  always  warm  and  tenacious,  took  hold  of  her  by  the  arm  to  force 
her  into  it,  when  she  cried  out,  Ah,  my  son,  you  are  not  to  be  resisted!  or,  my 
son  you  are  invincible!^  Upon  which  v/ords,  he  declared  he  w^ould  have  no 
other  oracle,  and  was  contented  with  what  he  had  received. 

The  Pythia,  before  she  ascended  the  tripod,  was  a  long_^tim-e  preparing  for 
it  by  sacrifices,  purifications,  a  fast  of  three  days,  and  many  other  ceremonies 
The  god  denoted  his  approach  by  the  moving  of  a  laurel,  that  stood  before 
the  gate  of  the  temple,  which  shook  also  to  its  very  foundations. 

As  soon  as  the  divine  vapour,||  like  a  penetrating  fire,  had  diffused  itself 
through  the  entrails  of  the  priestess,  her  hair  stood  upright  upon  her  head,  her 
looks  grew  wild  and  furious,  she  foamed  at  the  mouth,  a  sudden  and  v^iolenV 
trembling  seized  her  whole  body,  with  all  the  symptoms  of  distraction  and 
frenzy.1T    She  uttered  at  intervals  some  words  almost  inarticulate,  which  the 


•  Lib.  XIV.  p.  427,  428.  j  Corium.  }  ITf  oqsnTai,  \  AvtxvovTO  $£T»  5  rraV, 

jj  Cui  talia  facti 

Ante  fores,  snbito  dod  vultus.  non  color  unus, 
Non  comtae  mansere  coinae ;  sed  pectus  anhelum, 
Et  rabie  fera  corda  tument ;  majorque  videri, 
Nec  mortals  sonans:  afflata  est  niimine  quando 
Jam  propiore  del.  Vir^.  ^^n.  1.  vi.  v.  46 — 51, 

V  Amon^  the  various  marks  which  God  has  given  us  in  the  Scriptures  to  disting-uish  his  oracles  fro  bp  theK 
>f  the  devi!,  the  fury  or  madness,  attributed  by  Virgil  to  the  Pythia,  "et  rabie  fera  corda  tument,"  is  OM. 
t  it  I,  •«¥•  Gi«d,  thai  «how  the  falsehood  of  ihc  diviner's  predictions,  and  give  to  such  as  '^•▼ioe  th« 


40 


INTRODUCTIOK. 


prophets  carefully  collected.  After  she  had  been  a  certain  time  upon  the  tri 
pod,  she  was  re-conducted  to  4rer  cell,  where  she  generally  continued  many 
days,  to  recover  from  her  fatigue  ;  and  as  Lucan  says,  a  sudden  death  wasoftei 
f»itner  the  reward  or  punishment  of  her  enthusiasm.* 

*•  Nnmlnis  aut  poena  est  mors  inamatura  recepti, 
Autpretium." 

The  prophets  had  poets  under  them,  who  made  the  oracles  into  verses, 
which  were  often  bad  enough,  and  gave  occasion  to  say,  it  was  very  surprising 
that  Apollo,  who  presided  over  the  choir  of  the  muses,  should  inspire  his  pro- 
phetess no  better.  But  Plutarch  informs  us,  that  the  god  did  not  compose  the 
verses  of  the  oracle.  He  inflamed  the  Pythia's  imagination,  and  kindled  in 
ner  soul  that  living  light,  which  unveiled  all  futurity  to  her.  The  words  she 
uttered  in  the  heat  of  her  enthusiasm,  having  neither  method  nor  connexion, 
and  coming  only  by  starts,  to  use  that  expression,!  from  the  bottom  of  her 
stomach,  or  rather  from  her  belly,  were  collected  with  care  by  the  prophets, 
who  gave  them  afterwards  to  the  poets  to  be  turned  into  verse.  These  Apollo 
left  to  their  own  genius  and  natural  talents  ;  as  we  may  suppose  he  did  the 
Pythia,  when  she  composed  verses,  which,  though  not  often,  happened  some- 
times.  The  substance  of  the  oracle  was  inspired  by  Apollo,  the  manner  of  ex- 
pressing it  was  the  priestess's  own;  the  oracles  were,  however,  often  given  in 
prose.  . 

The  general  characteristics  of  oracles  were  ambiguity,  obscurity,  and  con- 
vertibility, to  use  that  expression,  so  that  one  answer  would  agree  with  seve- 
ral various,  and  sometimes  directly  opposite  events.^  By  the  help  of  this  arti- 
fice, the  demons,  who  of  themselves  are  not  capable  of  Knowing  futurity,  con- 
cealed their  ignorance,  and  amused  the  credulity  of  the  pagan  world.  When 
Croesus  was  upon  the  point  of  invading  the  Medes,  he'  consulted  the  oracle  of 
Delphos  upon  the  success  of  that  war,  and  was  answered,  that  by  passing  the 
river  Halys,  he  would  ruin  a  great  empire.  What  empire,  his  own,  or  that 
of  his  enemies  ?  He  was  to  guess  that ;  but  whatever  the  event  might  be,  the 
oracle  could  not  fail  of  being  in  the  right.  As  much  may  be  said  upon  the 
same  god's  answer  to  Pyrrhus : 

Aio  te,  ^acida,  Romanos  vincere  posse. 

I  repeat  it  in  Latin,  because  the  equivocality,  which  equally  implies,  that 
Pyrrhus  could  conquer  the  Romans,  or  the  Romans  Pyrrhus,  will  not  sub- 
sist in  a  translation.  Under  the  cover  of  such  ambiguities,  the  god  eluded  all 
difficulties,  and  was  never  in  the  wrong. 

It  must,  however,  be  confessed,  that  sometimes  the  answer  of  the  oracle  was 
clear  and  circumstantial.  I  have  related  in  the  histoiy  of  Crcesus,  the  strata- 
gem he  made  use  of  to  assure  himself  of  the  veracity  of  the  oracle,  ^vhich 
was  to  demand  of  it,  by  his  am.bassador,  what  he  was  doing  at  a  certain  time 
prefixed.  The  oracle  of  Delphos  replied,  that  he  was  causing  a  tortoise  and 
a  lamb  to  be  dressed  in  a  vessel  of  brass,  which  was  really  so.§  The  empe- 
ror Trajan  made  a  similar  trial  of  the  god  at  Heliopolis,  by  sending  him  a  let- 
ter sealed  up,  to  which  he  demanded  an  answer.il    The  oracle  made  no  othi^ 


tzons  of  fury  and  madness  ;  or,  according  to  Isa.  xlir.  25.  "  that  fruatrateth  tlie  tokens  of  the  liar,  and  ma- 
keth  diviner's  mad.  Instead  of  which,  the  prophets  of  the  true  God  constantly  give  the  divine  answeri 
in  aa  equal  and  calm  tone  of  voice,  and  with  a  noble  tranquillity  of  behaviour.  Another  distinguishing 
/  mark  is,  the  demons  giving  their  oracles  in  secret  places, by-ways,  and  in  the  obscurity  of  caves;  whereai 
God  gave  his  in  open  day,  and  before  all  the  world  :  "  I  have  not  spoken  in  secret,  in  a  dark  place  of  the 
•arth,"  Isa.  xlr.  19.  "  I  have  not  spoken  in  secret  from  the  beginning,"  Isa.  xlvili.  16.  So  that  God  did 
tot  permit  the  devil  to  imitate  his  oracles,  without  imposing  such  conditions  upon  him,  as  might  distinguish 
between  the  true  and  false  inspiration. 

*  Lib.  V.  t  'E.yyaicrr^liJivhs' 

X  Quod  si  aliquis  diierlt  multa  ab  idolis  esse  prsidicta;  hoc  sciendum,  quod  semper  mendacium  junxe 
rint  veritati,  ct  sic  sententias  temperarint,  ut,  seu  boni  sen  mali  quid  accidissit,  utrumqac  possit  intelligi 
Hierooym.  in  cap.  xlii.  Isaias.    He  cites  the  two  examples  of  Croesus  and  Pyrrhus. 

}  Macrob.  1.  i.    Saturnal.  c.  xxiii. 

SOne  method  of  consultlDv  the  oi'acle  was  by  sealed  letters,  which  were  laid  upon  tha  altur  of  tht 
unopcQtd. 


INTRODLKri'KxN  ^  j 

retun-,  than  to  command  a  blank  paper,  well  folded  and  sealed,  to  be  deliver- 
ed to  him.  Trajan,  upon  the  receipt  of  it,  was  struck  with  amazement  to  see 
an  answer  so  correspondent  with  his  own  letter,  in  which  he  knew  he  had  writ- 
ten nothing.  The  wonderful  facility  with  which  demons  can  transfer  them- 
selves almost  in  an  instant  from  place  to  place,  made  it  not  impossible  foi 
them  to  give  the  two  related  answers,  and  seem  to  foretell  in  one  country  whaf 
they  had  seen  in  another ;  this  is  Tertullian's  opinion.* 

Admitting  it  to  be  true,  that  some  oracles  have  been  followed  precisely  by 
the  events  foretold,  we  may  believe,  that  God,  to  punish  the  blind  and  sacri- 
legious credulity  of  the  pagans,  has  sometimes  permitted  demons  to  have  s 
knowledge  of  things  to  come,  and  to  foretell  them  distinctly  enough.  Which 
conduct  of  God,  though  very  much  above  human  comprehension,  is  frequently 
attested  in  the  holy  Scriptures. 

It  has  been  questioned,  whether  the  oracles,  mentioned  in  profane  history, 
should  be  ascribed  to  the  operations  of  demons,  or  only  to  the  malignity  and 
imposture  of  men.  Vandale,  a  Dutch  physician,  has  maintained  the  latter 
and  Monsieur  Fontenelle,  when  a  young  man,  adopted  that  opinion,  in  the  per 
suasion,  to  use  his  own  words,  that  it  was  indifferent,  as  to  the  truth  of  Chris 
tianity,  whether  the  oracles  were  the  effect  of  the  agency  of  spirits,  or  a  series 
of  impostures.  Father  Baltus,  the  Jesuit,  professor  of  the  holy  Scriptures  in 
the  university  of  Stratsburg,  has  refuted  them  both  in  a  very  solid  treatise, 
wherein  he  demonstrates  invincibly,  with  the  unanimous  authority  of  the  fa- 
thers, that  demons  were  the  real  agents  in  the  oracles.  He  attacks,  with  equal 
force  and  success,  the  rashness  and  presumption  of  the  anabaptist  physician, 
ivho,  calling  in  question  the  capacity  and  discernment  of  the  holy  doctors,  ab- 
surdly endeavours  to  efface  the  high  idea  which  all  true  believers  have  of 
those  great  leaders  of  the  church,  and  to  depreciate  their  venerable  authority, 
which  is  so  great  a  difficulty  to  all  who  deviate  from  the  prmciples  of  ancient 
tradition.  ^  Now  if  that  was  ever  certain  and  uniform  in  any  thing,  it  is  so 
in  this  point ;  for  all  the  fathers  of  the  church,  and  ecclesiastical  writers  of 
every  age,  maintain  and  attest,  that  the  devil  was  the  author  of  idolatry  in 
general,  and  of  oracles  in  particular. 

This  opinion  does  not  prevent  our  believing,  that  the  priests  and  priestesses 
were  frequently  guilty  of  fraud  and  imposture  in  the  answers  of  the  oracles. 
For  is  not  the  devil  the  father  and  prince  of  lies  ?  In  Grecian  history  we  have 
seen  more  than  once  the  Delphic  priestess  suffer  herself  to  be  coriupted  by 
presents.  It  was  from  that  motive  she  persuaded  the  Lacedaemonians  to  as- 
sist the  people  of  Athens  in  the  expulsion  of  the  thirty  tyrants ;  that  she  caused 
Demaratus  to  be  divested  of  the  royal  dignity,  to  make  way  for  Cleomenes  , 
and  dressed  up  an  oracle  to  support  the  imposture  of  Lysander,  when  he  en- 
deavoured to  change  the  succession  to  the  throne  of  Sparta.  And  I  am  apt  to 
believe,  that  Themistocles,  who  well  knew  the  importance  of  acting  against 
the  Persians  by  sea,  inspired  the  god  with  the  answer  he  gave,  to  defend  them- 
selves with  walls  of  wood,'\  Demosthenes,  convinced  that  the  oracles  were  fre- 
quently suggested  by  passion  or  interest,  and  suspecting,  with  reason,  that 
F^hilip  had  instructed  them  to  speak  in  his  favour,  boldly  declared  that  the 
Vyfiih  p/uUvpized,  and  bade  the  Athenians  and  Thebans  remember,  that  Peri- 
cles and^Epaminondas,  instead  of  listening  to,  and  amusing  themselves  with, 
the  frivolous  answers  of  the  oracle,  those  idle  bugbears  of  the  base  and  cow- 
ardly,  consulted  only  reason  in  the  choice  and  execution  of  their  measures. 

1  he  same  father  Baltus  examines,  with  equal  success,  the  cessation  of  ora- 
des,  a  secoj'i  point. in  the  dispute.  Mr.  Vandale,  to  oppose  with  some  advan- 
tage a  truth  io  glorious  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  subverter  of  idolatry,  had  falsified 


*  Oinsis  splritiis  ales.  Hoc  et  Rn^eli  et  aaimon-'?,.  l-'iUir  moment.;  iibique  sunt:  tgtus  orbis  His  locut 
musest:  quid  ubi  g-eratur  tam  facile  scinnt.  quam  (w  nntirnt.  ydocitas  divinitas  creditur,  quia  substantia 
^ooratDF.  C«terum  testudinem  decoqui  cum  carnlbus  pecudis  PytE»  us  eo  modo  renunciaviL,  quo  Mipri 
l**-ui.u«.    Momcato  apud  Lydlam  fuerat  — Tertiil.  in  Apolog. 

t  riut.  ift  Dfmo5th.  p.  Rfvt  ^ 


mXRODUCTION. 

the  sense  of  the  fathers,  by  making  them  say,*  that  oracles  ceased  precisely 

the  moment  of  Chrisfs  birth.  The  learned  apologii?t  for  the  fathers  shows,  that 
all  they  allege  is,  that  oracles  did  not  cease  till  after  our  Saviour's  birth,  and 
the  preaching  of  his  gospel ;  not  on  a  sudden,  but  in  proportion  as  his  salutary 
doctrines  became  knowTi  to  mankind,  and  gained  ground  in  the  world.  This 
unanimous  opinion  of  the  fathers  is  confirmed  by  the  unexceptionable  evidence 
of  great  numbers  of  the  pagans,  who  agree  with  them  as  to  the  time  when  the 
oracles  ceased. 

What  an  honour  to  the  Christian  religion  was  this  silence  imposed  upon  the 
oracles  by  the  victory  of  Jesus  Christ  !  Every  Christian  had  this  power. 
Tert'\llian,  in  one  of  his  apologies,  challenges  the  pagans  to  make  the  experi- 
ment, and  consents  that  a  Christian  should  be  put  to  death,  if  he  did  not  oblige 
these  givers  of  oracles  to  confe«i^«  themselves  devils.*  Lactantius  informs  ui?, 
that  every  Christian  could  silence  them  by  the  sign  of  the  cross,  j  And  all 
the  world  knows,  that  when  Julian  the  Apostate  was  at  Daphne,  a  suburb  of 
Antioch,  to  consult  Apollo,  the  god,  notwithstanding  all  the  sacrifices  offered 
to  him,  continued  mute,  and  only  recovered  his  speech  to  answer  those  who 
inquired  the  cause  of  his  silence,  that  they  must  ascribe  it  to  the  interiner  t  of 
certain  bodies  in  the  neighbourhood.  Those  w^ere  the  bodies  of  Chri*  tian 
martyrs,  among  which  was  that  of  St.  Babylas. 

This  triumph  of  the  Christian  religion,  ought  to  give  us  a  due  sense  of  our 
obligations  to  Jesus  Christ,  and,  at  .the  same  time,  of  the  darkness  to  which  all 
mankind  were  abandoned  before  his  coming.  We  have  seen  among  the  Car- 
thaginians, fathers  and  mothers  more  cruel  than  wild  beasts,  inhumanly  giving 
up  their  children,  and  annually  depopulating  their  cities,  by  destroying  the 
most  florid  of  their  youth,  in  obedience  to  the  bloody  dictates  of  their  oracles 
and  false  gods. J  The  victims  were  chosen  without  any  regard  to  rank,  sex, 
age,  or  condition.  Such  bloody  executions  were  honoured  with  the  name  of 
sacrifices,  and  designed  to  make  the  gods  propitious.  "  Wliat  greater  evil,'' 
cries  Lactantius,  "  could  they  inflict  in  their  most  violent  displeasure,  than  to 
deprive  their  adorers  of  all  sense  of  humanity,  to  make  them  cut  the  throats 
of  their  own  children,  and  pollute  their  sacrilegious  hands  with  such  execrable 
parricides!" 

A  thousand  frauds  and  impostures,  openly  detected  at  Delphos,  and  every 
where  else,  had  not  opened  men's  eyes,  nor  in  the  least  diminished  the  credit 
of  the  oracles,  which  subsisted  upwards  of  two  thousand  years,  and  Avas  car- 
ried to  an  inconceivable  height,  even  in  the  mJnds  of  the  greatest  men,  the  most 
profound  philosophers,  the  most  powerful  princes,  and  generally  among  the 
most  civilized  nations,  and  such  as  valued  themselves  most  upon  their  wisdom 
and  policy.  The  estimation  they  were  in  may  be  judged  Irom  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  temple  of  Delphos,  and  the  immense  riches  amassed  in  it,  through 
the  superstitious  credulity  of  nations  and  monarchs. 

The  temple  of  Delphos  having  been  burnt  about  the  fifty-eighth  Olympiad, 
the  Amphyctions,  those  celebrated  judges  of  Greece,  took  upon  themselves 
the  care  of  rebuilding  it.§  They  agreed  with  an  architect  for  300  talents, 
which  amounts  to  900,000  livres.||  The  cities  of  Greece  were  to  furnish  that 
sum.  The  inhabitants  of  Delphos  were  taxed  a  fourth  part  of  it,  and  collect* 
ed  contributions  in  all  parts,  even  in  foreign  nations,  for  that  purpose.  Ama- 
sis,  at  that  time  king  of  Egypt,  and  the  Grecian  inhabitants  of  his  countiy,  con- 
tributed considerable  sums  towards  it.  The  Alcmaeonidae,  a  potent  family  of 
Athens,  were  charged  with  the  conduct  of  the  building,  and  made  it  more  mag^ 


*  Tertull.  in  /  r)oloo-.  \  Inh.  de  Vera  Sapient,  c.  xxvii. 

J  Tarn  barbaros,  tarn  immanea  fuisse  homines,  ut  parricidium  suum,  id  est  letrum  atque  execrabile  bu- 
mano  generi  facinus,  saerificium  vocarent.    Cum  teneras  atque  innocentes  animas,  qur»;  maximfe  est  ajtai 

J>arentibus  dulcior,  sine  nllo  respeclu  pielalls  extinguerunl,  immanitatemque  omnium  bestiarum,  qua?  tamen 
OBtus  8U08  amxnt,  feritaie  superarent.  O  dementiam  insanabilem  !  Q,uid  il'is  isti  dii  amplius  facere  po»- 
•ent,  fi  es«ent  iralisslmi,  quam  faclunt  propitii  ?  Cum  suos  cultorcs  parricidiia  inquiaant,  orbil*tibui  ina> 
tent,  bumanis  sensibus  spoliant. — Lactant.  1.  i.  c.  "Jl, 

6  Herod.  I.  ii.  c.  180.  &  1.  v.  c.  6Q  ||  About  QVn.'iSQ. 


Un-ROUUCTION 


43 


ttificent,  by  considerable  additions  of  their  own,  than  had  been  proposed  m 
the  model. 

Gyges,  king  of  Lydia,  and  Croesus,  one  of  his  successors,  enriched  the  tem- 
ple of  Delphos  with  an  incredible  number  of  presents.  JVIany  other  princes, 
cities,  and  private  persons,  by  their  example,  in  a  kind  of  emulation  of  each 
other,  had  heaped  up  in  it,  tripods,  vessels,  tables,  shields,  crowns,  chariots, 
and  statues  of  gold  and  silver  of  all  sizes,  equally  infinite  in  number  and  value. 
The  presents  of  gold,  which  Croesus  alone  made  to  this  temple,  amounted, 
ucoiding  to  Herodotus,*  to  upwards  of  254  talents,  that  is,  about  762,000 
French  livres  ;  t  and  perhaps  those  of  silver  to  as  much.  Most  of  these  pre- 
sents were  existing  in  the  time  of  Herodotus.  Diodorus  Siculus,  t  adding 
(hose  of  other  princes  to  them,  makes  their  amount  ten  thousand  talents,  or 
thirty  millions  of  livres.  § 

Among  the  statues  of  gold,  consecrated  by  Croesus  in  the  temple  of  Delphos, 
was  placed  that  of  a  female  baker  ;  ||  the  occasion  of  which  was  this  ;  Alyat- 
tus,  Croesus'  father,  having  married  a  second  wife,  by  whom  he  had  children, 
she  laid  a  plan  to  get  rid  of  her  son-in-law,  that  the  crown  might  descend  to  her 
own  issue.  For  this  purpose,  she  engaged  the  female  baker  to  put  poison  into 
a  loaf  that  was  to  be  served  at  the  young  prince's  table.  The  woman  who  was 
Ftruck  with  horror  at  the  crime,  in  which  she  ought  to  have  had  no  part  at  all, 
gave  Croesus  notice  of  it.  The  poisoned  loaf  was  served  to  the  queen's  own 
children,  and  their  death  secured  the  crown  to  the  lawful  successor.  When  he 
ascended  the  throne,  in  gratitude  to  his  benefactress,  he  erected  a  statue  to  her 
in  the  temple  of  Delphos.  But  may  we  conclude  that  a  person  of  so  mean  a 
condition  could  deserve  so  great  an  honour  ?  Plutarch  answers  in  the  affirma- 
tive ;  and  with  a  much  better  title,  he  says,  than  many  of  the  so  much  vaunted 
conquerors  and  heroes,  who  have  acquired  their  fame  only  by  murder  and  de- 
vastation. 

It  is  not  surprising,  that  such  immense  riches  should  tempt  the  avarice  of 
mankind,  and  expose  Delphos  to  being  frequently  pillaged.  Withvout  men- 
tioning more  ancient  times,  Xerxes,  who  invaded  Greece  with  a  million  of  men, 
endeavoured  to  seize  upon  the  spoils  of  this  temple.  Above  a  hundred  years 
after,  the  Phoceans,  near  neighbours  of  Delphos,  plundered  it  ,^1  several  times. 
The  same  rich  booty  was  the  sole  mKive  of  the  irruption  of  Gauls  into 
Greece,  under  Brennus.  The  guardian  god  of  Delphos,  if  we  may  believe 
historians,  sometimes  defended  this  temple  by  surprising  prodigies ;  and  at 
others,  either  from  impotence  or  confusion,  suffered  himself  to  be  plundered. 
When  Nero  made  this  temple,  so  famous  throughout  the  universe,  a  visit,  and 
found  in  it  five  hundred  brass  statues  of  illustrious  men  and  gods  to  his  liking, 
which  had  been  consecrated  to  Apollo,  (those  of  gold  and  silver  having  un- 
doubtedly disappeared  upon  his  approach,)  he  ordered  thena  to  be  taken  dovvn 
and,  shipping  them  on  board  his  vessels,  carried  them  with  him  to  Rome. 
^  Those  who  would  be  more  particularly  informed  concerning  the  oracles  and 
riches  of  the  temple  of  Delphos,  may  consult  some  dissertations  upon  this  sub- 

i'ect  printed  in  the  memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Belles  Lettres^^  of  which  I 
lave  made  good  use,  according  to  my  custom. 

OF  THE  GAMES  AND  COMBATS 

Games  and  combats  made  a  part  of  the  religion,  and  had  a  share  in  almo^ 
til  the  festivals  of  the  ancients  ;  and  for  that  reason,  it  is  proper  to  treat  oi 
them  in  this  place.  Whether  we  consider  their  origin,  or  the  design  of  theii 
institution,  we  shall  not  be  surprised  at  their  being  so  much  practised  in  tlie 
oest  governed  states. 

Hercules,  Theseus,  Castor,  and  Pollux,  and  the  greatest  heroes  of  antiquity, 
irere  not  only  the  institutors  or  restorers  of  them,  but  thought  it  glorious  te/ 


*  Herotl.  1.  i.  o.  50,  51.  f  About  $140,970.  +  Diod  1.  xvi.  p  453 

i  About  j85,7T2,000.  |]  Plut.  de  Pjth.  Orac.  p.  401.       If  Vol.  III. 


44 


UVTRODUenON. 


«hare  m  the  exercise  of  ihem,  and  meritorious  to  succeed  therein.    The  suh- 

duers  of  monsters,  and  of  the  common  enemies  of  mankind,  thought  it  no 
disgrace  to  them  to  aspire  to  the  victories  in  these  combats;  nor  that  the  nev* 
wreaths,  with  which  their  brows  were  encircled  on  the  solemnization  of  these 
p^ames,  took  any  lustre  from  those  they  had  before  acquired.  Hence  tlie 
most  famous  poets  made  these  combats  the  subject  of  their  verses ;  the  beauty 
of  whose  poetry,  while  it  immortalized  themselves,  seemed  to  promise  an 
eternity  of  fame  to  those  whose  victories  it  so  divinely  celebrated.  Hence 
arose  that  uncommon  ardour  which  animated  all  Greece  to  imitate  the  ancient 
heroes,  and,  like  them,  to  signalize  themselves  in  the  public  combats. 

A  reason  more  solid,  which  results  from  the  nature  of  these  combats,  and 
01  the  people  who  used  them,  may  be  given  for  their  prevalence.  The  Greeks. 
by  nature  warlike,  and  equally  intent  upon  forming  the  bodies  and  minds  of 
their  youth,  introduced  these  exercises,  and  annexed  honours  to  them,  in  order 
to  prepare  the  younger  sort  for  the  profession  of  arms,  to  confirm  their  health, 
to  render  them  stronger  and  more  robust,  to  inure  them  to  fatigues,  and  to  make 
them  intrepid  in  close  fight,  in  which,  the  use  of  fire-arms  being  then  unknown, 
the  strength  of  body  generally  decided  the  victory.  These  athletic  exercises 
supplied  the  place  of  those  in  use  among  our  nobility,  as  dancing,  fencing, 
riding  the  great  horse,  &c. ;  but  they  did  not  confine  themselves  to  a  graceful 
mien,  nor  to  the  beauties  of  a  shape  and  face ;  they  were  for  joining  strength 
to  the  charms  of  person. 

It  is  true,  these  exercises,  so  illustrious  by  their  founders,  and  so  useful  in  the 
ends  at  first  proposed  from  them,  introduced  public  masters,  who  taught  them 
to  young  persons,  and,  practising  them  with  success,  made  public  show  and 
ostentation  of  their  skill.  This  sort  of  men  applied  themselves  solely  to  the 
practice  of  this  art,  and,  carrying  it  to  an  excess,  they  formed  it  into  a  kind  of 
science,  by  the  addition  of  rules  and  refinements,  often  challenging  each  other 
out  of  a  vain  emulation,  till  at  length  they  degenerated  into  a  profession  of 
people,  who,  without  any  other  employment  of  merit,  exhibited  themselves 
as  a  sight  for  the  diversion  of  the  public.  Our  dancing-masters  are  not  unlike 
them  in  this  respect,  whose  natural  and  original  designation  was  to  teach  youth 
a  graceful  manner  of  walking,  and  a  good  address ;  but  now  we  see  them 
mount  the  stage,  and  perform  ballets  in  ^he  garb  of  comedians,  capering,  jump- 
ing, skipping,  and  making  a  variety  of  strange  unnatural  m^otions.  We  shall 
see,  in  the  sequel,  what  opinion  the  ancients  had  of  their  professed  combatants 
and  wresding  masters. 

There  were  four  kinds  of  games  solemnized  in  Greece.  The  Olympic^  so 
called  from  Olympia,  otherwise  Pisa,  a  town  of  Elis  in  Peloponnesus,  near 
which  they  were  celebrated  after  the  expiration  of  every  four  years,  in  hon- 
our of  Jupiter  Olympius.  The  Pythic^  sacred' to  Apollo  Pythius,*"  so  called 
from  the  serpent  Python  killed  by  him ;  they  w^ere  celebrated  at  Delphos 
every  four  years.  The  NemcEan^  which  took  their  name  from  Nem.ae,  a  city 
and  forest  of  Peloponnesus,  and  were  either  instituted  or  restored  by  Hercu- 
les, after  he  had  slain  the  lion  of  the  Nemeean  forest.  They  were  solemnized 
every  two  years.  And  lastly,  the  Isthmian^  celebrated  upon  the  isthmus  of 
Corinth,  every  four  years,  in  honour  of  Neptune.  Theseus  was  the  restorer 
of  them,  and  they  continued  even  after  the  ruin  of  Corinth. t  That  persons 
might  be  present  at  these  public  sports  with  greater  quiet  and  security,  there 
was  a  general  suspension  of  arms,  and  cessation  of  hostilities,  throughout  all 
Greece,  during  the  time  of  their  celebration. 

In  these  games,  which  were  solemnized  with  incredible  magnificence,  and 
drew  together  a  prodigious  coiKourse  of  spectators  from  all  parts,  a  simple 
wreath  was  all  the  reward  of  ilie  victors.  In  the  Olympic  games  it  w^as  com- 
posed of  wild  olive  ;  in  the  Pythic,  of  laurel ;  in  the  Nema^an,  of  g'-een  pars- 
ley ;j:  and  in  the  Isthmian,  ot  the  sam.e  herb  dried.    The  insti tutors  of  these 


•  Several  n  asfMU  arf  g-)"t»ti  for  tl.ls  n»ruc. 


*  Paul.  1.  ii.  p.  3r« 


INTRODUCTION 


45 


games  implied  from  thence,  that  only  honour,  and  not  mean  and  sordid  inte* 
rest  ought  to  be  the  motive  of  great  actions.  Of  what  were  men  not  capa- 
ble, accustomed  to  act  solety  from  so  glorious  a  principle  We  have  seen 
in  the  Persian  war,  that  Tigranes,  one  of  the  most  considerable  c.ptains  in 
the  army  of  Xerxes,  having  heard  the  prizes  in  the  Grecian  games  described, 
cried  out  with  astonishment,  addressing  himself  to  Mardonius  who  commanded 
in  chief,  Heavens!  against  what  men  are  you  leading  us  ^  insensille  to  interest^ 
they  combat  only  for  glory!]  Which  exclamation,  though  looked  upon  by 
Xerxes  as  an  effect  of  abject  fear,  abounds  with  sense  and  judgment. 

It  was  from  the  same  principle  the  Romans,  while  they  bestowed  upon 
oiher  occasions,  crowns  of  gold  of  great  value,  persisted  always  in  givi«r 
only  a  wreath  of  oaken  leaves  to  him  who  had  saved  the  life  of  a  citizen.  "  O 
manners,  worthy  of  eternal  remembrance!"  cried  Pliny,  in  relating  this  laud- 
able custom ;  ''O  grandeur,  truly  Roman,  that  would  assign  no  other  reward 
but  honour,  for  the  preservation  of  a  citizen  !  a  service,  indeed,  above  all 
reward;  thereby  sufficiently  evincing  their  opinion,  that  it  was  criminal  to 
save  a  man's  life  from  the  motive  of  lucre  and  interest  !"j;  0  mores  aiternos^ 
que  tanta  opera  honore  solo  donaverint ;  ei  cum  reliquas  coronas  auro  comment 
darent^  salutem  civis  in  pretio  esse  noluerint^  clara  professione  servari  quidem 
horninem  nefas  esse  lucri  causa ! 

Among  all  the  Grecian  games,  the  Olympic  held  undeniably  the  first  rank, 
and  that  for  three  reasons  :  they  were  sacred  to  Jupiter,  the  greatest  of  the 
gods  ;  instituted  by  Hercules,  the  first  of  the  heroes  ;  and  celebrated  with 
more  pomp  and  magnificence,  amidst  a  greater  concourse  of  spectators,  at- 
tracted from  all  parts,  than  any  of  the  rest. 

If  Pausanias  may  be  believed,  women  were  prohibited  to  be  present  at 
them  upon  pain  of  death  ;  and  during  their  continuance,  it  was  ordained,  that 
no  woman  should  approach  the  place  where  the  games  were  celebrated,  or 
pass  on  that  side  of  the  river  Alpheus.  One  only  was  so  bold  as  to  violate 
this  law,  and  slipped  in  disguise  among  the  combatants.  She  was  tried  for 
the  offence,  and  would  have  suffered  for  it,  according  to  the  law,  if  the  judges, 
in  regard  to  her  father,  her  brother,  and  her  son,  who  had  all  been  victors  in 
the  Olympic  games,  had  not  pardoned  her  offence  and  saved  her  life.§ 

This  law  was  perfectly  conformable  to  the  Grecian  manners,  among  whom 
the  ladies  were  very  reserved,  seldom  appeared  in  public,  had  separate 
apartments,  called  Gyncecea^  and  never  ate  at  table  with  the  men  when 
strangers  were  present.  It  was  certainly  inconsistent  with  decency  to  admit 
Ihem  at  some  of  the  games,  as  those  of  wrestling,  and  the  Pancratium,  in 
which  the  combatants  fought  naked. 

The  same  Pausanias  tells  us  in  another  place,  that  the  priestess  of  Ceres 
had  an  honourable  seat  in  these  games,  and  that  virgins  were  not  denied  the 
liberty  of  being  present  at  them.||  For  my  part,  I  "cannot  conceive  the  rea- 
son^of  such  inconsistency,  which  indeed  seems  incredible. 

The  Greeks  thought  nothing  comparable  to  the  victory  in  these  games. 
They  looked  upon  it  as  the  perfection  of  glory,  and  did  not  believe  it  permit* 
ted  to  mortals  to  desire  any  thing  beyond  it.  Cicero  assures  us,  that  witlr 
them  it  was  no  less  honourable  than  the  consular  dignity  in  its  original  splen* 
dour  with  the  ancient  Romans.H  And  in  another  jplace  he  says,  that  to  con- 
quer at  Olympia  ^^as  almost,  in  the  estimation  of  the  Grecians,  more  great 
and  fflorious,  than  to  receive  the  honour  of  a  triumph  at  Rome.*'*  Horace 
speaks  in  still  stronger  terms  upon  this  kind  of  victory.    He  is  not  afraid  to 


*  Herod.  1.  viii.  c.  26. 

t^TTaTrai  M(x^d6vi£,  x6ivovs  \ir'  SivS^as  ^yayBs  ixaxriaoyLivas,  rj/ijai.  o7  k  rEji  xf^ipia.  tuv  tov  dywva 

m-  ^,      ^-  ^'         ^'  ^'  5  Pausan.  1.  v.  p.  297.  ||  Pausan.  1.  vi.  p.  592. 

IT  Olympiorum  victona,  Grccis  consulatus  ille  antiquus  videbatur  TuscuU  Quest,  lib.  ii.  n.  41. 

•*  Olympionicura  esse  apud  Grapcis  prope  majus  fuit  et  glorioaus,  quam  Romr  triumphasse.—Pro  FUo^ 
mm.  uixi- 


46 


mTRODUCTION. 


Bay,  that  it  exalts  the  victor  above  hmmn  nature ;  they  were  no  longer  men 
hut  eods,**' 

We  shall  see  hereafter  what  extraordinary  honours  were  paid  lo  the  victoi 
of  which  one  of  the  most  affecting  was  to  date  the  year  with  his  name.  No 
thing"  could  niore  effectually  enliven  their  endeavours,  and  make  them  regard 
i   less  of  expenses,  than  the  assurance  of  immortalizing  their  names,  which,  fo'. 
I  the  future,  would  be  annexed  to  the  calendar,  and  in  the  front  of  all  lawx 
I  made  in  the  same  year  with  the  victory.    To  this  motive  may  be  added,  the 
joy  of  knowing,  that  their  praises  w^ould  be  celebrated  by  the  most  famous 
poets,  and  share  in  the  entertainment  of  the  most  illustrious  assemblies  ;  for 
{hese  odes  were  sung  in  every  house,  and  had  a  part  in  every  entertainment. 
What  could  be  a  more  powerful  incentive  to  a  people,  who  had  no  othei  ol> 
ject  and  aim  than  that  of  human  glory  ? 

I  shall  confine  myself  upon  this  head  to  the  Olympic  games,  which  contin- 
ued five  days  ;  and.  shall  describe,  in  as  brief  a  manner  as  possible,  the  seve- 
ral kinds  01  combats  of  which  they  were  composed.  M.  Burette  has  treated 
this  subject  in  several  dissertations,  printed  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy 
of  Belles  Lettres ;  wherein  purity,  perspicuity,  and  elegance  of  style,  are  united 
with  profound  erudition.  I  make  no  scruple  in  appropriating  to  niy  use 
the  riches  of  my  brethren  ;  and  in  what  I  have  already  said  upon  the  Olym- 
pic games,  have  made  very  free  with  the  late  Abbe  Massieu's  rem.arks  upon 
the  odes  of  Pindar. 

/  The  combats  which  had  the  greatest  share  in  the  solemnity  of  the  public 
./  games,  were  boxing,  wrestling,  the  pancratium,  the  discus  or  quoit,  and  ra- 
I  cing.  To  these  may  be  added  the  exercises  of  leaping,  throwing  the  dart/ 
j  and  that  of  the  trochus  or  wheel ;  but  as  these  were  neither  important,  noroi 
I  any  great  reputation,  I  shall  content  myself  with  having  only  mentioned  them 
J  in  this  place.  For  the  better  methodizing  the  particulars  of  these  games  and 
exercises,  it  will  be  necessary  to  begin  with  an  account 

OF  THE  ATHLETJE,  OR  COMBATANTS. 

f   The  term  athletae  is  derived  from  the  Greek  word  aOxoj.  which  signifies  la 
|bour,  combat.    This  name  was  given  to  those  who  exercised  themselves  witi 
design  to  dispute  the  prizes  in  the  public  games.    The  art  by  which  they 
formed  themselves  for  these  encounters,  was  called  gymnastic,  nom  the  ath- 
letae practising  naked. 

Those  who  were  designed  for  this  profession,  frequented,  from  their  most 
tender  age,  the  Gymnasia  or  Palaestrae,  which  were  a  kind  of  academies  main 
tained,  for  that  purpose,  at  the  public  expense.    In  these  places,  such  young 
people  were  under  the  direction  of  different  masters,  who  employed  the  most 
effectual  methods  to  inure  their  bodies  for  the  fatigues  of  the  public  games, 
and  to  train  them  for  the  combats.    The  regimen  they  w^ere  under  was  \ey 
hard  and  severe.    At  first  they  had  no  other  nourishment  than  dried  figs,  nuts, 
K)ft  cheese,  and  a  gross  heavy  sort  of  bread  called  ix6.(a.    They  were  abso 
lutely  forbidden  the  use  of  wine,  and  enjoined  continence  ;  which  Horace  ei 
presses  thus 

Q,ui  studet  optatam  cursu  contingere  metam 
Multa  tulit  fecitque  puer ;  sudarit  et  alsit, 
Abstinuit  vonere  et  vino. 

Who  in  the  Oljrmpic  race  the  prize  would  ^ain. 
Has  borne  from  earljr  youth  fatigue  and  pain  j 
Excess  of  heat  and  cold  has  often  try'd. 
Love's  softness  banishM,  and  the  glass  denled.f 


•  ^  Palmaque  nobilis 

Terrarum  dominos  evehit  ad  deot.       Hor.  Od.  t.  lib.  1* 

Sive  quos  Elea  domum  reducit 

Palma  caelestes.  Hor.  (M.  tt.  lib.  4. 

\  Art.  Poet  41S. 


rNTRODUCTlON. 


47 


St.  Paul,  by  an  allusion  to  the  athletse,  exhorts  the  Corinthians,  near  whose 
city  the  Isthmian  games  were  celebrated,  to  a  sober  and  penitent  life.  Those 
vcho  strive^  says  he,  for  the  mastery^  are  temperate  in  all  things :  now  they  do 
it  obtain  a  corruptible  crown^  we  an  incorruptible,  Tertullian  uses  the 
same  thought  to  encourage  the  martyrs.  He  makes  a  comparison  from  what 
the  hopes  of  victory  made  the  athletae  endure.  He  repeats  the  severe  and 
painful  exercises  they  were  obliged  to  undergo  ;  the  continual  denial  and  con- 
straint in  w^hich  they  passed  the  best  years  of  their  lives;  and  the  volun- 
tary privation  w^hich  they  imposed  upon  themselves  of  all  that  was  most 
affecting  and  grateful  to  their  p:^sions.*  It  is  true,  the  athletae  did  not  bU 
ways  observe  so  severe  a  regimen,  but  at  length  substituted  in  its  stead  d 
voracity  and  indolence  extremely  remote  from  it. 

The  athletae,  before  their  exercises  were  rubbed  w^ith  oils  and  ointments,  J 
to  make  their  bodies  more  supple  and  vigorous.    At  first  they  made  use  of  a 
belt,  with  an  apron  or  scarf  fastened  to  it,  for  their  more  decent  appearance 
in  the  combats  ;  but  one  of  the  combatants  happening  to  lose  the  victory  by  , 
this  covering's  falling  off,  that  accident  was  the  occasion  of  sacrificing  modes-  j 
ty  to  convenience,  and  retrenching  the  apron  for  the  future.    The  athletae  ■ 
were  only  naked  in  some  exercises,  as  wTCstling,  boxing,  the  pancratium,  j 
and  the  foot-race.    They  practised  a  kind  of  noviciate  in  the  Gymnasia  for  | 
ten  months,  to  accomplish  themselves  in  the  several  exercises  by  assiduous  \ 
application  ;  and  this  they  did  in  the  presence  of  such  as  curiosity  or  idleness  | 
conducted  to  look  on.    But  when  the  celebration  of  the  Olympic  games  drew  ' 
nigh,  the  athletae  who  were  to  appear  in  them  were  kept  to  double  exercise. 

Before  they  were  admitted  to  combat,  other  proofs  were  required.    As  to 
birth,  none  but  Greeks  w^ere  to  be  received.    It  was  also  necessary  that  their 
manners  should  be  unexceptionable,  and  their  condition  free.    No  foreigner 
was  admitted  to  combat  in  the  Olympic  games ;  •  and  when  Alexander,  the  son 
of  Amyntas,  king  of  Macedon,  presented  himself  to  dispute  the  prize,  his  com- 
petitors, without  any  regard  to  the  royal  dignity,  opposed  his  reception  as  a  j 
Macedonian,  and  consequently  a  barbarian  and  a  stranger ;  nor  could  the  j 
judges  be  prevailed  upon  to  admit  him  till  he  had  proved  in  due  form,  his  i 
fan  ily  originally  descended  from  the  Argives. 

I'he  persons  w^ho  presided  in  the  games,  called  Agonothetce,  Athlothetce,  and 
Hellanodiccd,  registered  the  name  and  countiy  of  each  champion  ;  and  upon 
the  opening  of  the  games,  a  herald  proclaimed  the  names  of  the  combatants. 
They  w^ere  then  made  to  take  an  oath,  that  they  w^ould  religiously  observe  the 
several  laws  prescribed  in  each  kind" of  combat,  and  to  do  nothing  contrary  to 
the  established  orders  and  regulations  of  the  games.  Fraud,  artifice,  and  ex- 
cessive violence,  w^ere  absolutely  pi-ohibited ;  and  the  maxim  so  generally 
received  elsewhere,  that  it  is  indifferent  w4iether  an  enemy  is  conquered  by 
deceit  or  valour,  was  banished  from  these  combats.!  The  address  of  a  com- 
batant expert  in  all  the  niceties  of  his  art,  who  knows  how  to  shift  and  w^ard 
dexterously,  to  put  the  change  upon  his  adversary  with  art  and  subtlety,  ■ 
and  to  improve  the  least  advantages,  must  not  be  confounded  here  with  the 
cowardly  and  knavish  cunning^  of  one,  who,  without  regard  to  the  laws  pre- 
scribed, employs  the  most  unfair  means  to  vanquish  his  competitor.  Those 
who  disputed  the  prize  in  the  several  kinds  of  combats,  drew  lots  for  their 
precedency  in  them. 

It  is  time  to  bring  our  champions  lo  blows,  and  to  run  over  the  different 
kinds  of  combats,  in  which  they  exercised  themselves. 

OF  WRESTLING.^ 

Wrestling  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  exercises  of  which  we  have  any 
knowledge,  having  been  practised  in  the  time  of  the  patriarchs,  as  the  wrest^ 

*  Nempe  enim  et  athletae  aegregantur  ad  stricticrem  disciplinam,  ut  rohori  sedificando  vaccnt;  cootV 
ncntur  a  liixuna,  a  cibis  loBtioribui,  a  potu  jucnndiore  ;  cocrunMir.  ^•rucia'ifnr,  fali-antur — TvffteLftd  Maitp 

^  Dolus  an  virtus,  quis  in  no%\f>  i-f^qnir.  t  ? 


48 


INTRODUCTION. 


linp  of  the  angel  with  Jacob  proves.  Jacob  supported  the  angel's  attack  m 
vigorously,  that  the  latter,  perceiving  that  he  could  not  throw  so  rough  a 
wrestler",  was  induced  to  make  him  iame,  by  touching  the  sinew  of  his  thigh, 
which  immediately  shrunk  up.'*^ 

Wrestling  among  the  Greeks,  as  well  as  other  nations,  was  practised  at  first 
with  simplicity,  little  art,  and  in  a  natural  manner ;  the  weight  of  the  body, 
and  the  strength  of  the  muscles,  having  more  share  in  it,  than  address  and 
«kill.  Theseus  was  the  first  that  reduced  it  to  method,  and  refined  it  with  the 
rules  of  art.  He  was  also  the  first  who  established  the  public  schools  called 
Palcestrce^  where  the  young  people  had  masters  to  instruct  them  in  it. 

The  wrestlers  before  they  began  tbeir  combats,  were  rubbed  all  over  in  a 
rough  manner,  and  afterwards  anointed  with  oils,  which  added  to  the  strength 
and  flexibility  of  their  limbs.  But  as  this  unction,  by  makmg  the  skin  too 
sh'ppery,  rendered  it  difficult  for  them  to  take  hold  of  each  other,  they  reme- 
died that  inconvenience,  sometimes  by  rolling  themselves  in  the  dust  of  the 
Palaestrai,  sometimes  b}^  throwing  a  fine  sand  upon  each  other,  kept  for  that 
purpose  in  the  Xysta?,  or  porticoes  of  the  Gymnasia. 

Thus  prepared,  the  wrestlers  began  their  combat.  They  were  matched 
two  against  two,  and  sometimes  several  couples  contended  at  the  same  time. 
In  this  combat,  the  whole  aim  and  design  of  the  wrestlers  was  to  throw  their 
adversaiy  upon  the  ground.  Both  strength  and  art  were  employed  to  this 
purpose  :  they  seized  each  other  by  the  arms,  drew  forwards,  pushed  back- 
svards,  used,  many  distortions  and  twistings  of  the  body;  locking  their  limbs 
into  each  other's,  seizing  by  the  neck,  throttling,  pressing  in  their  arms,  strug- 
gling, plying  on  all  sides,  lifting  from  the  ground,  dashing  their  heads  toge- 
ther like  rams,  and  twisting  one  another's  necks.  The  most  considerable  ad 
vantage  in  the  wrestler's  art,  was  to  make  himself  master  of  his  adversary's 
/egs,  of  which  a  fall  was  the  immediate  consequence.  From  whence  Plautus 
says,  in  his  Pseudolus,  speaking  of  wine.  He  is  a  dangerous  wrestler,  he  pre- 
sently takes  one  by  the  heels.]  The  Greek  terms  unoanEKiiEiv  and  Trrs^vi^eivy  ana  the 
Latin  word  supplantare^  seem  to  imply,  that  one  oi  these  arts  consisted  iu 
stooping  doAvn  to  seize  the  antagonist  under  the  soles  of  his  feet,  and  in  rai- 
sing them  up  to  give  him  a  fall. 

In  this  manner  the  athleta^  wrestled  standing,  the  combat  ending  with  the 
fall  of  one  of  the  competitors.  But  when  it  happened  that  the  wrestler  who 
was  down  drew  his  adversary  along  with  him,  either  by  art  or  accident,  the 
combat  continued  upon  the  sand,  the  antagonists  tumbling  and  twining  with 
each  other  in  a  thousand  different  ways,  till  one  of  them  got  uppermost,  and 
compelled  the  other  to  ask  quarter,  and  confess  himself  vanquished.  There 
w^as  a  third  sort  of  wrestling  called  Ax?  xeiQiaii'^^,  from  the  athletee's  using  on- 
ly their  hands  in  it,  without  taking  hold  of  the  body  as  in  the  other  kinds ; 
and  this  exercise  served  as  a  prelude  to  the  greater  combat.  It  consisted  in 
intermingling  their  fingers  and  in  squeezing  them  with  all  their  force  ;  in 
pushir>g  one  another,  by  joining  the  palms  of  their  hands  together ;  in  twist 
mg  their  fingers,  wrists,  and  otner  joints  of  the  arm,  without  the  assistance  oi 
any  other  menber ;  and  the  victory  was  his  who  obliged  his  opponent  to 
asi  quarter. 

The  combatants  were  to  fight  three  times  successively,  and  to  throw  theii 
antagonists  at  least  twice,  before  the  prize  could  be  adjudged  to  them. 

Homer  describes  the  wrestling  of  Ajax  and  Ulysses  ;  Ovid,  that  of  Hercu- 
les and  Achelous ;  Lucan,  of  Hercules  and  Antseus ;  and  Statius,  in  his  The- 
baiJ,  that  of  Tydeus  and  Agylleus.f 

The  wrestlers  of  greatest  reputation  among  the  Greeks,  were  Milo  of  Cro 
tona,  whose  history  1  have  refated  elsewhere  at  large,  and  Polydamas.  The 
tatter,  alone  and  without  arms,  killed  a  furious  lion  upon  Mount  Olympus,  ui 


♦  G^n.  xxxii.  ?4.  j  Capiat  pe(l«s  primurn,  luctator  dolosu*  est. 

t  ni»a.  1.  xiiii.  V.  703.  &c.    Ovid.  Mctam  l.-ix.  ▼  31.  &.c.    Phars.  1.  iv.  v  Stst.  I  ri.  r.  M» 


INTRODUCTION. 

imitation  of  Hercules,  whom  he  proposed  to  himself  as  a  model  in  this  action 
Another  time,  having  seized  a  bull  by  one  of  his  hinder  legs,  the  beast  could 
not  get  loose  without  leaving  his  hoof  in  his  hands.  He  could  hold  a  chariot 
behind,  whik  the  coachman  whipped  his  horses  in  vain  to  make  them  ?o  for- 
ward. Darius  Nothus,  king  of  Persia,  hearing  of  his  prodigious  strength,  was 
desirous  of  seeing  him,  and  invited  him  to  Susa.  Three  soldiers  of  that 
prince's  guard,  and  of  that  band  which  the  Persians  call  immortal^  esteemed 
the  most  warlike  of  their  troops,  were  ordered  to  fall  upon  him.  Our  cham- 
pion fought  and  killed  them  all  three. 

OF  BOXING,  OR  THE  CESTUS. 

Boxing  is  a  combat  at  blows  with  the  fist,  from  whence  it  derives  its  name. 
The  combatants  covered  their  fists  with  a  kind  of  offensive  arm«,  called  ces< 
tMs,  and  their  heads  with  a  sort  of  leather  cap,  to  defend  their  temples  and 
cars,  which  were  most  exposed  to  blows,  and  to  deaden  their  viol*^,nce.  The 
cestus  was  a  kind  of  gauntlet  or  glove,  made  of  straps  of  leather,  and  plated 
with  brass,  lead  or  iron.  Their  use  was  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  com- 
batants, and  to  ajdd  violence  to  their  blows. 

Sometimes  the  athleta^  came  immediately  to  the  most  violent  blows,  and 
began  their  charge  in  the  most  furious  manner.  Sometimes  whole  hours  passed 
in  harassing  and  fatiguing  each  other,  by  a  continual  extension  of  their  anris, 
rendering  each  other  s  blows  ineffectual,  and  endeavouring  in  that  manner  of 
defence  to  keep  off  their  adversary.  But  when  they  fought  with  the  utmost 
fury,  they  aimed  chiefly  at  the  head  and  face,  which  parts  they  were  mosi 
careful  to  defend,  by  either  avoiding  or  parrying  the  blows  made  at  them. 
When  a  combatant  came  to  throw  himself  with  all  his  force  and  vigour 
upon  another,  they  had  a  surprising  address  in  avoiding  the  attack,  by  a  nim- 
ble turn  of  the  body,  which  threw  the  imprudent  adversary  dow^n,  and  de- 
prived him  of  the  victory. 

However  fierce  the  combatants  were  against  each  other,  their  being  ex- 
hausted by  the  length  of  the  combat  would  frequently  reduce  them  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  making  a  truce,  upon  which  the  battle  \yas  suspended  for  som.e  min- 
utes, that  were  employed  in  recovering  from  their  fatigue,  and  rubbing  off  the 
«weat  in  which  they  were  bathed ;  after  which  they  renewed  the  fight,  till  one 
of  them,  by  letting  fall  his  arms  through  weakness,  or  by  swooning  away,  ex- 
plained that  he  could  no  longer  support  the  pain  or  fatigiie,  and  desired  quar- 
ter ;  which  was  confessing  himself  vanquished. 

Boxing  was  one  of  the  most  rude  and  dangerous  of  the  gymnastic  combats; 
because,  besides  the  danger  of  being  crippled,  the  combatants  ran  the  ha- 
zard of  their  lives.  They  sometimes  fell  down  dead,  or  dying,  upon  the 
sand  ;  though  that  seldom  happened,  except  the  vanquished  person  persisted 
in  not  acknowledging  his  defeat :  yet  it  was  common  for  them  to  quit  the 
fight  with  a  countenance  so  disfigured,  that  it  was  not  easy  to  know  them  after- 
wards ;  carrying  away  with  them  the  sad  marks  of  their  vigorous  resistance, 
such  as  bruises  and  contusions  in  the  face,  the  loss  of  an  eye,  their  teeth  knock- 
ed out,  their  jaws  broken,  or  some  more  considerable  fracture. 

We  find  in  the  poets,  both  Latin  and  Greek,  several  descriptions  of  this 
kind  of  combat.  In  Homer,  that  of  Epeus  and  Euryalus ;  in  Theocritus,  of 
Pollux  and  Amycus  ;  in  Appollonius  Rhodius,  the  same  battle  of  Pollux  and 
Amycus ;  in  Vii^il,  that  of  Dares  and  Entellus  ;  and  in  Statins,  and  Valerius 
Fiaccus,  of  several  other  combatants.* 

OF  THE  PANCRATIUM.^ 

The  pancratium  was  so  called  from  two  Greek  words,!  which  signif^ 
that  the  whole  force  of  the  body  was  necessary  for  succeedii^  in  it.  II 


•  Dioseor.  Idyl.  xxii.    Ari^oneut.  lib.  ii.    ^nelcl.  1.  r.    Tb^aia.  1.  rii.    ArjonaHt.  1.  Ir. 

V«i,  r  3  . 


M) 


IKTRODUCTlOBf. 


united  boring  and  wrestling  in  the  same  fight,  borrowing  from  one  its  manner 
of  struggling  and  flingmg,  and  from  the  other,  the  ait  of  dealing  blows,  and  of 
avoiding  them  with  success.  In  wrestling  it  was  not  permitted  to  strike  with 
Mie  hand,  nor  in  boxing  to  seize  each  other  in  the  manner  of  wrestlers  ;  but  in 
the  pancratium,  it  was  not  only  allowed  to  make  use  of  all  the  gripes  and  arti- 
fices of  wrestling,  but  the  hands  and  feet,  and  even  the  teeth  and  nails,  might 
be  employed  to  conquer  an  antagonist. 

This  combat  was  the  most  rough  and  dangerous.  A  pancratist  in  the  Olym- 
pic games  (called  Arrichion,  or  Arrachion,;  perceiving  himself  almost  sufib- 
cated  by  his  adversary,  who  had  got  fast  hold  of  him  by  the  throat,  at  the  same 
time  that  he  held  him  by  the  foot,  broke  one  of  his  enemy's  toes,  the  extrenie 
anguish  of  which  obliged  him  to  ask  quarter  at  the  very  instant  Arrichion  him- 
self expired.  The  agonothetae  crowned  Arrichion,  though  dead,  and  proclaim- 
ed him  victor.  Philostratus  has  left  us  a  very  lively  description  of  a  painting, 
which  represented  this  combat. 

OF  THE  DISCUS,  OR  QUOIT.  ^ 

The  discus  was  a  kind  of  quoit  of  a  round  form,  made  sometimes  of  wood, 
but  more  frequently  of  stone,  lead,  or  other  metal,  as  iron  or  brass.  Those 
who  used  this  exercise  were  called  discoboli,  that  is,  flingers  of  the  discus. 
The  epithet  xaTco/ioL^ioj,  which  signifies  borne  upon  the  shoulders,  given  to  this 
instrument  by  ^^omer,  sufficiently  shows,  that  it  was  of  too  great  a  weight  to 
be  carried  from  place  to  place  in  the  hands  only,  and  that  the  shoulders  were 
necessary  for  the  support  of  such  a  burden  any  length  of  time.        ^  - 

The  intent  of  this  exercise,  as  of  almost  all  the  others,  was  to  invigorate  the 
body,  and  to  make  men  more  capable  of  supporting  the  weight  and  use  of 
arms.  In  war  they  were  often  obliged  to  carry  such  loads  as  appear  excessive 
in  these  days,  either  of  provisions,  fascines,  pallisades,  or  in  scaling  the  walls, 
when,  to  equal  the  height  of  them,  several  of  the  besiegers  mounted  up<Ka  the 
shoulders  of  each  other. 

The  athletse,  in  hurling  the  discus,  put  themselves  into  the  posture  best 
adapted  to  add  force  to  their  cast.  They  advanced  one  foot,  upon  which, 
leaning  the  whole  weight  of  their  bodies,  they  poised  the  discus  in  their  hands, 
and  then  whirling  it  round  several  times  almost  horizontally,  to  add  force  to 
its  motion,  they  threw  it  off  with  the  joint  strength  of  hands,  arms,  and  body, 
which  had'all  a  share  in  the  vigour  of  the  discharge.  He  that  threw  the  discus 
farthest  was  the  victor. 

The  most  famous  painters  and  sculptors  of  antiquity,  in  their  endeavours  to 
represent  naturally  the  attitudes  of  the  discoboli,  have  left  posterity  many 
master-pieces  in  their  several  arts.  Qjuintilian  exceedingly  extols  a  statue  of 
that  kind,  which  had  been  finished  with  infinite  care  and  application  by  the 
celebrated  Myron  :  What  can  be  more  finished,  says  he,  or  express  more  hap- 
"^ily  the  muscular  distortions  of  the  body  in  the  exercise  of  the  discus,  than  the 
i*.  '^^hulus  of  Myron?"^ 

OF  THE  PENTATHLUM. 

The  Greeks  gave  this  name  to  an  exercise  composed  of  five  others.  It  is 
the  common  opinion,  that  those  five  exercises  were  wrestling,  running,  leap- 
ing, throwing  the  dart,  and  the  discus.  It  is  believed  that  thi«  sort  of-eembat 
was  decided  in  one  day,  and  sometimes  the  same  morning  ;  and  that  the  prize, 
which  was  single,  could  not  be  given  b*ut  to  the  victor  in  all  those  exercises. 
^  The  exercise  of  leaping,  and  throwing  the  javelin,  of  which  the  first  con- 
sitsed  in  leaping  a  certain  length,  and  the  other  in  hitting  a  mark  with  a  jave- 
lin, at  a  certain  distance,  contributed  to  the  forming  of  a  soldier,  by  makir^ 
him  nimble  and  active  in  battle,  and  expert  inthrowingthe  spear  and  dart. 


*  Uuid  Uro  diitcrtum  ct  elaboratum,  qiiam  eit  ille  Discobolus  MyroaU? — Q,uintil.  lib.  H  etp.  US 


INTRODUCTION. 


51 


OF  RArE8.  \y 

Of  all  the  exercises  which  the  atnletae  cultivated  with  so  much  pjiins  and 
industry,  to  enable  them  to  appear  in  the  publip  games,  running  was  in  the 
highest  estimation,  and  held  tiie  foremost  ranl^  The  Olympic  games  gene- 
rally opened  with  races,  and  were  solemnized  at  first  with  no  other  exercise. 

The  place  where  the  Athletae  exercised  themselves  in  running,  was  generally 
called  the  stadium  by  the  Greeks  ;  as  was  that  wherein  they  disputed  in  ear- 
nest for  the  prize.  As  the  lists  or  course  for  these  games  was  at  first  but  one 
stadium  in  length,  it  took  its  name  from  its  measure,  and  was  called  the  sta- 
dium,* whether  precisely  of  that  extent,  or  of  a  much  greater.  Under  that  de- 
nomination was  included,  not  only  the  space  in  which  the  athletse  ran,  but  also 
that  which  contained  the  spectators  of  the  gymnastic  games.  The  place  where 
the  athletae  contended  w^as  called  scamma^  from  its  lying  lower  than  the  rest 
of  the  stadium,  on  each  side  of  which,  and  at  its  extremity,  ran  an  ascent  or 
kind  of  terrace,  covered  with  seats  and  benches,  upon  which  the  spectators 
were  seated.  The  most  remarkable  parts  of  the  stadium  were  its  entrance, 
rr-iddle,  and  extremity. 

The  entrance  of  the  course,  from  whence  the  competitors  started,  was  mark- 
ed at  first  only  by  a  line  drawn  on  the  sand,  from  side  to  side  of  the  stadium. 
To  that  at  length  was  substituted  a  kind  of  barrier,  which  was  only  a  cord 
strained  tight  in  the  front  of  the  horses  or  men  that  were  to  run.  It  was  some- 
times a  rail  of  wood.  The  opening  of  this  barrier  was  the  signal  for  the 
racers  to  start. 

The  middle  of  the  stadium  was  remarkable  only  by  the  circumstance  of 
having  the  prizes  allotted  to  the  victors  set  up  there.  St.  Chrysostom  draws 
a  fine  comparison  from  this  custom.  As  the  judges,  says  he,  in  the  races  and 
other  games,  expose  in  the  midst  of  the  stadium,  to  the  view  of  the  champions ^ 
the  crowns  which  they  are  to  receive  ;  in  like  manner  the  Lord,  by  the  mouth  of 
his  prophets,  has  placed  the  prizes  in  the  midst  of  the  course,  which  he  designs 
for  those  who  have  the  courage  to  contend  for  ihem.'t 

At  the  extremity  of  the  stadium  was  a  goal  where  the  foot  races  ended  ;  but 
in  those  of  the  chariots  and  horses  they  were  to  run  several  times  round  it, 
without  stopping,  and  afterwards  conclude  the  race  by  regaining  the  other  ex- 
tremity of  the  lists,  from  whence  they  started. 

There  w^ere  three  kinds  of  races,  the  chariot,  the  horse,  and  the  foot-race. 
I  shall  begin  with  the  last  as  the  most  simple,  natural,  and  ancient. 

I.  OF  THE  FOOT-RACE^^ 

The  runners,  of  whatever  number  they\vere,  ranged  themselves  in  a  Ihie, 
after  having  drawn  lots  for  their  places.  While  they  waited  the  signal  to  start, 
tliev  practised,  by  way  of  prelude,  various  motions  to  awaken  their  activity, 
ana  to  keep  their  limbs  pliable  and  in  a  right  temper.J  They  kept  them- 
selves breathing  by  small  leaps^  and  making  short  excursions,  which  were  a 


♦  The  stadium  was  a  land-measure  among  the  Greftlcs,  and  was,  according  to  Herodotus,  lib.  Ii.  c.  14<l. 
•ix  hundred  feet  in  extent.  Pliny  says,  lib.  ii.  c.  23,  that  it  was  six  hundred  and  twenty-five.  Those  tw© 
authors  perhaps  agree,  considering  the  difference  between  the  Greek  and  Roman  foot;  besides  whicbtlte 
teng^k  of  the  ttadiuin  raries,  according  to  the  difTerence  of  times  and  places. 

t  Horn.  Iv.  in  Matth.  c.  16. 
t  ■  Tunc  rite  citatoi 

Eiplorant,  acuuntque  gra3us,  variasqne  per  artes 
Instimulant  docto  languentia  membra  tumultu. 
Poplite  nunc  flexo  jidunt,  nunc  lubrica  forti 
Pectora  collidunt  plausu;  nunc  igneatollunt 
Crura,  breyemque  fugam  nec  opino  fine  reponunt. 

Stat.  Theb.  lib.  ri.  r.  W7, 

The^  try,  they  rouse  their  speed,  with  various  arta ; 
Their  languid  limbs  they  prompt  to  act  their  parts. 
Now  with  bent  ham«  amidst  the  practis'd  crowd, 
They  sit;  now  strain  their  lungs,  and  shout  aloud) 
Wow  a  short  flight  with  fiery  steps  they  trace, 
Amd  with  a  sudden  stop  abridge  the  mimic  rac« 


52 


INTRODUCTION 


'  kind  of  trial  of  their  speed  and  agility.  Upon  the  signal  being  given,  they  flew 
towards  the  goal,  with  a  rapidity  scarce  to  be  followed  by  the  eye,  which  was 
solely  to  decide  the  victory ;  for  the  agonistic  laws  prohibited,  under  the  pen- 
alty of  infamy,  the  attaining  it  by  any  foul  method. 

In  the  simple  race,  the  extent  of  the  stadium  was  run  but  once,  at  the  end  of 
which  the  prize  attended  the  victor,  that  is,  he  who  came  in  first.  In  the  race 
called  A.'aoAoj,  the  competitors  ran  twice  that  length,  that  is,  after  having  arriv- 
ed at  the  goal,  they  returned  to  the  barrier.  To  these  may  be  added  a  third 
sort,  called  AoKixo^,  which  was  the  longest  of  all,  as  its  name  implies,  and  was 
composed  of  several  diauli.  Sometimes  it  consisted  of  twenty-four  stadia 
backward  and  forward,  turning  twelve  times  around  the  goal. 

There  were  runners  in  ancient  times,  as  well  among  the  Greeks  as  Romans, 
who  were  much  celebrated  for  their  swiftness.  *Pliny  tells  us,  that  it  was 
thought  prodigious  in  Phidippides  to  run  eleven  hundrea  and  forty  stadiaj  be- 
tween Athens  and  Lacedaemon  in  the  space  of  two  days,  till  Anystis,  of  the 
latter  place,  and  Philonides,  the  runner  of  Alexander  the  Great,  went  twelve 
hundred  stadiaj  in  one  day,  from  Sicyon  to  Elis.  These  runners  were  denomi 
nated  ^^65^0^18?,  as  we  find  in  that  passage  of  Herodotus  §  which  mentions  Phi- 
dippides. In  the  consulate  of  Fonteius  and  Vipsanus,  m  the  reign  of  Nero,  a 
boy  of  nine  years  old  ran  seventy-five  thousand  paces  ||  between  noon  and 
night.  Pliny  adds,  that  in  his  time  there  were  runners,  who  ran  one  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  paces  H  in  the  circus.  Our  wonder  at  such  a  prodigious 
speed  will  increase,  continues  he,^*  if  we  reflect,  that  when  Tiberius  went  to 
Germany  to  his  brother  Drusus,  then  at  the  point  of  death,  he  could  not  arrive 
there  in  less  than  four-and-twenty  hours,  though  the  distance  was  but  two  hun- 
dred thousand  paces,tt  and  he  changed  his  carriage  three  times,tt  and  went 
with  the  utmost  diligence.  y 

II.  OF  THE  HORSE-RACES. 

*  The  race  of  a  single  horse  with  a  rider  was  less  celebrated  by  the  ancients, 
yet  it  had  its  favourers  among  the  most  considerable  persons,  and  even  kings 
themselves,  and  was  attended  with  uncommon  glory  to  the  victor.  Pindar,  in 
his  first  ode,  celebrates  a  victory  of  this  kind,  obtained  by  Hiero.  king  of  Syra- 
cuse, to  whom  he  gives  the  title  of  KUtu,  that  is,  victor  in  the  horse-race; 
which  name  was  given  to  the  horses  carrying  only  a  single  rider,  Kikmzs. 
Sometimes  the  rider  led  another  horse  by  the  bridle,  and  then  the  horse?  were 
called  desultoriiy  and  their  riders  desultqres ;  because,  after  a  number  of  turns 
m  the  stadium,  they  changed  horses,  by  dexterously  vaulting  from  one  to  the 
other.  A  surprising  address  was  necessary  upon  this  occasion,  especially  in 
an  age  unacquainted  with  the  use  of  stirrups,  and  when  the  horses  had  no  sad- 
dles, which  made  the  leap  still  more  difficult.  Among  the  African  troops 
there  were  also  cavalry  called  desultores^  who  vaulted  from  one  horse  to  ano- 
tier,  as  occasion  required,  and  these  were  generally  Numidians.§§ 

III.  OF  THE  CHARIOT-RACES. 

This  kind  of  race  was  the  most  renowned  of  all  the  exercises  used  in  the 
games  of  the  ancients,  and  that  from  whence  most  honour  redounded  to  the 
victors  ;  Fvhich  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  if  we  consider  whence  it  arose  It  19 
plain  that  it  was  derived  from  the  constant  custom  of  princes,  heroes,  and 
great  men,  of  fighting  in  battle  upon  chariots.  Homer  has  an  infi|iitv  of  ex- 
amples of  this  kind.  This  being  admitted  as  a  custom,  it  natifral  to  sup- 
pose it  very  agreeable  to  these  heroes,  to  have  their  charioteers  as  expert  as 


♦  Plin.  1.  vii.  c.  20.  f  Fifty-seven  leagues.  %  Sixty  leagues.  §  Herod.  1.  vi.  c.  106. 

H  Thirty  leagues.       IT  Moie  than  53  leagues.       **  Val.  Max.  1.  v.  c.  5.       ff  Sixty-seven  leagues. 
\X  He  had  only  a  guide  and  ore  officer  with  him. 
Nec  omnes  Numidaj  in  dextro  locati  cornu,  sed  quibus  desultorum  in  modum  bino«  trahentibus  equos, 
inter  aeerrimam  saspe  pu^rnam.  in  recentem  equum  ex  fesso  armatis.  traD8ul;)are  mos  erai,  tanta  Telooita> 
IpM**  tamque  docile  equorum  genus  «8t,. — Liv.  lib.  xxiii 


INTRODUCTION. 


5J 


possible  in  driving,  as  their  success  depended,  in  a  very  great  measure,  upon 
the  address  of  their  drivers.  It  was  anciently,  therefore,  only  to  persons  of 
the  first  consideration,  that  this  office  was  confided.  Hence  arose  a  laudable 
emulation  to  excel  others  in  the  art  of  guiding  a  chariot,  and  a  kind  of  necessity 
to  practice  it  very  much,  in  order  to  succeed.  The  high  rank  of  the  persons 
who  made  use  of  chariots,  ennobled,  as  it  always  happeng,  an  exeicise  pecu- 
liar to  them.  The  other  exercises  were  adapted  to  private  soldiers  and  horse- 
men, as  wrestling,  ninnir^,  and  the  single  horse-race  ;  but  the  use  of  chariots 
in  the  field  was  always  reserved  to  princes  and  general?  of  armies. 

Hence  it  was,  that  all  those  who  presented  themstlves  in  the  Olympic 
games  to  dispute  the  prize  in  the  chariot-races,  were  persons  considerable 
either  for  their  riches,  their  birth,  their  employments,  or  great  actions.  Kings 
themselves  eagerly  aspired  to  this  glory,  from  the  belief  that  the  title  of  victor 
in  these  games,  was  scarce  inferior  to  that  of  conqueror,  and  that  the  Olympic 
palm  added  new  dignity  to  the  splendours  of  a  throne.  Pindar's  odes  inform 
us,  that  Gelon  and  Hiero,  kings  of  Syracuse,  were  of  that  opinion.  Diony- 
sius,  who  reigned  there  long  after  them,  carried  the  same  ambition  much 
higher.  Philip  o/  Macedon  had  these  victories  stamped  upon  his  coins,  and 
seemed  as  much  gratified  with  them,  as  with  those  obtained  against  the  ene- 
mies of  his  state.  All  the  world  knows  the  answer  of  Alexander  the  Great  on 
this  subject.  When  his  friends  asked  him,  whether  he  would  dispute  the 
prize  ot  the  races  in  these  games  ?  Fe5,  said  he,  if  kings  were  to  be  my  antag- 
onists,'*  Which  shows  that  he  would  not  have  disdained  these  contests,  if 
there  had  been  competitors  in  them  worthy  of  him. 

The  chariots  were  generally  drawn  by  two  or  four  horses  abreast ;  higos, 
quadngiB,  Sometimes  mules  supplied  the  place  of  horses,  and  then  the  cha- 
riot was  called  dTT  ivn.  Pindar,  in  the  fifth  ode  of  his  first  book,  celebrates  one 
Psaumis,  who  had  obtained  a  triple  victory  ;  one  by  a  chariot  drawn  by  four 
horses,  TcO^iTTTrcp ;  another  by  one  drawn  by  mules,  d-rrivTi ;  and  the  third  by  a 
single  horse,  x'^^^ti,  which  the  title  of  the  ode  expresses. 

These  chariots,  upon  a  signal  given,  started  together  from  a  place  called 
Carceres,  Their  places  were  regulated  by  lot,  which  was  not  an  indiilerent 
circumstance  to  the  victory  ;  for  as  they  were  to  turn  round  a  boundary,  the 
chariot  on  the  left  was  nearer  than  those  on  the  right,  which  in  consequence 
had  a  greater  compass  to  take.  It  appears  from  several  passages  in  Pindar, 
and  especially  from  one  in  Sophocles,  which  I  shall  cite  very  soon,  that  they 
ran  twelve  times  round  the  stadium.  He  that  came  in  first  the  twelfth  round 
^vas  victor.  The  chief  art  consisted  in  taking  the  best  ground  at  the  turning 
of  the  boundary ;  for  if  the  charioteer  drove  too  near  it,  he  was  in  danger  of 
dashing  the  chariot  to  pieces ;  and  if  he  kept  too  wide  of  it,  his  nearest  antago- 
nist might  pass  inside  of  him,  and  get  foremost. 

It  is  obvious  that  these  chariot-races  could  not  be  run  without  some  danger: 
for  as  the  motion  of  the  wheels  was  very  rapid,  and  grazed  against  the  boun- 
daiy  in  turning,  the  least  error  in  driving  would  have  broke  the  chariot  in 
pieces,  and  might  have  dangerously  wounded  the  charioteer.!  An  example 
of  which  we  find  in  the  Electra  of  Sophocles,  vv^ho  gives  an  admirable  descrip- 
tion of  a  chariot-race  run  by  ten  competitors.  The  false  Orestes,  at  the 
twelfth  and  last  round,  having  only  one  antagonist,  the  rest  having  been 
thrown  out,  v/as  so  unfortunate  as  to  break  one  of  his  wheels  against  the  boun- 
dary, and  falling  out  of  his  seai  entangled  in  the  reins,  the  horses  dragged 
him  violently  forward  along  with  them,  and  tore  him  to  pieces  ;  but  this 
very  seldom  happened.  To  avoid  such  danger,  Nestor  gave  the  following 
directions  to  his  son  Antilochus,  who  was  going  to  dispute  the  prize  in  the 
chariot-races.    *'  My  son,"  says  he,  *'  drive  your  horses  as  near  as  possible  to 


*  Plut.  in  Alex.  p.  686. 
f  M/'taqiie  fervid  is  evitata  rotis. 
The  firoal  shunn'd  by  the  Wnrnin*-  whcrls. 


Kotat.  Od.  i  \\t>.  i 


5A 


INTRODUCTION. 


the  ^oal ;  for  which  reason,  always  inclining  your  body  over  your  chariot^  I^e* 
the  left  of  your  competitors,  and  encouraging  the  horse  on  the  right,  give 
him  the  rein,  while  the  near  horse,  hard  held,  turns  the  boundary  so  close  to 
it,  that  the  nave  of  the  wheel  seems  to  graze  upon  it ;  but  have  a  care  of  run- 
ning against  the  stone,  lest  you  wound  your  horses,  and  dash  the  chariot  in 
piaces.*'* 

Father  Montfaucon  mentions  a  difficulty,  in  his  opinion,  of  much  impon- 
ance  in  regard  to  the  places  of  those  who  contended  for  the  prize  in  the 
chariot-race.  They  all  started,  indeed,  from  the  same  line,  and  at  the  same 
time,  and  so  far  had  no  advantage  of  each  other;  but  he  whose  lot  gave  him 
*.he  first  place,  being  nearest  the  boundary  at  the  end  of  the  career,  and  ha- 
iing  but  a  small  compass  to  describe  in  turning  about  it,  had  less  way  to  make 
than  the  second,  third,  fourth,  he,  especially  when  the  chariots  were  drawn 
by  four  horses,  which  took  up  a  greater  space  between  the  first  and  the  others, 
and  obliged  them  to  make  a  larger  circle  in  coming  round.  This  advantage 
twelve  times  together,  as  it  must  happen,  admitting  the  stadium  was  to  be 
run  round  twelve  times,  gave  such  a  superiority  to  the  first,  as  seemed  to  as- 
sure him  infallibly  of  the  victory^  against  all  his  competitors.  To  me  it  seems, 
that  the  fleetness  of  the  horses,  joined  with  the  address  of  the  driver,  might 
countervail  this  odds,  either  by  getting  before  the  first,  or  by  taking  his  place, 
if  not  in  the  first,  at  least,  in  some  of  the  subsequent  rounds  ;  for  it  is  not  to 
be  supposed,  that  in  the  progress  of  the  race,  the  antagonists  always  contin- 
ued in  the  same  order  in  which  they  started.  They  often  changed  places  in 
a  short  interval  of  time,  and  in  that  variety  and  vicissitude  consisted  all  the 
diversion  of  the  spectators. 

It  was  not  required  that  those  who  aspired  to  the  victory  should  enter  the 
lists,  and  drive  their  chariots  in  person.  Their  being  spectators  of  the  games, 
or  even  sending  their  horses  thither,  was  sufficient ;  but  in  either  case,  it  was 
previously  necessary  to  register  the  names  of  the  persons  for  whom  the  horses 
were  to  run,  either  in  the  chariot  or  single  horse  races. 

At  the  time  that  the  city  of  Potidaea  surrendered  to  Philip,  three  couriers 
brought  him  advices  ;  the  first,  that  the  Illyrians  had  been  defeated  in  a  great 
battle  by  his  general  Parmenio;  the  second,  that  he  had  carried  the  prize  of 
the  horse-race  in  the  Olympic  games  ;  and  the  third,  that  the  queen  was  de- 
livered  of  a  son.  Plutarch  seems  to  insinuate,  that  Philip  was  equally  de- 
lighted with  each  of  these  circumstances.! 

Hiero  sent  horses  to  Olympia,  to  run  for  the  prize,  and  caused  a  magnifi- 
cent pavillion  to  be  erected  for  them.  Upon  this  occasion  Themistocles  ha- 
rangued the  Greeks,  to  persuade  them  to  pull  down  the  tyrant's  pavillion, 
who  had  refused  his  aid  against  the  common  enemy,  and  to  hinder  his  horses 
from  running  with  the  rest.  It  does  not  appear  that  any  regard  was  had  to 
this  remonstrance  ;  for  we  find  by  one  of  Pindar's  odes,  composed  in  honour 
of  Hiero,  that  he  won  the  prize  in  the  equestrian  races.J 

No  one  ever  carried  the  ambition  of  making  a  great  figure  in  the  public  ganr  es 
of  Greece  so  far  as  Alcibiades,  in  which  he  distinguished  himself  in  the  most 
splendid  manner,  by  the  great  number  of  horses  and  chariots  which  he  kept 
only  for  the  races.  There  never  was  either  private  person  or  king  that  se\it, 
as  he  did,  seven  chariots  at  once  to  the  Olympic  games,  wherein  he  earned 
the  first,  second,  and  third  prizes  ;  an  honour  no  one  ever  had  before  him.§ 
The  famous  poet  Euripides  celebrated  these  victories  in  an  ode,  of  which 
Plutarch  has  preserved  a  fragment  in  Fit,  Alcib,  The  victor,  after  having 
made  a  sumptuous  feast  to  Jupiter,  gave  a  magnificent  feast  to  the  innumera- 
ble multitude  of  the  spectators  at  the  games.  It  is  not  easy  to  comprehend 
hrw  the  wealth  of  a  private  person  should  suffice  for  so  enormous  an  expense  ; 
but  x\ntisthenes,  the  scholar  of  Socrates,  who  relates  what  he  saw,  informs  u^, 


♦  H4>in.  Iliad.  1.  xxiii.  v.  334,  &c.  f  Pl"t-  •«  Alex.  p.  666.  ;  Plut.  in  Themist.  p.  J24. 

/  Plut.  in  Alcihitid.  p  l9*i. 


LNTRODUCTIOM. 


ti^t  many  cities  of  the  allies,  in  emulation  with  each  other,  supplied  Alcibi- 
jides  with  all  things  necessary  for  the  support  of  such  incredible  magnificence  ; 
gquipages,  horses,  tents,  sacrifices,  the  most  exquisite  provisions,  the  most  de- 
licate wines  ;  in  a  word,  all  that  was  necessary  to  the  support  of  his  table  or 
.rain.  The  passage  is  remarkable  ;  for  the  same  author  assures  us,  that  ibis 
NdLS  not  only  done  when  Alcibiades  went  to  the  Olympic  games,  but  in  all  his 
•nilitary  expeditions  and  journeys  by  land  or  sea.    "  Wherever,"  says  he, 

Alcibiades  travelled,  he  made  use  of  four  of  the  allied  cities  as  his  servants. 
Ephesus  furnished  him  with  tents,  as  magnificent  as  those  of  the  Persians ; 
Chios  took  care  to  provide  for  his  horses  ;  Cyzicum  supplied  him  with  sacri- 
fices, and  provisions  for  his  table  ;  and  Lesbos  gave  him  wine,  with  all  the 
other  necessaries  for  his  house." 

I  must  not  omit,  in  speaking  of  the  Olympic  games,  that  the  ladies  were 
admitted  to  dispute  the  prize  in  them  as  well  as  the  men ;  which  many  oi 
Ihem  obtained.  Cynisca,  sister  of  Agesilaus  king  of  Sparta,  first  opened 
ihis  new  path  of  glory  to  her  sex,  and  was  proclaimed  conqueror  in  the  race 
/)f  chariots  with  four  horses."^  This  victory,  which  till  then  had  no  example, 
did  not  fail  of  being  celebrated  with  all  possible  splendour.!  A  magnificent 
monument  was  erected  in  Sparta  in  honour  of  Cynisca  ;  and  the  Lacedaemo 
oians,  though  otherwise  very  little  sensible  to  the  charms  of  poetry,  appointed 
a  poet  to  transmit  this  new  triumph  to  posterity,  and  to  immortalize  its  mem- 
ory by  an  inscription  in  verse.J  She  herself  dedicated  a  chariot  of  brass, 
drawn  by  four  horses,  in  the  temgle  of  Delphos,  in  which  the  charioteer  was 
also  represented  ;  a  certain  proot  that  she  did  not  drive  it  herself.§  In  pro- 
cess of  time,  the  picture  of  Cynisca,  drawn  by  the  famous  Apelles,  was  an- 
nexed to  it,  and  the  whole  aaorned  with  many  inscriptions  in  honour  of  tliat 
Spartan  heroine.il 

OF  THE  HONOURS  AND  REWARDS  GRANTED  TO  THE  VICTORS. 

These  honours  and  rewards  were  of  several  kinds.  The  acclamations  of 
Ihe  spectators  in  honour  of  the  victors  were  only  a  prelude  to  the  rewards  de- 
signed them.  These  rewards  were  different  wreaths  of  wild  olive,  pine,  pars- 
ley, or  laurel,  according  to  the  different  places  where  the  games  were  celebra- 
ted. Those  crowns  were  always  attended  with  branches  of  palm,  that  the 
victors  carried  in  their  right  hand  ;  which  custom  according  to  rlutarch  arose, 
perhaps,  from  the  nature  of  the  palm-tree,  which  displays  new  vigour  the 
more  endeavours  are  used  to  crush  or  bend  it,  and  is  a  symbol  of  the  cham- 

E ion's  courage  and  resistance  in  the  attainment  of  the  prize. IT    As  he  might 
e  victor  more  than  once  in  the  same  games,  and  sometimes  on  the  same  day 
he  might  also  receive  several  crowns  and  palms. 

When  the  victor  had  received  the  crown  and  palm,  a  herald,  preceded  by 
a  trumpet,  conducted  him  through  the  stadium,  and  proclaimed  aloud  the 
name  and  country  of  the  successful  champion,  who  passed  in  that  kind  of  re- 
view before  the  peojple,  while  they  redoubled  their  acclamations  and  ap- 
plauses at  the  sight  of  him. 

When  he  returned  to  his  own  country,  the  people  came  out  in  a  body  to 
meet  him,  and  conducted  him  into  the  city,  adorned  with  all  the  marks  of  his 
victory,  and  riding  upon  a  chariot  drawn  by  four  horses.  He  made  his  entiy, 
not  through  the  gates,  but  through  a  breach  purposely  made  in  the  walls. 
Lighted  torches  were  carried  before  him,  and  a  numerous  train  followed  to 
do  honour  to  the  procession. 

^  The  athletic  triumph  almost  always  concluded  with  feasts  made  for  the 
victors,  their  relations  and  friends,  either  at  the  expense  of  the  public,  or  by 
particular  persons,  who  regaled  not  only  their  families  and  friends,  but  often  a 
great  part  of  the  spectators.    Alcibiades,  after  havii^  sacrificed  to  the  Olym- 


♦  Pftwan.  I.  iii  p.  172.  t  Pa?-  2S8  ♦  Pag:.  172.  \  Id.  1.  v.  p.  309. 

H  Pausan.  I.  vi.  p.  24i  tf  SjrQipos,  I.  viii.  tjk&v  4. 


d6 


INTRODUCTION. 


pian  Jupiter,  which  was  always  the  first  care  of  the  victor,  treated  the  whoLi 
assembly.*  Leophron  did  the  same,  as  Athenaeus  reports  ;  who  adds,  tha» 
Empedocles  of  Agrigentun,  having  conquered  in  the  same  games,  and  not 
having  it  in  his  power,  being  a  Pythagorean,  to  regale  the  people  with  flesh 
or  fish,  he  caused  an  ox  to  be  made  of  a  paste,  composed  of  myrrh,  incense 
and  all  sorts  of  spices,  pieces  of  which  were  given  to  every  person  present.! 

One  of  the  most  honourable  privileges  granted  to  the  athletic  victors,  wai 
the  right  of  precedence  at  the  public  games.  At  Sparta  it  was  a  custom  fo\ 
the  king  to  taJce  them  with  him  in  military  expeditions,  to  fight  near  his  per- 
son, and  to  be  his  guard  ;  which,  with  reason,  was  judged  very  honourable 
Another  privilege,  in  which  advantage  was  united  with  honour  was  that  of  be- 
\ns  maintained  for  the  rest  of  their  lives  at  the  expense  of  their  country  .J 
That  this  charge  might  not  become  too  expensive  to  the  state,  Solon  redu- 
ced the  pension  of  a  victor  in  the  Olympic  games  to  five  hundred  drachms  ;§ 
in  the  Isthmian  to  a  hundred  ;1|  ana  in  the  rest  in  proportion.  The  victor 
and  his  country  considered  -this  pension  less  as  a  relief  of  the  champion's  in- 
digence, than  as  a  mark  of  honour  and  distinction.  They  were  also  exempt- 
ed from  all  civil  offices  and  employments. 

The  celebration  of  the  games  bein^  over,  one  of  the  first  cares  of  the  ma- 
gistrates, who  presided  in  them,  was  to  inscribe,  in  the  jDublic  register,  the 
name  and  countiy  of  the  athletae  who  had  carried  the  prizes,  and  to  annex 
the  species  of  combat  in  which  they  had  been  victorious.  The  chariot-race 
had  the  preference  over  all  other  games.  From  y  hence  the  historians,  who 
date  occurrences  by  the  Olympiads,  as  Thucydides,  Dionysius  of  Halicarnas- 
sus,  Diodorus  Siculus,  and  Pausanias,  almost  always  express  the  Olympiad 
by  the  name  and  country  of  the  victors  in  that  race. 

The  praises  of  the  victorious  athleta;  were,  among  the  Greeks,  one  of  the 

Principal  subjects  of  the  lyric  poetry.  We  find  that  all  the  odes  of  the  foui 
ooks  of  Pindar  turn  upon  it,  each  of  which  takes  its  title  from  the  games, 
in  which  the  combatants  signalized  themselves  whose  victories  those  poems 
celebrate.  The  poet,  indeed,  frequently  enriches  his  matter,  by  calling  into 
the  champiorfs  assistance,  incapable  alone  of  inspiring  all  the  enthusiasm  ne- 
cessar}%  the  aid  of  the  gods,  heroes,  and  princes,  who  have  any  relation  to  his 
subject ;  and  to  support  the  flights  of  imagination,  to  which  he  abandons  him- 
'  sell.  Before  Pindar,  the  poet  Simonides  practised  the  same  manner  of  wri- 
ting, intermingling  the  praises  cf  the  gods  and  heroes,  with  those  of  the  cham- 
pions whose  victories  he  sang.  It  is  related,  upon  this  head,  that  one  of  the 
victors  in  boxing,  called  Scopas,  having  agreed  with  Simonides  for  a  poem 
upon  his  victory,  the  poet,  according  to  custom,  after  having  given  the  high- 
est praises  to  the  champion,  expatiated  in  a  long  digression  to  the  honour  of 
Castor  and  Pollux.lT  Scopas,  satisfied  in  appearance  with  the  performance  of 
Simonides,  paid  hi"m,  however,  only  the  third  part  of  the  sum  agreed  on,  re* 
ferring  him  for  the  remainder  to  the  Tyndarides,  whom  he  had  celebrated 
so  well.  And  in  fact  he  was  well  paid  by  them,  if  we  may  believe  the  se 
quel  :  for,  at  the  feast  given  by  the  champion,  while  the  guests  were  at  table, 
a  servant  came  to  Simonides,  and  told  him,  that  two  men,  covered  with  dust 
and  sweat,  were  at  the  door,  and  desired  to  speak  with  him  in  all  haste. 
He  had  scarce  set  his  foot  out  of  the  chamber,  in  order  to  go  to  them,  whea 
the  roof  fell  in,  and  crushed  the  champion  with  all  his  guests  to  death. 

Sculpture  united  with  poetry  to  perpetuate  the  fame  of  the  champions 
Statues  were  erected  to  the  victors,  especially  in  the  Olympic  games,  in  fh€ 
very  place  where  they  had  been  crowned,  and  sometimes  in  that  of  theii 
birth  also ;  which  was  commonly  done  at  the  expense  of  their  country. 
Among  the  statues  which  adorned  Olympia,  w^ere  those  of  several  childrer 
of  ten  or  twelve  years  old,  who  had  obtained  the  prize  at  that  age  in  the 


•  Plut.  in  Alcib.  p.  1'36.  f         i.  p.  3.  +  Diog.  Laert.  in  Solon,  p.  37.  {  About  $47. 

t)  About  ^-9  f  Cic.  Orat.  1.  ii.  n.  35-2,  3:>3.    Phaed.  1.  ii.  Fab.  24.    Q,uin<il.  1  xi.  c.  2 


INTRODUCTION. 


57 


Olympic  games.  They  did  not  only  raise  such  monuments  tc  the  champions, 
but  to  the  very  horses  to  whose  swiftness  they  were  indebted  for  the  agonis- 
tic crown;  and  Pausanias  mentions  one,  which  was  erected  in  honour  of  a 
mare,  called  Aura,  whose  history  is  worth  repeating.  Phidolas,  her  rider, 
having  fallen  off  in  the  beginning  of  the  race,  the  mare  continued  to  run  i^i 
the  same  manner  as  if  he  had  been  upon  her  back.  She  outstripped  all  the 
rest,  and  upon  the  sound  of  the  trumpets,  which  was  usual  toward  the  end  of 
the  race  to  animate  the  competitors,  she  redoubled  her  vigour  and  courage, 
turned  round  the  goal ;  and,  as  if  she  had  been  sensible  that  she  had  gained 
the  victory,  presented  herself  before  the  judges  of  the  games.  The  Eleana 
declared  Phidolas  victor,  with  permission  to  erect  a  monument  to  himself, 
and  the  mare  that  had  served  him  so  well.* 

THE  DIFFERENT  TASTE  OF  THE  GREEKS  AND  ROxMANS,  IN  REGARD  TO  PUBLIC 

SHOWS. 

Before  I  make  an  end  of  these  remarks  upon  the  combats  and  games,  so 
much  in  estimation  among  the  Greeks,  I  beg  the  reader's  permission  to  make 
a  reflection  which  may  serve  to  explain  the  difference  of  character  between 
the  Greeks  and  the  Romans  with  regard  to  this  subject. 

The  most  common  entertainment  of  the  latter,  at  which  the  fair  sex,  by  na- 
ture tender  and  compassionate,  were  present  in  throngs,  was  the  combats  of 
the  gladiators,  and  of  men  with  bears  and  lions  ;  in  which  the  cries  of  the 
wounded  and  dying,  and  the  abundant  effusion  of  human  blood,  supplied  the 
grateful  spectacle  for  a  whole  people,  who  feasted  their  cruel  eyes  with  the 
savage  pleasure  of  seeing  men  murder  one  another  in  cool  blood  ;  and  in  the 
times  of  the. persecutions,  with  the  tearing  in  pieces  of  old  men  and  infants, 
of  women  and  tender  virgins,  whose  age  and  weakness  are  apt  to  excite  com- 
passion in  the  hardest  hearts. 

In  Greece  these  combats  were  absolutely  unknown,  and  were  only  introdu- 
ced into  some  cities,  after  their  subjection  to  the  Roman  people.  The  Athe- 
nians, however,  whose  distinguishing  characteristics  were  benevolence  and 
humanity,  never  admitted  them  into  their  city  ;t  and  when  it  was  proposed  to 
introduce  the  combats  of  the  gladiators,  that  they  might  not  be  outdone  by  the 
Corinthians  in  that  point.  First  throw  doz<Dn,  cried  out  an  AthenianJ  from  the 
midst  of  the  assembly,  the  altar  erected  above  a  thousand  years  ago  by  our  an" 
cestors  to  Mercy, 

It  must  be  allowed  in  this  respect,  that  the  conduct  and  wisdom  of  the 
Greeks  was  infinitely  superior  to  that  of  the  Romans.  I  speak  of  the  wisdom 
of  pagans.  Convinced  that  the  multitude,  too  much  governed  by  the  objects 
of  sense  to  be  sufficiently  amused  and  entertained  with  the  pleasures  of  the 
understanding,  could  be  delighted  only  with  sensible  objects,  both  nations 
were  studious  to  divert  them  with  games  and  shows,  and  such  external  contri- 
vances as  were  proper  to  affect  the  senses.  In  the  institution  of  which,  each 
evinced  and  followed  its  peculiar  genius  and  disposition. 

The  Romans,  educated  in  war,  and  accustomed  to  battles,  retained  not- 
withstanding the  politeness  upon  which  they  piqued  themselves,  something  of 
their  ancient  ferocity  ;  and  hence  it  was,  that  the  effusion  of  blood,  and  the 
murders  exhibited  in  their  public  shows,  far  from  inspiring  them  with  honor, 
formed  a  grateful  entertainment  to  them. 

The  insolent  pomp  of  triumphs  flowed  from  the  same  source,  and  argued 
no  less  inhumanity.  To  obtain  this  honour,  it  was  necessary  to  prove,  that 
eight  or  ten  thousand  men  at  least  had  been  killed  in  battle.  The  spoils,  which 
were  carried  with  so  much  ostentation,  proclaimed,  that  an  infinity  of  worthr 
families  had  been  reduced  to  the  utmost  misery.  The  innumerable  troop  of 
captives  had  been  free  persons  a  few  days  before,  and  were  often  distinguish* 


*  Lib.  vi.  p.  368.  |  Lucian.  in  Vit.  Demonact.  p.  1014. 

X  It  was  Demonax,  a  celebrated  phllosophitr,  whose  disciple  Lucian  had  h»(9  He  flourished  In  tk9 
ff»fCii  of  Marcus  Aur^iius. 


58 


LXTltODUCTIOK 


able  for  honour,  merit,  and  virtue.  The  representation  of  the  towns  that  toil 
been  taken  in  the  war,  explained  that  they  had  sacked,  plundered,  and 
burnt  the  most  opulent  cities,  and  either  destroyed,  or  enslaved  their  inhabi- 
tants. In  fine,  nothing  was  more  inhuman  than  to  drag  kings  and  princes  in 
chains  before  the  chariot  of  a  Roman  citizen,  and  to  insult  their  misfortunes 
and  hi>iniliation  in  that  public  manner. 

The  triumphal  arches,  erected  during  the  reign  of  the  emperors,  where 
the  enemies  appeared  with  chains  upon  their  hands  and  legs,  could  proceed 
only  from  a  haughty  fierceness  of  disposition,  and  an  inhuman  pride,  that  took 
delight  in  immortalizing  the  shame  and  sorrow  of  subjected  nations.* 

The  joy  of  the  Greeks  after  a  victory  was  far  more  modest.  They  erected 
trophies  indeed,  but  of  wood,  a  substance  which  time  would  soon  consume; 
and  these  it  was  prohibited  to  renew.  Plutarch's  reason  for  this  is  admirable. 
After  time  had  destroyed  and  obliterated  the  marks  of  dissension  and  enmity 
that  had  divided  the  people,  it  would  have  been  the  excess  of  odious  and 
barbarous  animosity  to  have  thought  of  re-establishing  them,  and  to  have 
perpetuated  the  remembrance  of  ancient  quarrels,  which  could  not  be  buried 
too  soon  in  silence  and  oblivion.  He  adds,  that  the  trophies  of  stone  and  brass 
since  substituted  for  those  of  wood,  reflect  no  honour  upon  those  who  intro- 
duced the  custom.t 

I  em  pleased  with  the  grief  depicted  on  Agesilaus's  countenfince,  after  a 
considerable  victory,  wherein  a  great  number  of  his  enemies^  that  is  to  say, 
of  Greeks,  were  left  upon  the  field,  and  to  hear  him  utter  with  sighs  and 
groans,  these  words,  so  full  of  moderation  and  humanity :  *'  Oh !  unhappy 
Greece,  to  deprive  thyself  of  so  many  brave  citizens,  and  to  destroy  those 
who  had  been  sufficient  to  conquer  all  the  barbarians.j" 

The  same'  spirit  of  moderation  and  humanity  prevailed  in  the  public  shows 
of  the  Greeks.  Their  festivals  had  nothing  mournful  or  afflictive  in  them. 
Every  thing  in  those  feasts  tended  to  delight,  friendship  and  harmony  ;  and 
in  that  consisted  one  of  the  greatest  advantages  which  resulted  to  Gr<^,ece 
from  the  solemnization  of  these  games.  The  republics,  separated  by  dis- 
tance of  country  and  diversity  of  ir.lerests,  having  the  opportunity  of  meet- 
ing from  time  to  time  in  the  same  place,  and  in  the  midst  of  rejoicing  and 
festivity,  allied  more  strictly  with  one  another,  stimulated  each  other  against 
the  barbarians  and  the  com.mon  enemies  of  their  liberty,  and  made  up  theii 
differences  by  the  mediation  of  some  neutral  state  in  alliance  with  them. 
The  same  language,  manners,  sacrifices,  exercises,  and  worship,  all  conspired 
to  unite  the  several  little  states  of  Greece  into  one  great  and  formidable  na- 
tion, and  to  preserve  among  them  the  same  disposition,  the  same  principles,  the 
same  zeal  for  their  liberty,  and  the  same  fondness  for  the  arts  and  sciences 

OF  THE  PRIZES  OF  WIT,  AND  THE  SHOWS  AND  REPRESENTATIONS  OF  Tlli 

THEATRE. 

I  HAVE  reserved  for  the  conclusion  of  this  head  another  Kmd  of  com.peti 
tion,  which  does  not  at  all  depend  upon  the  strength,  activity,  and  address  oi 
the  body,  and  may  be  called  with  reason  the  combat  of  the  mind ;  wherein 
the  orators,  historians,  and  poets,  made  trial  of  their  capacities,  and  submit- 
ted their  productions  to  the  censure  and  judgment  of  the  public.  The  emu- 
lation in  this  sort  of  dispute  was  most  lively  and  ardent,  as  the  victory  in 
question  might  justly  be  deemed  to  be  infinitely  superior  to  all  the  others, 
because  it  affects  the  m^n  more  nearly,  is  founded  on  nis  personal  and  inter- 
nal qualities,  and  dec*%1es  the  merit  of  his  wit  and  capacity  ;  which  are  ad- 
vantages we  are  apt  to  aspire  at  with  the  utmost  vivacity  and  passion,  and  of 
which  we  are  least  of  all  inclined  to  renounce  the  glory  to  others. 


*  Plut.  in  Q,uaest.  Rom.  p.  273. 
f  "Oti  tou  x?(^v8  tol  anpicra  rnj  rrjof  lohs  noKi^lovs  iia^ofaf  a/ioiujoCvTOf  ahrois  avaKaixt&mn  wti 

t  Plut.  in  Lacoit.  Apophlbefro-  311. 


INTRODUCTlOxN. 


It  was  a  great  horn  ur,  and  at  the  same  time  a  most  sensible  pleasure,  lor 
m-iters  who  are  generally  fond  of  fame  and  applause,  to  have  known  how  to 
unite  in  their  favour  the  suffrages  of  so  numerous  and  select  an  assembly 
IS  ^at  of  the  Olympic  games,  in  which  were  present  all  the  finest  geniuseg 
f[  Greece,  and  all  the  best  judges  of  the  excellency  of  a  work.  This  thea- 
/o  was  equally  open  to  history,  eloquence,  and  poetry. 

Herodotus  read  his  history  at  the  Olympic  games  to  all  Greece,  assem- 
bled a<  them,  and  was  heard  with  such  applause,  that  the  names  of  the  nine 
Muses  were  given  to  the  nine  books  which  compose  his  work,  and  tbe  peo- 
ple cried  out  wherever  he  passed.  That  is  he  who  has  written  our  history y  and 
celebrated  our  glorious  successes  against  the  barbarians  so  excellently,* 

All  who  had  been  present  at  the  games  afterwards  made  every  par<  / 
Greece  resound  with  the  name  and  glory  of  this  illustrious  historian. 

Lucian,  who  writes  the  fact  I  have  related,  adds,  that  after  the  example  of 
Herodotus,  many  of  the  sophists  and  rhetoricians  went  to  Olympia,  to  read 
the  harangues  of  their  composing ;  finding  that  to  be  the  shortest  and  most 
certain  method  of  acquiring  a  great  reputation  in  a  little  time. 

Plutarch  observes,  that  Lysias,  the  famous  Athenian  orator,  contemporary 
with  Herodotus,  pronounced  a  speech  in  the  Olympic  games,  wherein  he 
congratulated  the  Greeks  upon  their  reconciliation  with  each  other,  and  their 
having  united  to  reduce  the  pwver  of  Dionysius  the  Tyrant,  as  upon  the 
greatest  action  they  had  ever  done.t 

We  may  judge  of  the  passion  of  the  poets  to  signalize  themselves  in 
these  solemn  games,  from  that  of  Dionysius  himself. J  That  prince,  who  had 
the  foolish  vanity  to  believe  himself  the  most  excellent  poet  of  his  time,  ap- 
pointed readers,  called  in  the  Greek  'p^t-iw^ol^  {rhap^'odists),  to  read  several 
pieces  of  his  composing  at  Olympia.  When  they  began  to  pronounce  the 
verses  of  the  royal  poet,  the  strong  and  harmonious  voices  of  the  readers  oc- 
casioned a  profound  silence,  and  they  were  heard  at  first  with  the  greatest  at- 
tention, which  continually  decreased  as  they  went  on,  and  turned  at  last  into 
downright  horse-laughs  and  hooting ;  so  miserable  did  the  verses  appear. 
He  comforted  himself  for  this  disgrace  by  a  victory  he  gained  some  time 
after  in  the  feast  of  Bacchus,  at  Athens,  at  which  he  caused  a  tragedy  of  his 
composition  to  be  represented. § 

The  disputes  of  the  poets  in  the  Olympic  games  were  nothing,  in  compa- 
rison with  the  ardour  and  emulation  that  prevailed  at  Athens ;  which  is 
what  remains  to  be  said  upon  this  subject,  and  therefore  I  shall  conclude 
with  it;  taking  occasion  to  give  my  readers, at  the  same  time,  a  short  view 
w^t  the  shows  and  representations  of  the  theatre  of  the  ancients.  Those  who 
would  be  more  fully  informed  on  this  subject,  will  find  it  treated  at  laige  in  a 
work,  lately  made  public  by  the  reverend  father  Brumoi,  the  Jesuit;  a  work 
which  abounds  with  profound  knowledge  and  erudition,  and  with  reflections 
entirely  new,  deduced  from  the  nature  of  the  poems  of  which  it  treats.  1 
shall  make  considerable  use  of  that  work,  and  often  without  citing  it ;  which 
is  not  uncommon  with  me. 

EXTRAORDINARY  PASSION  OF  THE  ATHENIANS  FOR  THE  ENTERTAINMENTS  OK 
THE  STAGE. —  EMULATION  OF  THE  POETS  IN  DISPUTING  THE  PRIZES  OF 
THOSE  REPRESENTATIONS. — A  SHORT  IDEA  OF  DiBAMATIC  POETRY. 

No  people  ever  expressed  so  much  ardour  and  eagerness  for  the  entertain- 
ments of  the  theatre  as  the  Greeks,  and  especially  the  Athenians.  The  rea- 
son is  obvious;  no  people  ever  demonstrated  such  extent  of  genius,  nor  car- 
ried so  far  the  love  of  eloquence  and  poesy,  taste  for  the  sciences,  justness  of 
sentiment,  correctness  of  ear,  and  delicacy  in  all  the  refinements  of  language. 
%  poor  woman  who  sold  herbs  at  Athens,  discovered  Theophrastus  to  be  a 


♦  Lucian.  in  Herod,  p.  622. 


60 


INTRODUCTION! . 


Btran^er,  by  a  single  word  which  he  affectedly  made  use  of  in  expressmg  him- 
self.* The  common  people  got  the  tragedies  of  Euripides  by  heart.  The 
S'enius  of  every  nation  expresses  itself  in  the  people's  manner  of  passing  theii 
ume,  and  in  their  pleasures.  The  great  employment  and  delight  of  the  Athe- 
nians were  to  amuse  themselves  w<  h  works  of  wit,  and  to  judge  of  the  dra- 
matic pieces  that  were  acted  by  public  authority  several  times  a  year,  espe- 
cially at  the  feasis  of  Bacchus,  when  the  tragic  and  comic  poets  disputed  foi 
the  prize.  The  former  used  to  present  four  of  their  pieces  at  a  time,  except 
Sophocles,  who  did  not  tjiink  fit  to  continue  so  laborious  an  exercise,  and  con- 
^ned  himself  to  one  performance  when  he  disputed  the  prize. 

The  state  appointed  judges,  to  determine  upon  the  merit  of  the  tragic  oi 
:  jmic  pieces,  before  they  were  represented  in  the  festivals.  They  were  acted 
before  them  in  the  presence  of  the  people,  but  undoubtedly  with  no  great  pre- 
paration. The  judges  gave  their  suffrages,  and  that  performance  which  had 
the  most  voices  was  declared  victorious,  received  the  crown  as  such,  and  was 
represented  with  all  possible  pomp  at  the  expense  of  the  republic.  This  did 
not,  however,  exclude  such  pieces  as  were  only  in  the  second  or  third  class. 
The  best  had  not  always  the  preference ;  for  what  times  have  been  exempt 
from  party,  ca^jrice,  ignorance,  and  prejudice  ?  jEIian  is  very  angry  with  the 
judges,  who  in  one  oi  these  disputes,  gave  only  the  second  place  to  Euripi- 
des. He  accuses  them  of  judging  either  without  capacity  or  of  suffering 
themselves  to  be  bribed.f  It  is  easy  to  conceive  the  warmth  and  emulation 
which  these  disputes  and  public  rewards  excited  among  the  poets,  and  how 
much  they  contributed  to  the  perfection  to  which  Greece  carried  scenic  per- 
formances. 

The  dramatic  poem  introduces  the  persons  themselves,  speaking  and  acting 
upon  the  stage  :  in  the  epic,  on  the  contrary,  the  poet  only  relates  the  dit- 
ferent  adventures  of  his  characters.  It  is  natural  to  be  delighted  with  fine 
descriptions  of  events,  in  which  illustrious  persons,  and  whole  nations  are  in- 
terested ;  and  hence  the  epic  poem  had  its  origin.  But  we  are  quite  dif- 
fei'ently  affected  with  hearing  those  persons  themselves,  with  being  confidants 
of  their  most  secret  sentiments,  and  auditors  and  spectators  of  their  resolut'ons, 
enterprises,  and  the  happy  or  unhappy  events  attending  them.  To  read  and 
see  an  action  are  quite  different  things.  We  are  infinitely  more  moved  with 
what  is  acted,  than  wdth  w^hat  we  merely  read.  Our  eyes,  as  well  as  our  minds 
are  addressed  at  the  same  time.  The  spectator  agreeably  deceived  by  an 
imitation  so  nearly  approaching  life,  mistakes  the  picture  for  the  original,  and 
thinks  the  object  real.  This  gave  birth  to  dramatic  poetry,  which  includes 
tragedy  and  comedy. 

To  these  may  be  added  the  satyric  poem,  which  derives  its  name  from  the 
satyrs,  rural  gods,  w^ho  were  always  the  chief  characters  in  it,  and  not  from 
the  satire^  a  kind  of  abusive  poetiy,  which  has  no  resemblance  to  this,  and  is 
of  a  much  later  date.  The  satyric  poem  was  neither  tragedy  nor  comedy, 
but  something  between  both,  participating  of  the  character  of  each.  The 
poets  who  disputed  the  prize,  generally  added  one  of  these  pieces  to  theii 
tragedies,  to  allay  the  gravity  and  solemnity  of  the  one,  with  the  mirth  and 
pleasantry  of  the  other.  There  is  but  one  example  of  this  ancient  poem  come 
'lown  to  us,  which  is  the  Cyclops  of  Euripides. 

I  shall  confine  myself  upon  this  head,  to  tragedy  and  comedy,  both  which 
bad  their  origin  among  the  Greeks,  who  looked  upon  them  as  fruits  of  their 
own  growth,  of  which  they  could  never  have  enough.  Athens  was  remarka- 
ble for  an  extraordinary  appetite  of  this  kind.  These  two  poems,  which 
were  for  a  long  time  comprised  under  the  general  name  of  tragedy,  received 
Ihere  by  degrees  such  improvements  as  at  length  raised  them  to  the  highest 
p^fection. 


♦Attica  anns  Theophrastum,  hominem  alioqui  discrtissimum,  annotata  unius  affeclatione  rfrbi.  hospitew 
lixit.— Q,uint.  I.  viri.  e.  1. 

t  Jl'^lian.  \.  W.  C.  ft. 


INTRODUCTION. 


61 


THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS  OF  TRAGEDY.  POETS  WHO  EXCELLED  Elf  IT  Al 

ATHENS  ;  iESCHYLUS,  SOPHOCLES,  AND  E^JRIPIDES. 

There  had  been  many  tragic  and  com!'"  poets  before  Thespis ;  but  as  thej 
had  made  no  alteration  in  the  original  rude  form  of  this  poem,  and  as  Thespis 
was  the  first  that  made  any  improvement  in  it,  he  was  g'eneraJly  esteemed  its 
inventor.  Before  him,  tragedy  was  no  more  than  a  jumble  of  buffoon  tales  in 
the  comic  style,  intermixed  wfth  the  singing  of  a  chorus  in  praise  of  Bacchus ; 
for  it  is  to  the  feasts  of  that  god,  celebrated  at  the  time  of  the  vintage,  tha* 
tragedy  owes  its  birth. 

La  Irag^die,  informe  rl  grossiere  en  naissant, 
N'6k)it  qu'  un  simple  chceur,       chacun  en  dansant, 
Et  du  dieu  des  raisins  entonant  les  louanges, 
S'eff'orcoit  d'attirer  de  fertiles  vendanges. 
La,,  le  vin  etlajoie  6veillant  les  esprits, 
Du  plus  habile  chantre  un  bouc  6toit  le  prii.* 

Formless  and  gross  did  tragedy  arise, 
A  simple  chorus,  rather  mad  than  wise  ; 
For  fruitful  vintages  the  dancing  throng 
Koar'd  to  the  god  of  graces  a  drunken  song  : 
Wild  mirth  and  wine  sustain'd  the  frantic  note, 
And  the  best  singer  had  the  prize,  a  goat. 

Thespis  made  several  alterations  in  it,  which  Horace  describes  after  Aris- 
totle, in  his  Art  of  Poetry.  The  first  was  to  carry  his  actors  about  in  a  cart, 
whereas  before,  they  used  to  sing  in  the  streets,  wherever  chance  led  them. 
Another  was,  to  have  their  faces  smeared  over  with  wine-lees,  instead  of  act- 
ing without  disguise,  as  at  first. j  He  also  introduced  a  character  among  the 
chorus,  who,  to  give  the  actors  time  to  rest  themselves  and  to  t^e  breath, 
repealed  the  adventures  of  some  illustrious  person ;  which  recital  at  length 
^avt  place  to  the  subjects  of  tragedy. 

Thespis  fut  le  premier,  qui  barbouill6  de  lie, 
Promena  par  les  bourgs  cette  heureuse  folic, 
Ftd'acteurs  mal  ornes  chargeant  un  tombereau, 
Amusa  les  passans  d'un  S[)ectacle  nouYcau.J 

First  Thespis,  smeerM  with  lees,  and  void  of  art.  * 

The  grateful  fo'dly  vented  from  a  cart; 

And  as  his  tawdry  actors  drove  about. 

The  sight  was  new  and  charmed  the  gaping  rout. 

Thespis  lived  in  the  time  of  Solon. 5  That  wise  legislator,  upon  seeing  hi§ 
pieces  performed,  expressed  his  dislike,  by  striking  his  staff  against  the 
ground  ;  apprehending  that  these  poetical  fictions,  and  idle  stories,  from  mere 
theatrical  representations,  would  soon  become  matters  of  importance,  and 
have  too  great  a  share  in  all  public  and  private  affairs. 

It  is  not  so  easy  to  invent,  as  to  improve  the  inventions  of  others.  The  al- 
terations Thespis  made  in  tragedy  gave  room  for  ^^schylus  to  make  new  and 
more  considerable  ones  of  his  own.  He  was  born  at  Athens  in  the  first  year 
of  the  sixteenth  Olympiad.!!  He  took  upon  him  the  profession  of  arms,  at  i 
time  when  the  Athenians  reckoned  almost  as  many  heroes  as  citizens.  He- 
was  at  the  battles  of  Marathon,  Salamis,  and  Plataea,  where  he  did  his  duty 
But  his  disposition  called  him  elsewhere^  and  put  him  upon  entering  into  ano 
ther  course,  where  no  Jess  glory  was  to  be  acquired,  and  where  he  was  socn 
without  any  competitors. IF  As  a  superior  genius,  he  took  upon  him  to  reform, 


*  Boileau  Art.  Poet.  Chant,  iii. 
I  Ignotura  tragicse  genus  inrenlsse  Camente 
DicUur,  et  planstris  vexisse  poemata  Thespis, 
^,ui  canerent  agerentque,  peruncti  faecibus  ora. 

Hor.  de  Art.  Poet. 
When  Thespis  first  expos'd  the  trag?c  mizse, 
Rude  were  the  actors,  and  a  cart  the  scene  ; 
Wiiere  ghastly  faces,  srnear'd  with  lees  of  wine, 
Frighted  the  ciiildren,  and  amused  the  crowd. 

Roscom.  Art  of  Po«t. 

J  BoHeaM  Art.  Poet.  Chnn    Hi.  {A.M.  3440.    Ant.  J.  C.  564.    Plut.  in  S#*». 

U  A.  M.  .'J4rU.    .\n>  ;.(  .  WO.  ■  V  A.M   3514.    Aat.  J  C.  4«0. 


62 


INTRODUCTION. 


or  rather  to  create  tragedy  anew  ;  of  which  he  has,  in  consequence,  been 
ways  acknowledged  the  inventor  and  father.  Father  Brumoi,  in  a  disaertatioo 
which  abounds  with  wit  and  good  sense,  explains  the  manner  in  which  iKschy- 
lus  conceived  the  true  idea  of  tragedy  from  Homer's  epic  poems.  That  poet 
himself  used  to  say,  that  his  works  were  only  copies  in  relievo  of  Homer'a 
draughts,  in  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey. 

Tragedy,  therefore,  took  a  new  form  under  him.    He  gave  masks  to  his  ac- 
tors, adorned  them  with  robes  and  trains,  and  made  them  wear  buskins.  In- 
stead of  a  cart  he  created  a  theatre  of  moderate  extent,  and  entirely  changed 
(heir  style  ;  which  from  being  merry  and  burlesque,  as  at  first,  became  majes 
tic  and  serious.* 

Kschyle  dans  le  chcEur  jelta  les  personages  ; 
D'un  masque  plus  honn6te  habllla  les  visages  ; 
Sur  les  ais  d'un  theatre  en  public  exhausse 
Fit  paroitre  I'acteur  d'un  brodequin  chauss^.f 

From  ^schylus  the  chorus  learnt  new  grac^^ 
Me  veil'd  with  *!ecent  masks  the  actors  face,- 
Tau<;-ht  him  in  buskins  first  to  tread  the  stage, 
Anu  rais'd  a  theatre  to  please  the  age. 

But  that  was  only  the  external  part  or  body  of  tragedy.  Its  soul,  whJco 
vas  the  most  important  and  essential  addition  of  ^schyius,  consisted  in  the 
nvacity  and  spirit  of  the  action,  sustained  by  the  dialogue  of  the  persons  of 
the  drama  introduced  by  him  :  in  the  artful  working  up  of  the  stronger  pas- 
sions, especially  of  terror  and  pity,  that,  by  alternately  afflicting  and  agitating 
the  soul  with  mournful  or  terrible  objects,  produce  a  grateful  pleasure  ana 
delight  from  that  very  trouble  and  emotion  ;  in  the  choice  of  a  subject,  great, 
noble,  interesting,  and  contained  within  the  true  bounds  by  the  unity  of  time, 
place,  and  action  ;  in  fine,  it  is  the  conduct  and  disposition  of  the  whole  piece, 
which  by  the  order  and  harmony  of  its  parts,  and  the  happy  connexion  of  its 
incidents  and  intrigues,  holds  the  mind  of  the  spectator  in  suspense  till  the  ca- 
tastrophe, and  then  restores  him  his  tranquillity,  and  dismisses  him  with  satis- 
faction. 

The  chorus  had  been  established  before  ^scbylus,  as  it  composed  alone, 
or  next  to  alone,  what  was  then  called  tragedy.  He  did  not,  therefore,  exclude 
it,  but,  on  the  contrary,  thought  fit  to  incorporate  it,  to  sing  as  chorus  be- 
tween the  acts.  Thus  it  supplied  the  interval  of  resting,  and  was  a  kind  of 
person  of  the  drama,  employed  either  in  giving  useful  counsels  and  salutaiy 
instructions,  in  espousing  the  part  of  innocence  and  virtue,  in  being  the  de-j 
pository  of  secrets,  and  the  avenger  of  violated  religion,  or  in  sustainiaig  ali 
those  characters  at  the  same  time,  according  toHorace.J  The  coryphaeus,  d 
principal  person  of  the  chorus,  spoke  for  the  rest. 


*  Post  hunc  personae  pallajque  repertor  honest'e 
JEschylus,  et  modicis  instravit  pulpita  tignis, 
Ki  dociiit  magnumque  loqui,  nitique  cothurno. 

Hor.  de  Art.  Poet 

This  7f2schylus  (with  indignation)  saw. 
And  built  a  staj^e,  found  out  a  decent  dress. 
Brought  vizards  in  (a  civiler  disguise,) 
And  taught  men  how  to  speak,  and  how  to  &ct. 

Roscom.  ksi  ef  Po«t 

t  Boileau  Art.  Poet. 

X  Actoris  partes  chorus  olBciumque  virile 
Pefendat ;  neu  quid  medios  intercinat  actus. 
Quod  non  rroposilo  conducat,  et  haereat  apte. 
llle  bonis  laveatque,  et  concilietur  amicis, 
Etregat  iratos,  et  amet  percare  timentes. 
llle  dapes  laudet  mensai  bj^vis:  ille  salubrem 
.luRtitiam,  legcsque,  et  aperiis  otia  portis. 
llle  tegut  commissa,  deosque  precetur  etoret, 
t'l  rcdwal  mi^ieris,  abeat  fortuna  superbis. 

Hor.  de  Art.  Pm«. 
'The  chorus  should  jopply  what  action  wanU. 
iad  hmti  a  ^jentfoiw  aad  iHAiiy  part  j 


INTRODUCTION. 


65 


in  one  of  iEschylus's  pieces,  called  the  Eumenides,  the  poet  representii 
Orestes  at  the  bottom  of  the  stage,  surrounded  by  the  furies,  laid  asleep  by 
Apollo.  Their  figure  must  have  been  extremely  horrible,  as  it  is  related, 
that  upon  their  waking,  and  appearing  tumultuously  on  the  theatre,  where 
they  were  to  act  as  a  chorus,  some  wotnen  miscarried  with  the  surprise,  and 
gev^ra!  children  died  of  the  fright.  The  chorus  at  that  time  consisted  of  Mty 
actors.  After  this  accident  it  was  reduced  to  fifteen,  by  an  express  law,  and 
^i  icngia  to  twelve. 

I  have  observed,  that  one  of  the  alterations  made  by  ^schylus  in  tragedy, 
was  the  mask  worn  by  the  actors.  These  dramatic  masks  had  no  resemblance 
'o  o'lrs,  which  only  cover  the  face,  but  were  a  kind  of  case  for  the  whole 
Head,  and  which,  besides  the  features,  represented  the  be.-ird,  the  hair,  the 
»ars,  and  even  the  ornaments  used  by  women  in  their  head-dresses.  These 
nasks  varied  according  to  the  different  pieces  that  were  acted.  They  are 
seated  of  at  large  in  a  dissertation  of  M.  Boindin's,  inserted  in  the  Memoirs 
/  the  Academy  of  Belles  Lettres.* 

I  could  never  comprehend,  as  I  have  observed  elsewhere,t  in  speaking  of 
pronunciation,  how  masks  came  to  continue  so  long  upon  the  stage  of  the  an- 
cients ;  for  certainly  they  could  not  be  used,  without  considerably  flattening 
the  spirit  of  the  action,  which  is  principally  expressed  in  the  countenance,  the 
seat  and  mirror  of  what  passes  in  the  soul.  Does  it  not  often  happen,  that 
the  blood,  according  to  its  being  put  in  motion  by  different  passions,  some- 
limes  covers  the  face  with  a  sudden  and  modest  blush,  sometimes  enflames  it 
with  the  heat  of  rage  and  fury,  sometimes  retires,  leaving  it  pale  with  fear, 
and  at  others,  diffuses  a  calm  and  amiable  serenity  over  it?  All  these  affec- 
tions are  strongly  imagined  and  distinguished  in  the  lineaments  of  the  lace. 
The  mask  deprives  the  features  of  this  energy  of  language,  and  of  that  life  and 
soul  by  which  it  is  the  faithful  interpreter  of  all  the  sentiments  of  the  heait. 
I  do  not  wonder,  therefore,  at  Cicero's  remark  upon  the  action  of  Roscijus. 
"Our  ancestors,"  says  he,  "were  better  judges  than  we  are.  They  could 
not  wholly  approve  even  of  Roscius  himself,  while  he  performed  in  a  mask. ''J 

^^Ischylus  was  in  the  sole  possession  of  the  glory  of  the  stage,  with  almost 
every  voice  ia  his  favour,  when  a  young  rival  made  his  appearance  to  dispute 
the  palm  \viih  him.  This  was  Sophocles.  He  was  born  at  Colonos,  a  town 
in  Attica,  in  the  second  year  of  the  71st  Olympiad.  His  father  was  a  black- 
smith, or  one  that  kept  people  of  that  trade  to  work  for  him.  His  first  c-ssay 
was  a  masterpiece.  When,  upon  the  occasion  of  Cymon  having  found  the 
bo  lies  of  Theseus,  and  their  being  brought  to  Athens,  a  dispute  between  the 
tragic  poets  was  appointed,  Sophocles  entered  the  lists  with  ^schylus,  and 
carried  the  prize  against  him.  The  ancient  victor,  laden  till  then  with  the 
wreaths  he  had  acquired,  believed  them  all  lost  by  failing  of  the  last,  and  witii- 
drew  in  disgust  into  Sicily  to  king  Hiero,  the  protector  and  patron  of  all  the 
learned  in  disgrace  at  Athens.  He  died  there  soon  after,  in  a  very  singular 
manner,  if  we  may  believe  S'uidas.  As  he  lay  asleep  in  the  fields,  with  his 
head  bare,^an  eagle,  taking  his  bald  crown  .v^  a  stone,  let  a  to.  toise  fall  upon 
it,  which  killed  him.  Of  ninety,  or  at  least  seventy  tragedies,  composed 
Mim,  only  seven  are  now  extant. 

Nor  have  those  of  Sophocles  escaped  the  iiyury  of  time  better,  though  nw: 


Bridles  wild  rage,  loves  rigid  hcxnestr, 

And  strict  observance  cf  impartial  laws. 

Sobriety,  security  and  peace  ; 

And  begs  the  gods  to  turn  blind  fortunes  wheel. 

To  raise  the  wretched,  and  pull  down  the  proud  ; 

But  nothing  must  be  sung  between  the  acts, 

But  what  some  way  conduces  to  the  plot. 

Roscom  Art  of  Poetry. 
*  Vol.  IV.  f  Manner  of  Teaching,  &c.  Vol.  IV. 

I  Uluo  melius  nostrl  illi  seiaes,  qui  personatuna,  ne  Roscium  quidem,  mag-ivDpere  laudabanl, — Lib.  iU.  dm 
Orat.  0.921  ^  * 


64 


INTRODUCTION. 


hundred  and  seventeen  in  number,  and,  according  to  some,  one  hu!/dred  and 
thirty.  He  retained,  to  extreme  old  age,  all  the  force  and  vigour  of  his  genius, 
as  appears  from  a  circumstance  in  his  history.  His  children,  unworthy  of  so 
^reat  a  father,  under  pretence  that  he  had  lost  his  senses,  summoned  fiim  be- 
<«re  the  judges,  in  order  to  obtain  a  decree,  that  his  estate  might  be  taken 
from  him,  and  put  into  their  hands.  He  made  no  other  defence  than  to  read 
a  tragedy  he  was  at  that  time  composing,  called  CEdipus  at  Colonos,  with 
which  the  judges  were  so  charmed,  that  he  carried  his  cause  unanimously  : 
and  his  children,  detested  by  the  whole  assembly,  got  nothing  by  their  suit,  but 
the  shame  and  infamy  due  to  such  flagrant  ingratitude.  He  was  twenty  times 
crowned  victor.  Some  say  he  expired  in  repeating  his  Antigone,  for  want  of 
power  to  recover  his  breath,  after  a  violent  endeavour  to  pronounce  a  long  pe^* 
riod  to  the  end.  Others,  that  he  died  of  joy  upon  his  being  declared  victor, 
contrary  to  his  expectations.  The  figure  of  a  hive  was  placed  upon  his  tomb, 
to  perpetuate  the  name  of  bee,  which  had  been  given  him  from  the  sweetness 
of  his?  verses  ;  whence,  it  is  probable,  the  notion  was  derived,  of  the  bees 
having  settled  upon  his  lips  when  in  his  cradle.  He  died  in  his  ninetieth  year 
the  fourth  of  the  ninety-third  Olympiad,*  after  having  survived  Euripides  six 
years,  who  was  not  so  old  as  himself. 

The  latter  was  born  in  the  first  year  of  the  seventy-fifth  Olympiad,!  at  Sa- 
•  lamis,  whither  his  father  Menesarchus  and  his  mother  Clito  had  retired,  when 
Xerxes  was  preparing  for  his  great  expedition  against  Greece.  He  applied 
himself  at  first  to  philosophy,  and  among  others,  had  the  celebrated  Anaxago- 
ras  for  his  master.  But  the  danger  incurred  by  that  great  man,  who  was  very 
near  being  made  the  victim  of  his  philosophical  tenets,  inclined  him  to  the 
study  of  poetry.  He  discovered  in  himself  a  genius  for  the  drama,  unknown 
to  him  at  first ;  and  employed  it  with  such  success,  that  he  entered  the  lists 
with  the  greatest  masters,  of  whom  we  have  been  speaking.  His  works  srf- 
(iciently  denote  his  profound  application  to  philosophy. J  They  abound  with 
excellent  maxims  of  morality  ;  and  it  is  in  that  view,  Socrates  in  his  time, 
and  Cicero  long  after  him,  set  so  high  a  value  upon  Euripides. § 

One  cannot  sufiiciently  admire  the  extreme  delicacy  expressed  by  the  Athe- 
nian audience  on  certain  occasions,  and  their  solicitude  to  preserve  the  reve* 
rence  due  to  morality,  virtue,  decency,  and  justice.  It  is  surprising  to  observe 
i>he  warmth  with  which  they  unanimously  reproved  whatever  seemed  incon- 
sistent with  the.m,  and  called  the  poet  to  an  account  for  it,  notwithstanding  his 
having  the  best  founded  excuse,  giving  such  sentiments  only  to  persons  noto- 
riously vicious,  and  actuated  by  the  most  unjust  passions. 

Euripides  had  put  into  the  mouth  of  Beilerophon  a  pompous  panegyric  upon 
riches,  which  concluded  with  this  thought :  Riches  are  the  supreme  good  of  the 
human  race,  .rnd  with  reason  excite  the  admiration  of  the  gods  and  men.  The 
whole  theatre  cried  out  against  these  expressions,  and  he  would  have  been 
banished  directly,  if  he  had  not  desired  the  sentence  to  be  respited  till  the 
conclusion  of  the  piece,  in  which  the  advocate  for  riches  perished  miserably. 

He  was  in  danger  of  incurring  serious  inconveniences  from  an  answer  he  puts 
into  the  mouth  of  Hippolytus.  Phraedra's  nurse  represented  to  him,  that  he 
bad  engaged  himself  under  an  inviolable  oath  to  keep  her  secret.  My  tongue^ 
it  is  true  pronounced  that  oath,  replied  he,  hut  my  heart  gave  no  consent  to  it. 
This  frivolous  distinction  appeared  to  the  whole  people,  as  an  express  contempt 
cl*  religion  and  the  sanctity  of  an  oath,  that  tended  to  banish  all  sincerity  and 
good  faith  from  society  and  the  commerce  of  life. 

Another  maxim  advanced  by  Eteocles  in  a  tragedy  called  the  Phoenicians-, 
and  which  Caesar  had  always  in  his  mouth,  is  no  less  pernicious.  If  justice 
tnay  be  violated  at  all,  it  is  when  a  throne  is  m  question;  in  other  respects  let  it 


*  A.  M.  S599.    Ant.  J.  C.  405.  t  A.  M.  3524.    Ant.  J.  C.  480. 

1  JUntentiis  densuB,  et  id  lis  quas  a  «apientibus  sunt,  pcne  ipsis  c«t  par. — Q,ulntil.  lib.  x.  c.  1. 
I  Cui  (Euripidi)  quantam  <»«cda8  oescio;  eg'o  cei-te  •mg'ula  testimonia  puto. — Fpis*    'it.  1  14.  Ii<)l  Faaifk 


LNTICODCC  J'lUN. 


»•  duly  revered.*  It  is  Lighly  criminal  in  Eleocles,  or  rather  in  Eurrpidci, 
says  CLcero,  to  make  an  exception  in  that  very  point,  wherein  such  violation 
iS  the  highest  crime  that  can  be  committed.  Eteocles  is  a  tyrant,  and  speaks 
like  a  tyrant,  who  vindicates  his  unjust  conduct  by  a  false  maxim ;  and  it  is 
not  strange,  that  Caesar-^  who  was  a  tyrant  by  nature,  and  equally  unjust,  should 
lay  great  stress  upon  the  sent'Liients  of  a  prince  whom  he  so  much  resembled. 
But  what  is  remarkable  in  Cicero,  is  his  falling  upon  the  poet  himself,  and  im- 
puting to  him  as  a  crime,  the  Laving  advanced  so  pernicious  a  principle  upon 
the  stage. 

Lycui^us,  the  orator,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Philip  and  Alexander  the 
Great,  to  reanimate  the  spirit  of  the  tragic  poets,  caused  three  statues  of  bras* 
*o  be  erected  in  the  name  of  the  people  to  ^schylus,  Sophocles,  and  Euripi^ 
des ;  and  having  ordered  their  works  to  be  transcribed,  he  appointed  them  tc 
be  carefully  preserved  among  the  public  archives,  from  whence  they  were  taker 
from  time  to  time  to  be  read ;  the  players  not  being  permitted  to  represent 
them  on  the  stage. 

The  reader  expects,  no  doubt,  after  what  has  been  said  relating  to  the  three 
poets  who  invented,  improved  and  carried  tragedy  to  its  perfection,  that  I 
should  discourse  upon  the  peculiar  excellencies  of  their  style  and  character. 
For  that  1  must  refer  to  Father  Brumoi,  who  will  do  it  much  better  than  it  is 
in  niy  power.  After  having  laid  down,  as  an  undoubted  principle,  that  the 
epic  poet,  that  is  to  say.  Homer,  pointed  out  the  way  for  the  tragic  poets,  and 
having  demonstrated,  by  reflections  drawn  from  h-uman  nature,  upon  what  prin- 
ciples, and  by  what  degrees,  this  happy  imitation  was  conducted  to  its  end,  he 
goes  on  to  describe  the  three  poets  above-mentioned,  in  the  most  lively  and 
shining  colours. 

Tragedy  took  at  first,  from  iEschylus  its  inventor,  a  much  more  lofty  style 
thai:  the  ll.'iad  ;  that  is,  the  magnum  loqui  mentioned  by  Horace.  Perhaps 
iEschylus,  who  was  its  author,  was  too  pompous,  and  carried  the  tragic  style 
too  high.  It  is  not  Homer's  trumpet,  but  something  more.  His  pompous, 
fiwellmg,  gigantic  diction,  resembles  rather  the  beating  of  drums  and  the  shouts 
of  brittle,  than  the  nobler  harmony  and  silver  sound  of  the  trumpet.  The 
elevation  and  grandeur  of  his  genius  would  not  permit  him  to  speak  the  lan- 
guage of  other  men,  so  that  his  muse  seemed  rather  to  w^alk  on  stilts,  than  in 
the  buskins  of  his  own  invention. 

Sophocles  understood  much  better  the  true  excellence  of  the  dramatic  style  : 
he  therefore^  copies  Homer  more  closely,  and  blends  in  his  diction  that  honeye-d 
sweetness,  from  whence  he  was  denominated  the  bee^  with  a  gravity  that  gives 
his  tragedy  the  modest  air  of  a  matron,  compelled  to  appear  in  public  with 
dignity,  as  Horace  expresses  it. 

The  style  of  Euripides,  though  noble,  is  less  removed  from  the  familiar; 
and  he  seems  to  have  affected  rather  the  pathetic  and  the  elegant,  than  the  ner- 
vous and  the  lofty. 

As  Corneille,  says  M.  Brumoi  in  another  place,  af^er  having  opened  to  him 
self  a  path  entirely  new  and  unknown  to  the  ancients,  seems  like  an  eagle  tow- 
ering in  the  clouds,  from  the  sublimity,  force,  unbroken  progress,  and  rapidity 
of  his  flight;  and  as  Racine,  in  copying  the  ancients,  in  a  manner  entirely  his 
owTj,  imitates  the  swan,  that  sometimes  floats  upon  the  air,  sometimes  rises, 
then  falls  again  with  an  eleorance  of  motion,  and  a  grace  peculiar  to  herself;  so 
iEschylus,  Sophocles,  and  Euiipides,  have  each  of  them  a  particular  and  cha- 
racteiistic  method.  The  first,  as  the  inventor  and  father  of  tragedy,  is  like 
a  torrent  rolli  ^  impetuously  over  rocks,  forests,  and  precipices ;  the  second 


*  Ipie  a-jtem  .ocer  (C^^sar)  in  ore  semper  G razees  versus  Eiiripidis  de  Poenlssis  habebat,  qnos  dicara  ii< 
potero,  incondite  fortasie,  sed  tamen  iit  res  ]icssit  intelli^^i  : 

Nam,  si  viohindnm  est  jus,  re^nandi  i^ralia 
Violandum  est-  aliis  rebus  ])ietatem  colas. 
Capitalis  Eteocl-s,  vel  potiiis  F.urij^ides  qui  id  iinum,  qpod  omnium  scelcratissi  rPum  fuerat.  eae«p*' 
»♦«.— Offic  I.  lii.  Q.ni. 

Vol.  I. 


66 


LNTRODUirriOiN. 


resembles  a  canal,which  flows  gently  through  delicious  gardens  and  the  third 
a  river,  that  does  not  follow  its  course  in  a  continual  line,  but  loves  to  turn  and 
wind  its  silver  wave  through  flowery  meads  and  rural  scenes. 

This  is  the  character  M.  Brumoi  gives  of  the  three  poets  to  whom  the 
Athenian  stage  was  indebted  for  its  perfection  in  tragedy.  iEschylus  drew  it 
out  of  its  original  chaos  and  confusion,  and  made  it  appear  in  some  degree  of 
lustre ;  but  it  still  retained  the  rude  unfinished  air  of  things  in  their  beginning, 
which  are  generally  defective  in  point  of  art  or  method.j  Sophocles  and  Eu- 
ripides added  infinitely  tc  the  dignity  of  tragedy.  The  style  of  the  first,  as 
has  been  observed,  is  nnore  noble  and  majestic ;  of  the  latter,  more  tender  and 
pathetic ;  each  perfect  in  its  way.  In  this  diversity  of  character,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  decide  which  is  most  excellent.  The  learned  have  always  been  di\  ided 
upon  this  head;  as  we  are  at  this  day,  in  regard  to  the  two  poets  of  our  own 
nation,  whose  tragedies  have  made  our  stage  illustrious,  and  not  inferior  to  that 
of  Athens.^ 

I  have  observed,  that  tenderness  and  pathos  distinguish  the  compositions  of 
Euripides,  of  which  Alexander  of  Pherae,  the  mxst  cruel  of  tyrants,  gave  a 
striking  proof.  That  barbarous  man,  upon  seeing  the  Troades  of  Euripides 
acted,  found  himself  so  moved  with  it,  that  he  quitted  the  theatre  before  the 
conclusion  of  the  play,  professing  that  he  was  ashamed  to  be  seen  in  teirs  foi 
the  distress  of  Hecuba  and  Andromache,  when  he  had  never  shown  the  ieasf 
compassion  for  his  own  citizens,  of  whom  he  had  butchered  such  numbers. 

When  I  speak  of  tenderness  and  pathos,  I  would  not  be  understood  to  mean 
a  passion  that  softens  the  heart  into  effeminacy,  and  which,  to  our  reproach,  is 
almost  solely  confined  to  our  stage,  though  rejected  by  the  ancients,  and  con- 
demned by  the  nations  around  us  of  greatest  reputation  for  their  genius,  and 
faste  in  science  and  polite  learning.  The  two  great  principles  for  moving  the 
passions  among  the  ancients,  were  terror  and  pity.§  And  indeed,  as  we  na- 
turally determine  every  thing  from  its  relation  to  ourselves,  or  our  particular 
interest,  when  we  see  persons  of  exalted  rank  or  virtue  sinking  under  great 
evils,  the  fear  of  the  like  misfortunes,  with  v/hich  we  know  that  human  life  is 
on  all  sides  invested,  seizes  upon  us,  and,  from  a  secret  impulse  of  s?lf-love, 
we  find  ourselves  sensibly  affected  with  the  distresses  of  others  :  besides 
which,  the  sharing  a  common  nature  with  the  rest  of  our  species,  makes  us 
sensible  to  whatever  befals  them.li  Upon  a  close  and  attentive  inquiry  into 
those  two  passions,  they  will  be  found  the  most  deeply  inherent,  active,  ex- 
tensive, and  general  affections  of  the  soul  ;  including  all  orders  of  men,  grea*i 
and  small,  rich  and  poor,  of  whatever  age  or  condition.  Hence  the  ancieirts, 
accustomed  to  consult  nature,  and  to  take  her  for  their  guide  in  all  things,  con- 
ceived terror  and  compassion  to  be  the  soul  of  tragedy  ;  and  for  this  reason, 
that  those  affections  ought  to  prevail  in  it.  The  passion  of  love  was  in  no  es- 
timation among  them,  and  had  seldom  any  share  in  their  dramatic  pieces ; 
though  with  us  it  is  a  received  opinion,  that  they  cannot  be  supported  with- 
out it. 

It  is  worth  our  trouble  to  examine  briefly  in  what  manner  this  passion, 
which  has  always  been  deemed  a  weakness  and  a  blemish  in  the  greatest  cha- 
racters, got  such  footing  upon  our  stage.  Corneille,  who  was  the  first  wh© 
brought  the  French  tragedy  to  any  perfection,  and  whom  all  the  rest  have  fol« 
lowed,  found  the  whole  nation  enamoured  to  madness  with  the  perusal  of  ro- 
mances, and  little  disposed  to  admire  any  thing  not  resembling  them.  From 
the  desire  of  pleasing  his  audience,  who  were  at  the  same  time  his  judges, 
he  endeavoured  to  move  them  in  the  same  manner  as  they  had  been  accus- 


*  I  know  not  whether  the  idea  of  a  canal,  that  flows  gently  through  delicious  gardens,  may  properlj 
ilcscribe  the  .character  of  Sophocles,  which  is  peculijirly  dislin2;uished  by  nobleness,  {grandeur,  and  eleva- 
tion. That  of  an  impetuous  and  rapid  streann,  whose  waves,  from  the  violence  of  iheir  motion,  are  loud, 
and  to  be  heard  afar  off,  serms  to  me  a  more  suitable  image  of  that  poet. 

I  Tragedias  ])rimus  in  lucem  jl^'schylus  protulit  :  subliniis,  ct  cTi.vis,  el  grandiloquus  sa;pe  usque  ad 
data  ;  »ed  rudig  in  plerisquc  et  incompositus.— Q,ulntil. 

rorMillo  and  Racine.       {  <J>o€oJ  $ 'iA,fo<.         f  lon.o  s'ji  i  :  H».«u  .ni  ulhil  a  ine  alienum  puto 


INTRODUCTION. 


67 


tomed  to  be  affected ;  aid  by  introducing  love  in  his  scenes,  to  bring  them 
the  nearer  to  the  predominant  taste  of  the  age  for  romance.  From  the  same 
source  arose  that  multiplicity  of  incidents,  episodes,  and  adventures,  with 
which  our  tragic  pieces  are  crowded  and  obscured,  so  contrary  to  probability, 
which  will  not  admit  such  a  number  of  extraordinary  and  surprising  events 
in  the  short  space  of  four-and-twenty  hours ;  so  contrary  to  the  simplicity  of 
ancient  tragedy,  and  so  adapted  to  conceal,  in  the  assemblage  of  so  many  dif- 
ferent objects,  the  sterility  of  the  genius  of  a  poet,  more  intent  upon  the  mar- 
velous, than  upon  the  probable  and  natural. 

Both  the  Greeks  and  Romans  have  preferred  the  iambic  to  the  heroic  verse 
in  their  tragedies  ;  not  only  because  the  first  has  a  kind  of  dignity  better 
adapted  to  the  stage,  but  while  it  approaches  nearer  to  prose,  retains  suffi- 
riently  the  air  of  poetry  to  please  the  ear  ;  and  yet  has  too  little  of  it  to  put 
the  audience  in  mind  of  the  poet,  who  ought  not  to  appear  at  all  in  representa- 
tions, v/here  other  Persons  are  supposed  to  speak  and  act.  Monsieur  Dacier 
makes  a  very  just  reilection  on  this  subject.  He  says,  that  it  is  the  misfor- 
tune of  our  tragedy  to  have  almost  no  other  verse  than  what  it  has  in  com- 
mon with  epic  poetry,  elegy,  pastoral,  satire,  and  comedy ;  whereas  the 
learned  langu^fes  have  a  great  variety  of  versification. 

This  inconvenience  is  highly  obvious  in  the  French  tragedy ;  which  neces- 
sarily loses  sight  of  nature  and  probability,  as  it  obliges  heroes,  princes, 
kings,  and  queens,  to  express  themselves  in  a  pompous  strain  in  their  familiar 
conversation,  which  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  attempt  in  real  life.  Thf  giving 
utterance  to  the  most  impetuous  passions  in  a  uniform  cadence,  and  by  hem- 
istichs  and  rhymes,  would  undoubtedly  be  tedious  and  offensive  to  the  ear,  if 
the  charms  of  poetry,  the  elegance  of  expression,  the  spirit  of  the  sentiments, 
and,  perhaps,  more  than  all,  the  res'stless  force  of  custom,  had  not  in  a  man- 
ner subjected  our  reason,  and  spread  a  veil  before  our  judgement. 

It  was  not  chance,  therefore,  which  suggested  to  the  Greeks  the  use  oS  iam- 
bics in  their  tragedy.  Nature  itself  seems  to  have  dictated  that  kind  of  verse 
to  them.  Instructed  by  the  same  unerring  guide,  they  made  choice  of  a  dif- 
ferent versification  for  the  chorus,  better  adapted  to  the  motions  of  the  dance, 
and  the  variations  of  the  song  ;  because  it  was  necessary  for  poetry  to  shine 
out  in  all  its  lustre,  while  the  mere  conversation  between  the  real  actors  was 
suspended.  The  chorus  was  an  embellishment  of  the  representation,  and  a 
relaxation  to  the  audience,  and  therefore  required  more  exalted  poetry  and 
numbers  to  support  it,  when  united  with  music  and  dancing. 

OF  THE  ANCIENT,  MIEDLE,  AND  NEW  COMEDY. 

While  tragedy  was  thus  rising  in  perfection  at  Athens,  comedy,  the  second 
species  of  dramatic  poetry,  and  which,  till  then,  had  been  much  neglected, 
began  to  be  cultivated  with  more  attention.  Nature  was  the  common  parent 
of  Doth.  We  are  sensibly  affected  with  the  dangers,  distresses,  misfortunes, 
and,  in  a  word,  with  whatever  relates  to  the  lives  and  conduct  of  illustrious 
persons  ;  and  this  gave  birth  to  tragedy.  We  are  as  curious  to  know  the  ad- 
ventures, conduct,  and  defects  of  our  equals,  which  supply  us  with  occasions 
of  laughing,  and  being  merry  at  the  expense  of  others.  Hence  originated 
comedy,  which  is  properly  an  image  of  private  life.  Its  design  is  to  expose 
d?fects  and  \ice  upon  the  stage,  and  by  ridiculing  them,  to  make  them  con- 
temptible ;  and  consequently  to  instruct  by  diverting.  Ridicule,  therefore, 
(or,  to  express  the  same  word  by  another,  pleasantry,)  ought  to  prevail  in 
comedy. 

This  species  of  entertainment  took,  at  different  times,  three  different  forms 
it  Athens,  as  well  from  the  genius  of  the  poets,  as  from  the  influence  of  the 
^^overnment ;  which  occasioned  various  alterations  in  it. 
^  The  ancient  comedy,  so  called  by  Horace,  and  which  h^  dates  after  the 
ime  of  ^schylus,  retained  something  of  its  original  rudenes.^,  and  tne  liber 
W  it  had  been  used  to  take  of  coarse  jesting  and  reviling  spectators,  from  th« 


68 


fNIROOUCtlON. 


cart  of  Thespis.*  Though  it  was  become  regular  in  its  plan,  and  worthy  oi 
a  great  theatre,  it  had  not  learnt  to  be  more  reserved.  It  represented  reai 
transactions,  with  the  names,  habits,  gestures,  and  likeness  in  masks,  of  whom* 
soever  it  thought  fit  to  sacrifice  to  the  public  diversion.  In  a  state  where  ii 
was  held  good  policy  to  unmask  whatever  carried  the  air  of  ambition,  singu- 
larity or  knavery,  comedy  assumed  the  privilege  to  harangue,  reform,  and  ad 
vise  the  people,  upon  the  most  important  occasions  and  interests.  No  om 
was  spared  in  a  city  of  so  much  liberty,  or  rather  license,  as  Athens  was  at 
that  time.  Generals,  magistrates,  government,  the  very  gods,  were  aban- 
doned  to  the  poet's  satirical  vein  ;  and  all  was  well  received,  provided  the 
comedy  was  diverting,  and  the  Attic  salt  not  wanting. 

In  one  of  these  comedies,  not  only  the  priest  i>f  Jupiter  determines  to  quit 
his  service,  because  no  more  sacrifices  are  offered  to  the  god ;  but  Mercury 
himself  comes  in  a  starving  condition,  to  seek  his  fortune  among  mankind,  and 
offers  to  serve  as  a  porter,  sutler,  bailiff,  guide,  door-keeper ;  in  short,  in  any 
capacity,  rather  than  to  return  to  heaven. t  In  another,!  the  samiC  gods,  re- 
duced to  the  extremity  of  famine,  from  the  birds  having  built  a  city  in  the  air, 
whereby  their  provisions  are  cut  off,  and  the  smoke  of  incense  and  sacrifices 
prevented  from  ascending  to  heaven,  depute  three  ambassadors  in  the  name 
of  Jupiter  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  accommodation  with  the  birds,  upon  such 
conditions  as  they  shall  approve.  The  chamber  of  audience,  where  the  three 
famished  gods  are  received,  is  a  kitchen  well  stored  with  excellent  game  of 
all  sorts.  Here  Hercules,  deeply  smitten  with  the  smell  of  roast  meat,  which 
he  apprehends  to  be  more  exquisite  and  nutri-tious  than  that  of  incense,  begs 
leave  to  make  his  abode,  and  to  turn  the  spit,  and  assist  the  cook  upon  occa- 
sions. The  other  pieces  of  Aristophanes  abound  with  strokes  still  more  sati- 
rical and  severe  upon  the  principal  divinities, 

I  am  not  much  surprised  at  the  poet's  insulting  the  gods,  and  treating  thenj 
with  the  utmost  contempt,  from  whom  he  had  nothing  to  fear ;  but  I  cannot 
help  wondering  at  his  having  brought  the  miOst  illustrious  and  powerfiil  per- 
sons of  Athens  upon  the  stage,  and  that  he  presumed  to  attack  the  govern- 
ment itself,  without  any  manner  of  respect  or  reserve. 

Cleon,  having  returned  triumphant,  contrary  to  the  general  expectation, 
from  the  expedition  against  Sphacteria,  was  looked  upon  by  the  people  as  the 
greatest  captain  of  that  age.  Aristophanes,  to  set  that  bad  man  in  a  true 
lights  who  was  the  son  of  a  currier,  and  a  currier  himself,  and  whose  rise  was 
owing  solely  to  his  temerity  and  imprudence,  was  so  bold  as  to  make  him  the 
subject  of  a  comedy ,§  without  being  awed  by  his  power  and  influence  :  but 
he  was  obliged  to  play  the  part  of  Cleon  himself,  and  appeared,  for  the  first 
time  upon  the  stage,  in  that  character ;  not  ones  of  the  commedians  daring  to 
represent  him,  or  to  expose  himself  to  the  resentment  of  so  formidable  an  ene- 
my. His  face  was  smeared  over  with  wine-lees  ;  because  no  workman  could 
be  found  that  would  venture  to  make  a  mask  resembling  Cleon,  as  was  usual 
when  persons  were  brought  upon  the  stage.  In  this  piece  he  reproaches  him 
with  embezzling  the  public  treasures,  with  a  violent  passion  for  bribes  and 
presents,  with  craft  in  seducing  the  people,  and  denies  him  the  glory  of  the 
action  at  Sphacteria,  which  he  attributes  chiefly  to  the  share  his  colleague 
had  in  it. 

In  the  Achamians^  he  accuses  Lamachus  of  having  been  made  general 
rather  by  bribery  than  merit.  He  imputes  to  him  his  youth,  inexperience, 
and  idleness  ;  at  the  same  time  that  he,  and  many  others,  whom  k^,  rcvertiy 
designates,  convert  to  their  own  use  the  rewards  due  only  to  valour  rnd  real 
services.  He  reproaches  the  republic  with  their  preference  of  th«*  yoi.w*;r 
Citizens  to  the  elcler  in  the  government  of  the  state,  and  the  cominanuti*  Vheuf 


*  Successit  velus  his  Cornoedia  non  sine  multa 

ijni;<j«.  I  for.  in  Art.  Poet. 

<  PliiTus.  t  Tho  Birds.  \  The  Knl^L^ 


INTROmJCTION. 


6!» 


armies.  He  tells  them  plainly,  that  when  peace  shall  be  concluded,  neither 
Cleonymus,  Hyperbolus,  nor  many  other  such  knaves,  all  mentioned  by  name, 
shall  have  any  share  in  the  public  affairs ;  they  being  always  ready  to  accuse 
their  fellow  citizens  of  crimes,  and  to  enrich  themselves  by  such  informations. 

In  his  comedy  called  the  Wasps^  imitated  by  Racine,  in  his  Plaideurs,  he 
exposes  the  mad  passion  of  the  people  for  prosecutions  and  trials  at  law,  and 
the  enormous  injustice  frequently  committed  in  passing  sentence  and  giving 
judgment. 

The  poet,  concerned  to  see  the  republic  obstinately  bent  upon  the  unhappy 
expedition  to  Sicily,  endeavours  to  excite  in  the  people  a  thorough  disgust  for 
so  ruinous  a  war,  and  to  inspire  them  with  the  desire  of  a  peace,  as  much  the 
interest  of  the  victors  as  the  vanquished,  after  a  war  of  several  years'  dura- 
tion, equally  pernicious  to  each  party,  and  capable  of  involving  all  Greece 
in  ruin.* 

None  of  Aristophanes's  pieces^  explains  better  his  boldness,  in  speaking 
upon  the  most  delicate  affairs  of  the  state  in  the  crowded  theatre,  than  his 
comedy  called  Lysistrata,  One  of  the  principal  magistrates  of  Athens  had  a 
wife  of  that  name,  who  is  supposed  to  have  taken  it  into  her  head  to  compel 
Greece  to  conclude  a  peace.  She  relates  how,  during  the  war,  the  women 
inquiring  of  their  husbands  the  result  of  their  counsels,  and  whether  they  had 
not  resolved  to  make  peace  with  Sparta,  received  no  answers  but  imperious 
looks,  and  orders  to  mind  their  own  affairs  ;  that,  however,  they  perceived 
plainly  to  what  a  low  condition  the  government  was  declined ;  that  they  took 
the  liberty  to  remonstrate  mildly  to  their  husbands  upon  the  rashness  of  their 
counsels  ;  but  that  their  humble  representations  had  no  other  effect  than  to 
offend  and  enrage  them  ;  that,  in  fine,  being  confirmed  by  the  general  opinion 
of  all  Attica,  that  there  were  no  longer  any  men  in  the  state,  nor  heads  for 
the  administration  of  affairs,  their  patience  being  quite  exhausted,  the  women 
had  thought  it  proper  and  advisable  to  take  the  government  upon  themselves, 
and  preserve  Greece,  whether  it  would  or  not,  from  the  folly  and  madness  of 
its  resolves.  "  For  her  part,  she  declares,  that  she  hai,  taken  possession  of  the 
city  and  treasury,  in  order,"  says  she,  "  to  prevent  Pisander  and  his  confede- 
rates, the  four  hundred  administrators,  from  exciting  troubles  according  to 
their  custom,  and  from  robbing  the  public  as  usual."  (Was  ever  any  thing 
so  bold?) — She  goes  on  to  prove,  that  the  women  only  are  capable  of  retriev- 
ing affairs,  by  this  burlesque  argument,  that,  admitting  things  to  be  in  such  a 
state  of  perplexity  and  confusion,  the  sex,  accustomed  to  untangling  their 
threads,  were  the  only  persons  to  set  them  right  again,  as  being  best  qualified 
vyith  the  necessary  address,  patience,  and  moderation.  The  Athenian  poli- 
tics are  thus  made  inferior  to  those  of  the  women,  who  are  only  represented 
in  a  ridiculous  light,  in  derision  of  their  husbands  as  administrators  of  the 
government. 

I  hese  extracts  from  Aristophanes,  taken  almost  word  for  word  from  Father 
Brumoi,  seemed  to  me  very  proper  to  give  a  right  insight  into  that  poet's  cha- 
racter,  and  the  genius  of  the  ancient  comedy,  which  was,  as  we  see,  a  satiie 
of  the  most  poignant  and  severe  kind,  that  had  assumed  to  itself  an  indepen- 
dency in  respect  to  persons,  and  to  which  nothing  was  sacred.  It  was  no  wonder 
that  Cicero  condemns  so  licentious  and  uncurbed  a  liberty.  It  might,  he  says, 
have  bejn  tolerable,  had  it  only  attacked  bad  citizens,  and  seditious  orators, 
who  endeavoured  to  raise  commotions  in  the  state,  such  as  Cleon,  Cleophon, 
and  Hyperbolus  ;  but  wtien  Pericles,  who  for  many  years  had  governed  the 
commonwealth  both  in  war  and  peace  with  equal  wisdom  and  authority,  (he 
might  have  added,  a:>d  a  Socrates,  declared  by  Apollo  the  wisest  of  mankind,) 
is  brou2:ht  upon  the  stage  to  be  laughed  at  by  the  public,  it  is  as  if  our  Plautus, 
oi  Naevius,  had  attacked  the  Scipios,  or  Csecilius  had  dared  to  revile  Marcuf 
Cato  in  his  writmgs.t 


*  The  Peaces. 

t  ilia  Ban  attig^it,       ^tiui  quew  «on  yexavit  ?   £«t^  popalarei  iMnuaet.  uspoi^at,  ii 


TO 


INTRODUCTION. 


That  liberty  is  still  more  offensive  to  us,  who  are  torn  in,  and  live  under,  & 
monarchical  government,  which  is  far  from  beinff  favourable  to  licentiousness. 
But  without  intending  to  justify  the  conduct  oi  Ariftcphanes,  which  is  cer- 
tainly inexcusable,  I  think,  to  judge  properly  of  it,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
lay  aside  the  prejudices  of  nations,  and  times,  and  to  imagine  we  live  in  those 
remote  ages  in  a  state  purely  democratical.  We  must  not  fancy  Aristophanes 
to  have  been  a  person  of  little  consequence  in  his  republic,  as  the  comic  wri- 
ters generally  are  in  our  days.  The  'King  of  Persia  had  a  very  diffeient  idea 
of  him.  It  is  a  known  story,  that  in  an  audience  of  the  Greet  ambassadors, 
his  first  inquiry  was  after  a  certain  comic  poet  (meaning  Aristophanes)  that  put 
ail  Greece  in  motion,  and  gave  such  effectual  counsels  against  him.*  Aristo- 
phanes did  ihat  upon  the  stage,  which  Demosthenes  did  afterwards  in  tli^ 
public  ."isseniblies.  The  poet's  reproaches  were  no  less  animated  than  the 
orator's.  In  his  comedies  he  uttered  the  same  sentiments  as  he  had  a  right  to 
deliver  from  the  public  rostrum.  They  were  addressed  to  the  same  people, 
upon  the  same  occasions  of  the  state,  the  same  means  of  success,  and  the  same 
obstacles  to  their  measures.  In  Athens  the  whole  people  were  the  sovereign, 
and  each  of  them  had  an  equal  share  in  the  supreme  authority.  Upon  this 
they  were  continually  intent,  were  fond  of  discoursing  upon  it  themselves,  and 
4)f  hearing  the  sentiments  of  others.  The  public  affairs  were  the  business 
of  eveiy  individual  ;  in  which  they  were  desirous  of  being  fully  informed, 
that  they  might  know  how  to  conduct  themselves  on  every  occasion  of  war 
or  peace,  which  frequently  offered,  and  to  decide  upon  their  own,  as  well  as 
upon  the  destiny  of  iheir  allies  or  enemies.  Hence  arose  the  liberty  taken  by 
the  comic  poets,  of  discussing  the  affairs  of  the  state  in  their  performances. 
The  people  were  so  far  from  being  offended  at  it,  or  at  the  manner  in  which 
those  writers  treated  the  principal  persons  of  the  state,  that  they  conceived 
their  liberty  in  some  measure  to  consist  in  it. 

Three  poets  particularly  excelled  in  the  ancient  comedy  ;  Eupolis,  Crati* 
nus,  and  Aristophanes.j  The  last  is  the  only  one  of  them  whose  pieces  have 
come  down  to  us  entire,  and  out  of  the  great  number  of  those,  eleven  are  all 
that  remain.  He  flourished  in  an  age  when  Greece  abounded  with  great  men 
and  was  contemporaiy  with  Socrates  and  Euripides,  whom  he  survived.  Du- 
ring the  Peloponnesian  war,  he  made  his  greatest  figure  ;  less  as  a  writer  tc 
amuse  the  people  with  his  comedies,  than  as  a  censor  of  the  government,  re- 
tained  to  reform  the  state,  and  to  be  almost  the  arbiter  of  his  country. 

He  is  admired  for  an  elegance,  poignancy,  and  happiness  of  expression,  or, 
in  a  word,  that  Attic  salt  and  spirit,  to  which  the  Roman  language  couW  never 
attain,  and  for  which  Aristophanes  is  m.cre  remarkable  than  any  other  of  the 
Greek  authors.J  His  particular  excellence  was  raillery.  None  ever  touched 
what  was  ridiculous  in  the  characters  whom  he  wished  to  expose  with  such 


seditiosos,  Cleoncm,  Cleophontem,  Iiyperbolum  Isesit ;  patiamur — Sed  Periclem,  cum  jam  suae  civ  itati 
maxima  auctoritate  plurinics  anncs  donii  et  bclii  prasfuisset,  violari  versibus,  et  eos  ag-i  in  scena,  non  p'ta 
iccuit,  quam  si  Plautus  noster  voluisset,  aut  Najvius  P.  et  Cn.  Scipioni,  aut  Caecilius  M.  Catoni  onale^^ 
l*fe.— Ex.  fragm.  Cic.  de  Rep.  lib.  iv. 

*  Aristoph.  In  Acharn. 
t  Eupolis*  atque  Cratinus,  Aristophanesque  poetse, 

Atque  alii,  quorum  Comcedia  prisca  virorum  «8t, 

i?i  quis  erat  dignus  describi,  quod  malus  aut  fur, 

Quod  mcechu*  foret,  aut  sicarius  aut  aliot^ui 

Famosus  ;  multa  cum  libertate  notabaut       Hor.  Sat      L  i 

With  Aristophanes*  satiric  mg-e. 
When  ancient  comedy  amus'd  the  fcgc. 
Or  Eupolis',  or  Cratinus*s  wit. 
And  others  that  all-licensM  poem  writ ; 
^one,  worthy  to  be  shown,  escapM  the  scene. 
No  public  knave,  or  thief  of  lofty  mien; 
The  loose  adultVer  was  drawn  forth  to  sight; 
The  secret  murd'rer  trembling  lurk'd  the  night ; 
Vice  play'd  itself  and  eacli  ambitious  spark, 
All  boldly  branded  with  the  poet's  mark. 
i  Aatklua  comocdia  sinceram  illam  scrmonis  Attici  j^ratiam  prop<  sola  retUMt— ^olfltil. 


INTRODUCTION.  7j 

Burcess,  or  knew  better  how  to  convey  it  in  all  its  force  to  others.  But  it 
would  be  necessary  to  have  lived  in  his  times  to  judge  with  taste  of  his  works. 
The  subtle  salt  and  spirit  of  the  ancient  raillery,  according  to  M.  Brumoi,  is 
evaporated  through  length  of  time,  and  what  remains  of  it  is  become  flat  and 
insipid  to  us  ;  though  the  sharpest  part  will  retain  its  vigour  throughout  all  ages. 

Two  considerable  defects  are  justly  imputed  to  this  poet,  which  very  much 
obscure,  if  not  entirely  efface  his  glory.  These  are,  low  buffoonery  and  gross 
obscenity  ;  which  defects  have  been  excused  to  no  purpose,  from  the  charac- 
ter of  his  audience  ;  the  bulk  of  which  generally  consisted  of  the  poor,  the 
Ignorant,  and  dregs  of  the  people,  whom  however  it  was  as  necessary  to 
please  as  the.  learned  and  the  rich.  The  depravity  of  taste  in  the  lower  order 
of  people,  which  once  banished  Cratinus  and  his  company,  because  his  scenes 
were  not  grossly  comic  enough  for  them,  is  no  excuse  for  Aristophanes,  as 
Menander  could  find  out  the  art  of  changing  that  grovelling  taste,  by  intro- 
ducing a  species  of  comedy,  not  altogether  so  modest  as  Plutarch  seems  to  in- 
sinuate, yet  much  less  licentious  than  any  before  his  time. 

The  gross  obscenities  with  which  all  Aristophanes's  comedies  abound,  have 
no  excuse  ;  they  only  denote  an  excessive  libertinism  in  the  spectators,  and 
depravity  in  the  poet.  Had  his  works  been  remarkable  for  the  utmost  wit, 
which  however  is  not  the  case,  the  privilege  of  laughing  himself,  or  of  making 
others  laugh,  would  have  been  too  dearly  purchased  at  the  expense  of  decency 
and  good  manners.*  And  in  this  case  it  may  well  be  said,  that  it  were  better 
to  have  no  wit  at  all,  than  to  make  so  ill  a  use  of  it."]'  M.  Brumoi  is  very 
much  to  be  commended  for  having  taken  care,  in  giving  a  general  idea  of 
Aristophanes's  writings,  to  throw  a  veil  over  those  parts  of  them  that  might 
have  given  offence  to  modesty.  Though  such  behaviour  be  the  indispensable 
rule  of  religion,  it  is  not  always  observed  by  those  who  pique  themselves 
most  on  their  erudition,  and  sometimes  prefer  the  title  of  scholar  to  that  of 
Ciiristian. 

The  old  comedy  subsisted  till  Lysander's  time,  who,  upon  having  made  him- 
self master  of  Athens,  changed  the  form  of  the  government,  and  put  it  into  the 
hands  of  thirty  of  the  principal  citizens.  The  satirical  liberty  of  the  theatre 
was  offensive  to  them,  and  therefore  they  thought  fit  to  put  a  stop  to  it.  The 
reason  of  this  alteration  is  evident,  and  confirms  the  reflection  made  before, 
upon  the  privilege  of  the  poets  to  criticise  with  impunity  the  persons  at  the 
head  of  the  state.  The  whole  authority  of  Athens  was  then  invested  m  tyrants. 
The  democracy  was  abolished.  The  people  had  no  longer  any  share  in  the 
government.  They  were  no  more  the  prince  ;  their  sovereignty  had  expired. 
The  right  of  giving  their  opinions  and  suffrages  upon  affairs  of  state  was  at  an 
end  ;  nor  dared  they,  either  in  their  own  persons  or  by  the  poets,  presume  \o 
censure  the  sentiments  or  conduct  of  their  masters.  The  calling  persons  by 
their  names  upon  the  stage  was  prohibited ;  but  the  poetical  ill  nature  soon 
I  found  the  secret  of  eluding  the  intention  of  the  law,  and  of  making  itnelf 
;  amends  for  the  restraint  which  was  imposed  upon  it  by  the  necessity  of  using 
\  feigned  nanies.  It  then  applied  itself  to  discover  the  ridiculous  in  known  cha- 
racters, which  it  copied  to  the  life,  and  froir,  thence  acquired  the  double  ad- 
vantage of  gratifying  the  vanity  of  the  poets,  and  the  malice  of  the  audience, 
in  a  more  refined  manner ;  the  one  had  the  delicate  pleasure  of  putting  the 
spectators  upon  guessing  their  meaning,  and  the  other  of  not  being  mistaken 
in  their  suppositions,  and  of  affixing  the  right  name  to  the  characters  repre- 
sented. Such  was  the  comedy  since  called  the  middk  comedy^  of  which  there 
-^re  some  instances  in  Aristophanes. 

It  continued  till  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great,  who,  having  entirely  as- 
sured himself  of  the  empire  of  Greece,  by  the  defeat  of  the  Thebans,  caused 
a  check  to  be  put  upon  the  license  of  the  poets j  which  increased  daily.  From 


•  Nfmium  rUus  pretiutn  est,  siProbitatisimpendio  constat. — <<iuintil.  lib.  rt  e.  iii. 
t  Non  pcjui  daxcrim  tarda  ingenii  esse  quam  mali.— »Q,uintil.  lib.  i.  c.  t. 


72 


INTRODUCTION 


thence  the  new  comedy  took  its  birth,  which  w&s  only  an  imitation  of  pmatt 
life,  and  brought  nothing  upon  the  stage  but  feigned  names  and  fictitious  ad veO' 
tures. 

Chacun  peint  avec  art  clans  ce  nouveaij  miroir, 
S'y  vil  avec  plaisir,  ou  crut  ne  s'y  pas  voir. 
L*avare  des  premiers  rit  du  tableau  fidele 
D'un  avare  souvent  trace  sur  son  modele. 
Kt  mille  fois  un  fat,  finement  exprime 
^sconnut  ie  portrait  sur  lui-meme  forme.* 

In  this  new  glass,  while  each  himself  surveyed, 
He  sat  with  pleasure,  though  himself  was  play'd. 
The  miser  grinn'd  while  avarice  was  drawn, 
Nor  thought  the  faithful  likeness  was  his  own  ; 
His  own  dear  self  no  imag'd  fool  could  find, 
But  saw  a  thousand  other  fops  design'd 

This  may  i)roperly  be  called  fine  comedy,  and  is  that  of  Menander.  Of 
one  hundred  and  eighty,  or  rather  eighty  plays,  according  to  Suidas,  composed 
by  him,  ail  of  which  Terence  is  said  to  have  translated,  there  remain  only  a 
few  fragments.  The  merit  of  the  originals  may  be  known  by  the  excellence 
of  their  copy.  Qiiintillian,  in  speaking  of  Menander,  is  not  afraid  to  say,  that 
with  the  beauty  of  his  works,  and  the  height  of  his  reputation,  he  obscured,  or 
rather  obliterated  the  fame  of  all  other  writers  in  the  same  way.t  He  observ^es 
in  another  passage,  that  his  own  times  w^ere  not  so  just  to  his  merit  as  they 
oue  ht  to  have  been,  which  has  been  the  fate  of  many  others  ;  but  that  he  was 
suiTiciently  compensated  by  the  favourable  opinion  of  posterity  .J  And  indeed 
F^hilemon,  a  common  poel  who  flourished  in  the  same  age,  though  older  thac 
M(  nander,  was  preferred  before  him. 

THE  THEATRE  OF  TF.E  ANCIENTS  DESCRIBED. 

1  HAVE  already  observed,  that  jEi>chylus  was  the  first  founder  of  a  fixed  and 
durable  theatre,  adorned  with  suitable  decorations.  It  was  at  first,  as  well  as 
the  amphitheatres,  composed  of  wooden  planks,  the  seats  of  which  rose  one 
abcve  another ;  but  those  breaking  down,  by  having  too  great  a  weight  upon 
them,  the  Athenians,  excessively  enamoured  with  dramatic  representation,  were 
induced  by  that  accident  to  erect  those  superb  structures,  w^hich  were  imitated 
afterwards  with  so  much  splendour  by  the  Roman  magnificence.  What  I  shall 
^ay  of  them  has  almost  as  much  relation  to  the  Roman  as  the  Athenian  thea- 
tres; and  is  extracted  entirely  from  M.  Boindin's  learned  dissertation  upon  the 
theatre  of  the  ancients,  who  has  treated  the  subject  in  its  fullest  extent.^ 

The  theatre  of  the  ancients  Vv  as  divided  into  three  principal  parts ;  each  of 
which  had  its  peculiar  appellation.  The  division  for  the  actors  was  called  in 
general  the  scene,  or  stoge  ;  that  for  the  spectators  v/as  particularly  termed 
the  theatre,  which  must  have  been  of  vast  extent, ll  as  at  Athens  it  was  capable 
of  containing  above  thirty  thousand  persons  ;  and  the  orchestra,  which  am.ong 
the  Greeks  was  the  place  assigned  for  the  pantomimes  and  dancers,  though  at 
Home  it  was  appropriated  to  the  senators  and  vestal  virgins. 

The  theatre  w^as  of  a  semicircular  form  on  one  side,  and  square  on  the  other. 
1  he  space  contained  within  the  semicircle  was  allotted  to  the  spectators,  ami 
had  seats  placed  one  above  another  to  the  top  of  the  building.  The  square 
part,  in  the  front  of  it,  was  appropriated  to  the  actors ;  and  in  the  interval, 
between  both,  was  the  orchestra. 

The  ^reat  theatres  had  three  rows  of  porticoes,  raised  one  upon  another, 
which  formed  the  body  of  the  edifice,  and  at  the  same  time  three  different 
stories  for  the  seats.    From  the  highest  of  these  porticoes  the  women  saw  the 


*  Bolleau  Art.  Poet.  Chant,  iii. 
Atque  ille  quidem  omnibus  ejusdem  operis  auctoribus  abstulit  nomen,  et  fulgore  quodam  suae  clAritaui 
iBBebraa  obduxit. — Q,uintil.  lib.  x.  c.  1. 

%  Q,aidiun,  sicut  Menander,  justiora  posterorum,  quam  suas  setatis,  judicia  sunt  consecuti.-— Q,uintil.  Hbw 
iUc.  6. 

^  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Inscript.  &c.  vol.  1.  p.  136,  &c. 
II  Strab.  lib.  ix.  p.  395.    Herod,  lib.  viii.  c.  65 


INTROOUCTfON. 


73 


r«presentalion,  corered  from  the  weather.    The  rest  of  the  theatre  vrag  uftr 

covered,  and  ail  the  business  of  the  stage  was  performed  in  the  open  air. 

Each  of  these  siories  consisted  of  nine  rows  of  seats,  including  the  landing- 
place,  which  divided  them  from  each  other,  and  served  as  a  passage  from  side 
to  side.  But  as  this  landing-place  and  passage  took  up  the  space  of  iwu 
benches,  there  were  only  seven  to  sit  upon,  and  consequently  in  each  story  • 
there  were  seven  rows  of  seats.  They  were  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  inches  it 
height,  and  twice  as  much  in  breadth  ;  so  that  the  spectators  had  room  to  si' 
with  their  legs  extended,  and  without  being  incommoded  by  those  of  the  peo- 
ple above  them,  no  foot  boards  being  provided  for  them. 

Each  of  these  stories  of  benches  was  divided  in  two  different  manners  ;  *;> 
their  height  by  the  landing-places,  called  by  the  Romans  prcecindiones^  and  hi. 
their  circumferences  by  several  stair  cases,  peculiar  to  each  story,  which  inter- 
secting them  in  right  lines,  tending  towards  the  centre  of  the  theatre,  gave  the 
form  of  wedges  to  the  ranges  of  seats  between  them,  from  whence  they  were 
called  cunei. 

Behind  these  storirs  of  sea*s  were  covered  galleries,  through  which  the  peo- 
ple thronged  into  the  theatre  by  great  square  openings,  contrived  for  that  pur- 
pose in  the  walls  next  the  seats.  Those  openings  were  called  vomitoria^  from 
the  multitude  of  the  people  crowding  through  them  into  their  places. 

As  the  actors  could  not  be  heard  to  the  extremity  of  the  theatre,  the  Greeks 
contrived  a  means  to  supply  that  defect,  and  to  augment  the  force  of  the  voice, 
and  make  it  more  distinct  and  articulate.  For  that  purpose  they  invented  a 
kind  of  large  vessels  of  copper,  which  were  disposed  under  the  seats  of  the 
tlieatre  in  such  a  manner,  as  made  all  sounds  strike  upon  the  ear  with  more 
force  and  distinctness. 

The  orchestra  being  situated,  as  I  have  observed,  between  the  two  other 
parts  of  the  theatre,  of  which  one  was  circular  and  the  other  square,  it  partici- 
pated of  the  form  of  each,  and  occupied  the  space  between  both.  It  was 
divided  into  three  parts. 

The  first  and  most  considerable  was  more  particularly  called  the  orchestra, 
from  a  Greek  word  that  signifies  to  dance.*  It  was  appropriated  to  the  pan- 
tomimes and  dancers,  and  to  all  such  subaltern  actors  as  played  between  the 
acts,  and  at  the  end  of  the  representations. 

The  second  was  named  ^uu^xn,  from  its  being  square,  in  the  form  of  an  altar, 
Here  the  chorus  was  generally  placed. 

And  in  the  third,  the  Greeks  generally  disposed  their  symphony  or  b?»nd  ol 
music.  They  called  it  uttotxtivi^v,  from  its  being  situated  at  the  bottom  of  the 
principal  part  of  the  theatre,  which  they  stylea  the  scene. 

I  shall  describe  here  this  third  part  of  the  theatre,  called  the  scene  ;  which 
was  also  subdivided  into  three  different  parts. 

The  first  and  most  considerable  was  properly  called  the  scene,  and  gave 
name  to  this  division.  It  occupied  the  whole  front  of  the  building  jfrom  side 
to  side,  and  was  the  place  allotted  for  the  decorations.  This  front  had  two 
small  wings  at  its  extremity,  from  which  hung  a  large  curtain,  that  was  let 
■Cxmn  to  open  the  scene,  and  drawn  up  between  the  acts,  when  any  thing  sfi 
the  representation  made  it  necessary. 

The  second,  called  by  the  Greeks  indifferently  Tr^oo-xrivt-v,  and  ^o7?rov,  and  by 
the  Romans  j9ro5CcmM77i,  and  pulpitum^  was  a  large  open  space  in  front  of  tiie 
scene,  in  which  the  actors  performed  their  parts,  and  which,  by  the  help  of 
the  decorations,  represented  either  the  public  place  or  forum,  a  common  street, 
or  ..he  country ;  but  the  place  so  represented  w^as  always  in  the  open  air. 

The  third  division  was  a  part  reserved  behind  the  scenes,  and  called  by 
the  Greeks  jra^acrxnviov.  Here  the  actors  dressed  themselves,  and  the  deco- 
rations were  locked  up.  In  the  same  place  were  also  kept  tho  machines  of 
irhich  the  ancients  had  abundance  in  their  theatres. 


4 


74  ^ 


iMl'RODUCTlClf. 


As  only  the  porticoes  rjid  the  building  of  iLe  scene  were  iwfed,  It  was 

necessai^"  to  draw  sails,  fastened  with  cords  to  masts  over  the  rest  of  tiie 
theatre,  to  screen  the  audience  from  the  heat  of  the  sun.  But,  as  this  CDn- 
trivance  did  not  prevent  the  heat  occasioned  by  the  perspiration  and  breath  of 
so  numerous  an  assembly,  the  ancients  took  care  to  allay  it  by  a  kind  of  rain, 
*  conveying  the  water  for  that  use  above  the  porticoes,  which  falling  again  in 
form  of  dew  through  an  infinity  of  small  pores,  concealed  in  the  statues  with 
which  the  theatre  abounded,  did  nut  only  diffuse  a  grateful  coolness  all  around, 
but  the  most  fragrant  exhalations  along  with  it ;  for  this  dew  was  always  per- 
fumed. Whenever  the  rc^presentations  were  interrupted  by  storms,  the  sper 
la  tors  retired  into  the  porticoes  behind  the  seats  of  the  theatre. 

The  passion  of  the  Athenians  for  representations  of  this  kind,  is  inconceira- 
ble.  Their  eyes,  their  ears,  their  imagination,  their  understanding,  all  shared 
in  the  satisfaction.  Nothing  gave  them  so  sensible  a  pleasure  in  dramatic 
{Performances,  either  tragic  or  comic,  as  the  strokes  which  were  aimed  at  the 
affairs  of  the  public,  whether  pure  chance  occasioned  the  application,  or  the 
address  of  the  poets,  who  knew  how  to  reconcile  the  most  remote  subjects 
with  the  transactions  of  the  republic.  They  entered  by  that  means  into  the 
interests  of  the  people,  took  occasion  to  soothe  their  passions,  authorize  their 
pretensions,  justify  and  sometimes  condemn  their  conduct,  entertain  them  with 
agreeable  hopes,  instruct  them  in  their  duty,  in  certain  nice  conjunctures;  the 
effect  of  which  was,  that  they  often  not  only  acquired  the  applauses  of  the 
spectators,  but  credit  and  influence  in  the  public  affairs  and  councils ;  hence 
.he  theatre  became  so  grateful,  and  so  much  the  concern  of  the  people.  It 
was  in  thi^  manner,  according  to  some  authors,  that  Euripides  artfully  adapted 
nis  tragedy  of  Palamedes*  with  the  sentence  passed  against  Socrates,  and 
explained,  by  an  illustrious  example  of  antiquity,  the  innocence  of  a  philoso- 
pher, oppressed  by  a  vile  malignity  supported  against  him  by  power  and 
faction. 

Accident  was  often  the  occasion  of  sudden  and  unforeseen  applicationSj 
which,  from  their  appositeness  were  very  agreeable  to  the  people.  Upon 
this  verse  of  ^^^schylus  in  praise  of  Amphiaraus, 

— — — *Tia  his  desire 

Not  to  appear,  but  be  the  great  and  good. 

the  whole  audience  rose  up,  and  unanimously  applied  it  to  Aristides.t  The 
game  thing  happened  to  Philopoemen  at  the  Nemaen  games.  At  the  instant  he 
entered  the  theatre,  these  verses  were  singing  upon  the  stage, 

He  comes,  to  whom  we  owe 
Our  l.berty,  the  noblest  ^ood  below. 

All  die  Greeks  cast  their  eyes  upon  Philopoemen,^  and  with  clapping  of  hands, 
and  acclamations  of  joy,  expressed  their  veneration  for  the  hero. 

In  the  same  manner,  at  Rome  during  the  banishment  of  Cicero,§  when  some 
\  erses  of  Accius,||  which  reproached  the  Greeks  with  their  ingratitude  in  suf- 
fei  ing  the  banishment  of  Telamon,  were  repeated  by  -^sop,  the  best  actor  of 
his  time,  they  drew  tears  from  the  eyes  of  the  whole  assembly. 

Upon  another,  though  very  diiferent  occasion,  the  Roman  people  applied  te 
F^ciijpey  the  Great  some  verses  to  this  effect : 

'Til  our  unhappiness  has  msde  thee  great 

and  then  addressing  ihe  people, 

TY^  tim«  shall  come  when  you  sh?ll  late  deplore 
So  ^rcat  a  power  confided  to  such  hands  ;  . 

the  spectators  obliged  the  actor  to  repeat  these  verses  several  times* 


•  It  is  not  certain  whether  this  piece  was  px'ior  or  posterior  to  the  death  of  Socratet. 
f  Plar.  in  Aristid.  p.  330.        X  Plut.  in  Philopoem.  p.  362.         ^  Cic.  in  Orat.  pro  Sext  n.  130,  ISH 
H  O  ingratifici  Argivi,  inanes  Graii,  immemores  beneficii. 

Fjiularc  sivistis,  sivistis  pclli,  vnlsiim  patimini. 
H  Cic.  ad  Attic.  1.  ii.  Eplst  19     Val.  Max.  1.  vi.  c  «. 


INTRODUCTION. 


rONDNGSS  FOR  THEATRICAL  REPRESENTATIONS,  ONE  OF  THE  PRINCIPAI 
CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINE,  DEGERERACY,  AND  CORRUPTION  OF  THE  ATHEN- 
IAN STATE. 

When  we  compare  the  happy  times  of  Greece,  in  which  Europe  and  Asia 
resounded  with  nothing  but  the  fame  of  the  Athenian  victories,  with  the  latter 
Ages,  when  the  power  of  Philip  and  Alexander  the  Great  had  in  a  manner 
subjected  it,  we  shall  be  surprised  at  the  strange  alteration  in  the  affairs  of 
that  republic.  But  what  is  most  material  is  the  investigation  of  the  causes 
and  progress  of  this  declension  ;  and  these  M.  de  Tourreil  has  discussed  in  an 
admirable  manner,  in  th^  elegant  preface  to  his  translation  of  Demosthenes's 
orations. 

There  were  no  longer  at  Athens  any  traces  of  that  manly  and  vigorous 
policy  equally  capable  of  planning  good,  and  retrieving  bad  success.  Instead 
of  that,  there  remained  only  an  inconsistent  loftiness,  apt  to  evaporate  in 
pompous  decrees.  They  were  no  more*those  Athenians,  who,  when  menaced 
by  a  deluge  of  barbarians,  demolished  their  houses  to  build  ships  with  the 
timber,  and  whose  women  stoned  the  abject  wretch  to  death,  that  proposed  to 
appease  the  grand  monarch  by  tribute  or  homage.  The  love  of  ease  and 
pleasure  had  almost  extinguished  that  of  glory,  liberty,  and  independence. 

Pericles,  that  great  man,  so  absolute  that  those  who  envied  him  treated  him 
as  a  second  Pisistratus,  was  the  first  author  of  this  degeneracy  and  corruption. 
With  the  design  of  conciliating  the  favour  of  the  people,  he  ordained,  that 
upon  such  days  as  games  or  sacrifices  w^re  celebrated,  a  certain  number  of 
oboli  should  be  distributed  among  them ;  and  that,  in  the  assemblies  in  which 
affairs  of  state  were  to  be  discussed,  every  individual  should  receive  a  certain 
pecuniary  gratification  in  right  of  being  present.  Thus  the  members  of  the 
republic  were  seen  for  the  first  time  to  sell  their  care  in  the  administration  of 
the  government,  and  to  rank  among  servile  employments  the  most  noble 
functions  of  the  sove-reign  power. 

It  was  not  difficult  to  foresee  where  so  excessive  an  abuse  would  end  ;  and 
to  remedy  it,  it  was  proposed  to  establish  a  fund  for  the  support  of  the  war, 
and  to  ma4ce  it  capital  to  advise  upon  any  account  whatsoever,  the  application 
of  it  to  other  uses;  but  notwithstanding,  the  abuse  always  subsisted.  At 
first  it  seemed  tolerable,  while  the  citizen,  who  was  supported  at  the  public 
expense,  endeavoured  to  deserve  its  liberality,  by  doing  his  duty  in  the  field 
for  nine  months  together.  Every  one  was  to  serve  in  his  turn,  and  whoever 
failed  was  treated  as  a  deserter,  without  distinction ;  but  at  length  the  num- 
ber of  the  transgressors  carried  it  against  the  law,  and  impunity,  as  it  commonly 
happens,  multiplied  their  number.  People  accustomed  to  the  delightful  abode 
of  a  city  where  feasts  and  games  ran  in  a  perpetual  circle,  conceived  an  in- 
vincible repugnance  for  labour  and  fatigue,  which  they  looked  upon  as  un- 
worthy of  freeborn  men. 

It  was  therefore  necessary  to  find  amusement  for  this  indolent  people,  to 
fill  up  the  great  void  of  an  inactive,  useless  life.  Hence  arose  principally 
their  passion,  or  rather  frenzy,  for  public  shows.  The  death  of  Epaminon- 
das.  which  seemed  to  promise  them  the  greatest  advantage,  gave  the  final 
stroke  to  their  ruin  and  destruction.  " Their  courage,"  says  Justin,*  "did 
not  survive  that  illustrious  Theban.  Free  from  a  rival,  who  kept  their  emu- 
lation alive,  they  sunk  into  a  lethargic  sloth  and  effeminacy.  The  funds  for 
annaments  by  land  and  sea,  were  soon  lavished  upon  games  and  feasts.  The 
pay  of  the  seaman  and  soldier  was  distributed  to  the  idle  citizen,  enervated  by 
Bf)h  and  luxurious  habits  of  life.  The  representations  of  the  theatre  were 
preferred  to  the  exercises  of  the  camp.  Valour  and  military  knowledge  were 
entirely  disregarded.  Great  captains  were  in  no  estimation,  while  good  poets 
and  excellent  comedians  engrossed  universal  applause." 


76 


INTRODUCTION. 


Extravagance  of  this  kind  makes  it  easy  to  comprehend  in  what  multituckf 

the  people  thronged  to  dramatic  performances.  As  no  expense  was  spai^d 
in  embellishing  them,  exorbitant  sums  were  sunk  in  the  service  of  the  theatre. 
"  If,"  says  Plutarch,*  "  an  accurate  calculation  were  to  be  made,  what  each 
representation  of  the  dramatic  pieces,  cost  the  Athenians,  it  would  appear, 
that  their  expenses  in  playing  the  Bacchanalians,  the  Phoenicians^  Oedipus, 
Antigone,  Medea,  and  Electra,  (tragedies  written  either  by  Sophocles  or  Eu- 
ripides,) were  greater  than  those  which  had  been  employed  against  the  Bar- 
barians, in  defence  of  the  liberty,  and  for  the  preservation  of  Greece. "t  Thi5 
gave  a  Spartan  just  reason  to  exclaim,  on  seeing  an  estimate  of  the  enormous 
sums  laid  out  in  these  efforts  of  the  tragic  poets,  and  the  extraordinaiT  pains 
taken  by  the  magistrates  who  presided  in  them,  "  That  a  people  must  ne  void 
of  sense,  to  apply  themselves  in  so  warm  and  serious  a  manner  to  things  so 
frivolous.  For,"  added  he,  "games  should  be  only  games  ;  and  nothing  is 
more  unreasonable  than  to  purchase  a  short  and  trivial  amusement  at  so  great 
a  price.  Pleasures  of  this  kind  agree  only  with  public  rejoicings  and  seasons 
of  festivity,  and  were  designed  to  divert  people  at  their  leisure  hours,  but 
should  by  no  means  interfere  with  the  affairs  of  the  public,  nor  the  necessary 
expenses  of  the  government." 

"After  all,"  says  Plutarch,  in  a  passage  which  I  have  already  cited,  "  of 
what  utility  have  these  tragedies  been  to  Athens,  though  so  much  boasted  by 
the  people,  and  admired  by  the  rest  of  the  world?  We  find,  that  the  pru- 
dence of  Themistocles  inclosed  the  city  with  strong  walls  ;  that  the  fine  taste 
and  magnificence  of  Pericles  improved  and  adorned  it ;  that  the  noble  forti- 
tude of  Miltiades  preserved  its  liberty  ;  and  that  the  moderate  conduct  of  Ci- 
mon  acquired  it  the  empire  and  government  of  all  Greece."  If  the  wise  and 
learned  poetry  of  Euripides,  the  sublime  diction  of  Sophocles,  the  lofty  bus- 
kin of  jEschylus,  have  obtained  equal  advantages  for  the  city  of  Athens,  by 
delivering  it  from  impending  calamities,  or  by  adding  to  its  glory,  I  a'm  wil- 
ling, (he  adds,)  that  "  dramatic  pieces  should  be  placed  in  competition  with 
trophies  of  victory,  the  poetic  theatre  with  the  field  of  battle,  and  the  compo- 
sitions of  the  poets  with  the  great  exploits  of  the  generals."  But  what  a  com- 
parison would  this  be  ?  On  the  one  side  would  be  seen  a  few  writers,  crowned 
with  wreaths  of  ivy,  and  dragging  a  goat  or  an  ox  after  them,  the  rewards  and 
victims  assigned  them  for  excelling  in  tragic  poetry  ;  on  the  other,  a  train  of 
illustrious  captains,  surrounded  with  colonies  which  they  founded,  the  cities 
which  they  captured,  and  the  nations  which  they  subjected.  It  is  not  to  per- 
petuate the  victories  of  iEschylus  and  Sophocles,  but  in  remembrance  of  the 
glorious  battles  of  Marathon,  Salamis,  Euiymedon,  and  many  others,  that  so 
many  feasts  are  celebrated  every  month  with  such  pomp  by  the  Grecians. 

The  conclusion  which  is  hence  drawn  by  Plutarch,  in  which  we  ought  to 
join  him,  is,  that  it  was  the  highest  imprudence  in  the  Athenians  thus  to  pre- 
fer pleasure  to  duty,  the  passion  for  the  theatre  to  the  love  of  their  country ,J. 
trivial  representations  to  application  to  public  business,  and  to  consume,  in 
useless  expenses  and  dramatic  entertainments,  the  funds  intended  for  the  sup- 
port of  fleets  and  armies.  Macedon,  till  then  obscure  and  inconsiderable,  well 
knew  how  to  take  advantage  of  the  Athenian  indolence  and  effeminacy  ;§  and 
Philip,  instructed  by  the  Greeks  themselves,  among  whom  he  had  for  several 
years  applied  himself  successfully  to  the  art  of  war,  was  not  long  before  he 
gave  Greece  a  master,  and  subjected  it  to  the  yoke,  as  we  shall  see  in  the 
seauel. 

1  am  now  to  open  an  entirely  new  scene  to  the  reader's  view,  not  unworthy 


*  Plut.  de  G  lor.  Athen.  p.  349.  t  Sytnpos,  lib.  vii.  quest,  vii.  p.  710. 

t  *  A)iajT6Lv«(7)v  ^AfinvaToi  ixsy^-Ka,  rr)v  avH5i\v  els  ihv  v-ai5a\av  xaravaKivnovrss,  r&Tkcri  ixe'y&kwt 
Airoa'r6K(*^v  dairavas  ka\  CTTjaTfu^drajv  tipySia  xaraxojTi^ouvTEJ  iis  to  S-farjov- 

}  Q,ulbus  rebus  effectuin  est,  ut  inter  olia  Griecorum,  sordidum  et  obscurum  antea  Mactedonum  nomea 
•mcrjeret;  ct  Philippus,  obses  triennio  Thebis  habltut,  Epaminondss  et  Pelopidas  virtutibus  eruditus,  reg' 
Mjt3«domaB  Graec;»  et  Asia  cervicibus,  velut  jujum  icrvitutis,  impoQereL-"Ju8t  I.  vi.  c  9 


INTRODUCTION. 


77 


tiis  curiosity  and  attention.  We  shall  see  two  states  of  no  great  consideration, 
Media  and  Persia,  extend  themselves  far  and  wide,  under  the  conduct  of  (^y- 
rus,  like  a  torrent  or  a  conflagration,  and  with  amazing  rapidity,  conquer  and 
subdue  many  provinces  and  kingdoms.  We  shall  see  that  vast  empire  setting 
the  nations  under  its  dominion  in  motion,  the  Persians,  Medes,  Phixnicians, 
Eg;y'ptians,  Babylonians,  Indians,  and  many  others,  and  falling,  with  all  the 
forces  of  Asia  and  the  East,  upon  a  country  of  very  small  extent,  and 
destitute  of  all  foreign  assistance,  I  mean  Greece.  When,  on  the  one  hand, 
we  behold  so  many  nations  united  together,  such  preparations  for  war,  made 
for  several  years,  with  so  much  diligence,  innumerable  armies  by  sea  and  land, 
and  such  fleets  as  the  sea  could  hardly  contain;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  two 
weak  cities,  Athens  and  Lacedaemon,  abandoned  by  all  their  allies,  and  left 
almost  entirely  to  themselves,  have  we  not  reason  to  believe,  that  these  two 
little  cities  are  going  to  be  utterly  destroyed  and  swallowed  up  by  so  formida- 
ble an  enemy  ;  and  that  no  vestages  of  them  will  be  left  remaining  ?  And 
yel  we  shall  find  that  they  prove  victorious,  and,  by  their  invincible  courage 
and  the  several  battles  they  gained,  both  by  sea  and  land,  will  make  the  Per 
sian  empire  lay  aside  all  thoughts  of  ever  again  turning  their  arms  agains 
Greece. 

The  history  of  the  war  between  the  Persians  and  the  Greeks  will  illustrate 
the  truth  of  this  maxim,  that  it  is  hot  the  number,  but  the  valour  of  the  troops, 
and  the  conduct  of  the  generals,  on  which  depends  the  success  of  military  ex- 
peditions. The  reader  will  admire  the  surprising  courage  and  intrepidity  of 
the  great  men  at  the  head  of  the  Grecian  affairs,  whom  neither  all  the  world 
in  motion  against  them  could  deject,  nor  the  greatest  misfortunes  disconcert  ; 
who  undertook,  with  a  handful  oif  men,  to  make  head  against  innumerable  ar- 
mies ;  who,  notwithstanding  such  a  prodigious  inequality  in  forces,  durst  hope 
for  success  ;  who  even  compelled  victory  to  declare  on  the  side  of  merit  and 
virtue,  and  taught  all  succeeding  gei>e rations  what  infinite  resources  and  ex- 
pedients are  to  be  found  in  prudence,  valour,  and  experience  ;  in  a  zeal  for 
liberty  and  our  country,  in  the  love  of  our  duty,  and  in  all  the  sentiments  of 
noble  and  generous  souls. 

This  war  of  the  Persians  against  the  Grecians  will  be  followed  by  another 
among  the  latter  themselves,  but  of  a  very  different  kind  from  the  former.  In 
the  latter,  there  will  scarce  be  any  actions,  but  what  in  appearance  are  of  little 
consequence,  and  seemingly  unworthy  of  a  reader's  curiosity,  who  is  fond  of 
great  events;  in  this  he  will  meet  with  little  besides  private  quarrels  between 
certain  cities,  or  some  small  commonwealths ;  some  inconsiderable  sieges,  (ex- 
cepting that  of  Syracuse,  one  of  the  most  important  related  in  ancient  histo- 
ry,) though  several  of  these  sieges  were  of  considerable  duration  ;  some  bat- 
tles between  armies,  where  the  numbers  were  small,  and  but  little  blood  shed 
What  is  it,  then,  that  has  rendered  these  wars  so  fam.ous  in  history  ?  Sallust 
informs  us  in  these  words ;  "  The  actions  of  the  Athenians  doubtless  were 
great,  and  yet  I  believe  they  were  somewhat  less  than  fame  reports  them. 
But  because  Athens  abounded  in  noble  writers,  the  acts  of  that  republic  are 
celebrated  throughout  the  whole  world  as  the  most  glorious  ;  and  the  gallan- 
try of  those  heroes  who  performed  them,  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  be 
thought  as  transcendant  as  the  eloquence  of  those  who  have  described  them."* 

Sallust,  though  jealous  enough  of  the  glory  the  Romans  had  acquired  by  a 
series  of  distinguished  actioas,  with  which  their  history  abounds  ;  yet  he  does 
justice  in  this  passage  to  the  Grecians,  by  acknowledging,  that  their  exploits 
were  truly  great  and  illustrious,  though  somewhat  in^rior,  in  his  opinion,  to 
their  fanpe.  What  is,  then,  this  foreign  and  borrowed  lustre,  which  the  Athe- 
nian actions  have  derived  from  the  eloquence  of  their  historians  ?  It  is,  that 


♦  Atheniensium  res  ^estJe,  siciiti  e<^o  existimo,  satis  ampljB  mag^niScjeque  fueruBt ;  verum  aliquanto  mi- 
Bores,  tamen,  quam  f^ma  ft-ri'ntur.  Sed  quia  provenere  ibi  scriptorum  mag-:ia  ing-enia,  perterrarum  orbero 
Atheniensium  facta  pro  maxirnis  celebrantur.  Ita  eorum,  qus  fecere,  virtas  tanU^  habetnr,  quantum  earn 
verbis  potuere  extollere  pr»iclara  Ingenia. — Sallust.  in  Bell.  Catilia 


78 


LNTRODUCTIOW. 


the  whole  universe  agrees  in  looking  upon  them  as  the  greatest  and  most  glo- 
rious that  ever  were  performed.  Per  terrarum  orbem  Atheniensium  facta  pro 
rnaximis  cehhrantur.  All  nations,  seduced  and  enchanted  as  it  were  with 
the  beauties  of  the  Greek  authors,  think  the  exploits  of  that  people  superior 
to  any  other  thing  that  was  ever  done  by  any  other  nation.  This,  according 
to  Sallust,  is  the  advantage  the  Athenians  have  derived  from  the  Greek  au- 
thors, who  have  thus  excellently  described  their  actions  ;  and  very  unhappy 
it  is  for  us,  that  our  history,  for  want  of  the  like  assistance,  has  left  a  thousand 
bright  actions  and  fine  sayings  unrecorded,  which  would  have  been  put  in  the 
strongest  light  by  the  ancient  writers,  and  would  have  done  great  honour  to 
our  country. 

But,  however  this  may  be,  it  must  be  confessed,  that  we  are  not  always  to 
*udge  of  the  value  of  an  action,  or  the  merit  of  the  persons  who  shared  in  it, 
y  the  importance  of  the  event.  It  is  rather  in  such  little  sieges  and  engage- 
ments as  we  find  recorded  in  the  history  of  the  Peloponnesian  war,  that  the 
conduct  and  abilities  of  a  general  are  truly  conspicuous.  Accordingly  it  is 
observed,  that  it  was  chiefly  at  the  head  of  small  armies,  and  in  countries  of 
no  great  extent,  that  our  best  generals  of  the  last  age  displayed  their  great 
capacity,  and  showed  themselves  not  inferior  to  the  most  celebrated  captains 
of  antiquity.  In  actions  of  this  sort,  chance  has  no  share,  and  does  not  cover 
any  oversights  that  are  committed.  Every  thing  is  conducted  and  tarried  on 
by  the  prudence  of  the  general.  He  is  truly  the  soul  of  the  army,  which  nei- 
ther acts  nor  moves  but  by  his  direction.  He  sees  every  thing,  and  is  present 
every  where.  Nothing  escapes  his  vigilance  and  attention.  Orders  are  sea-^ 
sonably  given  and  seasonably  executed.  Finesse,  stratagems,  false  marches, 
real  or  feigned  attacks,  encampments,  decampments,  in  a  word,  every  thing, 
depends  upon  him  alone. 

On  this  account,  the  reading  of  the  Greek  historians,  such  as  Thucydides, 
Xenophon,  and  Polybius,  is  of  infinite  service  to  young  officers ;  because 
those  historians,  w^ho  were  also  excellent  commanders,  enter  into  all  the  particu- 
lars of  the  military  art,  and  lead  the  readers,  as  it  were  by  the  hand,  through 
all  the  sieges  and  battles  they  describe  ;  .show'ing  them,  by  the  example  of 
the  greatest  generals  of  antiquity,  and  by  a  kind  of  anticipated  experience, 
in  what  manner  war  is  to  be  carried  on. 

Nor  is  it  only  with  regard  to  military  exploits,  that  ttie  Grecian  history  af- 
fords us  such  excellent  models.  We  shall  there  find  celebrated  legislators, 
able  politicians,  magistrates  born  for  government,  men  who  have  excelled  in 
all  arts  and  sciences,  philosophers  that  carried  their  inquiries  as  far  as  possible 
in  those  early  ages,  and  who  have  left  us  such  maxims  of  morality  as  might 
put  many  christians  to  the  blush. 

If  the  virtues  of  those  who  are  celebrated  in  history  may  serve  us  for  mo- 
dels in  the  conduct  of  our  lives,  their  vices  and  failings,  on  the  other  hand,  are  . 
no  less  proper  to  caution  and  instruct  us  ;  and  the  strict  regard  which  a  his- 
torian is  obliged  to  pay  to  truth,  will  not  allow  him  to  dissemble  the  latter 
Ihrough  fear  of  eclipsing  the  lustre  of  the  former.    Nor  does  wiiat  I  here  ad 
\  ance  contradict  the  rule  laid  down  by  Plutarch,  on  the  same  subject,  in  hij  * 
preface  to  the  life  of  Cimon.*    He  requires  that  the  illustrious  actions  of  great 
men  be  represented  in  their  full  light :  but  as  to  the  faults,  which  may  somc^ 
times  escape  them  through  passion  or  surprise,  or  into  which  they  may  be 
drawn  by  the  necessity  of  affairs,!  considering  them  rather  as  a  certain  de- 
gree of  perfection  wanting  to  their  virtue,  than  as  vices  or  crimes  that  pro- 
ceed from  any  corruption  of  the  heart;  such  imperfections  as  these,  he  would 
have  the  historian,  out  of  compassion  to  the  w^eakness  of  human  nature, 
which  produces  nothing  entirely  perfect,  content  himself  with  touching  vei^ 
lightly  ;  in  ^iie  same  manner  as  an  able  painter,  when  he  has  a  fine  face  U 


*  In  Cim.  p.  479,  480. 


INTKORUCriO«. 


79 


iraw,  in  which  he  finds  some  little  blemish  or  defect,  does  neither  entirely 
suppress  it,  nor  think  himself  obliged  to  represent  it  with  a  strict  exactness 
because  the  one  would  spoil  the  beauty  of  the  picture,  and  the  other  would 
des^-oy  the  likeness.  The  very  comparison  Plutarch  uses,  sho\\'s  that  he 
speaKf  only  of  slight  and  excusable  faults.  But  as  to  actions  of  injustice, 
violence,  and  brutality,  they  ought  not  to  be  concealed  or  disguised  on  any 
account ,  nor  can  we  suppose  that  the  same  privilege  should  be  allowed  in 
history  as  in  painting,  which  invented  the  profile  to  represent  the  side-face 
of  a  prince  who  had  lost  an  eye,  and  by  that  means  ingeniously  concealed  so 
disagreeable  a  deformity.*  History,  the  most  essential  rule  of  which  is  sin- 
cerity, will  by  no  means  admit  of  such  indulgences,  as  indeed  would  deprive 
it  of  its  greatest  advantage. 

Shame,  reproach,  infamy,  hatred,  and  the  execrations  of  the  pvblic,  which 
are  the  inseparable  attendants  on  criminal  and  brutal  actions,  are  no  less 
proper  to  excite  a  horror  for  vice,  than  the  glory,  which  perpetually  attends 
good  actions,  is  to  inspire-  us  with  the  love  of  virtue.  And  these,  according 
to  Tacitus,  are  the  two  ends  which  every  historian  ought  to  propose  to  him- 
self, by  making  a  judicious  choice  of  what  is  most  extraordinary  both  in  good 
and  evil,  in  order  to  occasion  that  public  homage  to  be  paid  to  virtue,  which 
is  justly  due  to  it ;  and  to  create  the  greater  abhorrence  for  vice,  on  account 
of  the  eternal  infamy  that  attends  it.t 

The  history  which  I  am  writing  furnishes  but  too  many  examples  of  the 
latter  sort.  With  respect  to  the  Persians,  it  will  appear  by  what  is  said  of 
their  kings,  that  those  princes  whose  power  has  no  viher  bounds  than  those  of 
their  will,  often  abandon  themselves  to  all  their  passions  ;  that  nothing  is  more 
diificult  than  to  resist  the  delusions  of  a  man's  own  greatness,  and  the  flatte- 
ries of  those  that  surround  him  ;  that  the  liberty  of  gratifying  all  one's  desires, 
and  of  doing  evil  with  impunity,  is  a  dangerous  situation  ;  that  the  best  diposi- 
tions  can  hardly  withstand  such  a  temptation  ;  that  even  after  having  begun  their 
career  favourably,  they  are  insensibly  corrupted  by  softness  and  effeminacy, 
by  pride,  and  their  aversion  to  sincere  counsels  ;  and  that  it  rarely  happens 
they  are  wise  enough  to  consider  that,  when  they  find  themselves  exalted 
above  all  laws  and  restraints,  they  stand  then  most  in  need  of  moderation  and 
wisdom,  both  in  regard  to  themselves  and  others ;  and  that  in  such  a  situation 
they  ought  to  be  doubly  wise,  and  doubly  strong,  in  order  to  set  bounds 
within,  by  their  reason,  to  a  power  that  has  none  without. 

With  respect  to  the  Grecians,  the  Peloponnesian  war  will  show  the  misera- 
ble effects  of  their  intestine  divisions,  and  the  fatal  excesses  into  which  they 
were  led  by  their  thirst  of  dominion,  scenes  of  injustice,  ingratitude,  and  per- 
fidy, together  with  the  open  violation  of  treaties,  or  mean  artifices  and  un- 
worthy tricks  to  elude  their  execution.  It  will  show,  how  scandalously  the 
Lacedaemonians  and  Athenians  debased  themselves  to  the  barbarians,  in  order 
to  beg  aids  of  money  from  them  ;  how  shamefully  the  great  deliverers  of 
Greece  renounced  the  glory  of  all  their  past  labours  and  exploits,  by  stouping 
and  making  their  court  to  certain  haughty  and  insolent  satraps,  and  by  going 
successively,  with  a  kind  of  emulation,  to  implore  the  protection  of  the  com- 
mon enemy,  whom  they  had  so  often  conquered  ;  and  in  what  manner  they 
employed  the  succours  they  obtained  from  them,  in  oppressing  their  ancient 
allies,  and  extending  their  own  territories  by  unjust  and  violent  methods. 

On  both  sides,  and  sometimes  in  the  same  person,  we  shall  find  a  surprising 
mixture  of  good  and  bad,  of  virtues  and  vices,  of  glorious  actions  and  niean 
sentiments  ;  and  sometimes,  perhaps,  we  shall  be  ready  to  ask  ourselves, 
whether  these  can  be  the  same  persons  and  the  same  people,  of  whom  such 


*  Habet  in  pictura  speriem  tota  facies.  Apelles  tainen  imaginem  Antigoni  latere  tantara  altero  osteo- 
i\t,  ut  amissi  ociili  deforinit&s  lateret. — Q,ulntil.  1.  ii.  c.  13. 

t  Exfiqul  senlentias  haiul  astitui.  nisi  insig-nes  per  honesti'm  nut  notabill  dederorc  ;  qiiod  prapcipuirio 
munus  annalaim  reor,  hp  virtutee  aiW'*atur,  utque  pravis  dir.ils  factisque  ex  posterilate  et  iafainia  in«U« 
fct  -TLcit.  Annul.  1  lU 


80 


rNTRODUCTION, 


different  thing's  are  related  ;  and  whether  it  be  possible  that  such  a  bright  and 
?hining  light,  and  such  thick  clouds  of  smoke  and  darkness,  can  proceed  from 
the  same  source  ? 

The  Persian  history  includes  the  space  of  one  hundred  and  seventeen  years, 
during  the  reigns  of  six  kings  of  Persia ;  Darius,  the  first  of  the  name,  the 
son  of  Hystaspes ;  Xerxes  the  first  Artaxerxes,  surnamed  Longimanus 
Xerxes,  the  second  ;  Sogdianus ;  (the  two  last  reigned  but  a  short  time  ;) 
and  Darius  the  second,  commonly  called  Darius  Nothus.  This  history  begini 
at  the  year  of  the  world  3483,  and  extends  to  the  year  3600.  As  this  wholu 
period  naturally  divides  itself  into  two  parts,  I  shall  also  divide  it  into  two  dis- 
tinct books. 

The  first  part,  which  consists  of  ninety  years,  extends  from  the  beginning 
of  the  reign  of  Darius  the  first  to  the  forty-second  year  of  Artaxerxes,  the 
same  year  in  which  the  Peloponnesian  war  began  ;  that  is,  from  the  year  of 
the  world  3483  to  the  year  3573.  This  part  chiefly  contains  the  different  en- 
terprises and  expeditions  of  the  Persians  against  Greece,  which  never  produ- 
ced more  great  men  or  greater  events,  nor  ever  displayed  more  conspicuous 
or  more  solid  virtues.  Here  will  be  seen  the  famous  battles  of  Marathon 
Thermopylae,  Artemisium,  Salamis,  Platoea,  Mycale,  Eurymedon,  &lc 
Here  the  most  eminent  commanders  of  Greece  signalized  their  courage ;  Mil- 
tiades,  Leonidas,  Themistocles,  Aristides,  Cimon,  Pausanias,  Pericies,  Thu- 
cydides,  &c. 

To  enable  the  reader  the  more  easily  to  recollect  what  passed  within  this 
space  of  time  among  the  Jews,  and  also  amorg  the  Romans,  the  history  of 
both  which  nations  is  entirely  foreign  to  that  of  the  Persians  and  Greets,  1 
shall  here  set  down  in  few  words  the  principal  epochs  relating  to  them 

EPOCHS  OF  THE  JEWISH  HISTORY. 

The  people  of  God  were  at  this  time  returned  from  their  Babylonish  cap 
tivity  to  Jerusalem,  under  the  conduct  of  Zorobabel.  Usher  is  of  opinion, 
that  the  history  of  Esther  ought  to  be  placed  in  the  reign  of  Darius.  The 
Israelites,  under  the  shadow  of  this  prince's  protection,  and  animated  by  the 
warm  exhortations  of  the  prophets  Haggai  and  Zechariah,  did  at  last  finish 
the  building  of  the  temple,  which  had  been  interrupted  for  many  years  by 
the  cabals  of  their  enemies.  Artaxerxes  v»  as  i  o  less  favourable  to  the  Jews 
than  Darius  ;  he  first  of  all  sent  Ezra  to  Jerusa  lem,  who  restored  the  public 
worship,  and  the  observation  of  the  law ;  then  Nehemiah,  who  caused  walls 
to  be  built  round  the  city,  and  fortified  it  against  the  attacks  of  their  neigh- 
bours, who  were  jealous  of  its  reviving  gretitr.ess.  It  is  thought  that  Mala- 
chi,  the  last  of  the  prophets,  was  contemporary  with  Nehemiah,  or  that  he 
prophesied  not  long  after  him. 

This  interval  of  the  sacred  history  extends  from  the  reign  of  Darius  I.  to 
the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Darius  Nothus  ;  that  is  to  say,  from  the  year 
of  the  world  3485  to  the  year  3581.  After  which  the  Scripture  is  entirely 
silent,  till  the  time  of  the  Maccabees. 

EPOCHS  OF  the  ROMAN  history. 

The  first  year  of  Darius  1.  was  the  233d  of  the  building  of  Rome.  Tar- 
^u'm  the  Proud  was  then  on  the  throne,  and  about  ten  years  afterwards  was 
expelled,  when  the  consular  government  was  substituted  for  that  of  the  kings. 
In  the  succeeding  part  of  this  period,  happened  the  war  against  Porsenna  ; 
the  creation  of  the  tribunes  of  the  people  ;  Coriolanus's  retreat  among  the 
Volsci,  and  the  war  that  ensued  thereupon  ;  the  wars  of  the  Romans  against 
the  Latins,  the  Vejentes,  the  Volsci,  and  other  neighbouring  nations  ;  the  death 
of  Virginia  under  the  Decemvirate  ;  the  disputes  between  the  people  and 
senate  about  marriages  and  the  consulship,  which  occasioned  the  creating  of 
military  tribunes  instead  of  consuls.  This  period  of  ime  terminates  in  the 
S83d  3''ear  from  the  foundation  of  Rome, 


iNTRODUCTlON. 


The  second  part,  whicn  consists  of  twenty-seven  years,  extends  from  the 
forty-third  year  of  Artaxenres  Longiinanus  to  the  death  of  Darius  Nothus 
that  is  from  the  year  of  the  world  3573  to  the  year  3600.  It  contains  the  first 
nineteen  years  of  the  Peloponnesian  war,  which  continued  twenty-seven,  of 
which  Greece  and  Sicily  were  the  seat,  and  wherein  the  Greeks,  who  had  be- 
fore triumphed  over  the  barbarians,  turned  their  arms  against  each  other. 
Among  the  Athenians,  Pericles,  Nicias,  and  Alcibiades  ;  among  the  Lacedae- 
monians, Brasidas,  GyUppus,  and  Lysander,  eminently  distinguished  them* 
selves. 

Rome  continued  1c  be  agitated  by  different  disputes  between  the  senate  and 
people.  Towards  the  end  of  this  period,  and  about  the  350th  year  of  Rome, 
the  Romans  formed  the  siege  of  Veji,  which  lasted  ten  years. 

I  have  already  observed,  that  eighty  years  after  the  taking  of  Troy,*  the 
Heraclidse,  that  is,  the  descendants  of  Hercules,  returned  into  the  Peloponne- 
sus, and  made  themselves  masters  of  Lacedaemon,  where  two  of  them,  who 
were  brothers,  Euristhenes  and  Procles,  sons  of  Aristodemus,  reigned  jointly 
fogether.f  Herodotus  observes,  that  these  two  brothers  were  during  their 
vj^hole  lives  at  variance,  and  that  almost  all  their  descendants  inherited  the 
like  disposition  of  mutual  hatred  and  antipathy  ;  so  true  it  is,  that  the  sove- 
reign power  will  admit  of  no  partnership,  and  that  two  kings  will  always  be 
loo  many  for  one  kingdom  !  However,  after  the  death  of  these  two,  the  de- 
scendants of  both  still  continued  to  sway  the  sceptre  jointly  ;  and  what  is 
very  remarkable,  these  two  branches  subsisted  for  near  nine  hundred  years, 
from  the  return  of  the  Heraclidae  into  the  Peloponnesus  to  the  death  of  Cleo- 
menes,  and  supplied  Sparta  with  kings  without  interruption,  and  that  gene- 
rally in  a  regular  succession  from  father  to  son,  especially  in  the  elder  branch 
of  the  family. 

THE  ORIGIN  AND  CONDITION  OF  THE  ELOTiE,  OR  HELOTS. 

When  tlie  Lacedsemonians  first  began  to  settle  in  Peloponnesus,  they  met 
with  gieat  opposition  from  the  iniiabitants  of  the  country,  whom  they  were 
obliged  to  subdue  one  after  another  by  force  of  arms,  or  receive  into  their  alli- 
ance on  easy  and  equitable  terms,  with  the  imposition  of  a  small  tribute. 
Strabo  speaks  of  a  city,  called  Elos,  not  far  from  Sparta,  which,  after  having 
submitted  to  the  yoke,  as  others  had  done,  revolted  openly,  and  refused  to 
pay  the  tribute.J  Agis,  the  son  of  Euristhenes,  newly  settled  on  the  throne, 
was  sensible  of  the  dangerous  tendency  of  this  first  revolt,  and  therefore  im- 
mediately marched  v/ith  an  army  against  them,  together  with  Soiis,  his  col- 
league. They  laid  siege  to  the  city,  which,  after  a  pretty  long  resistance 
was  forced  to -surrender  at  discretion.  This  prince  thought  ft  proper  to  makt 
sacli  an  example  of  them,  as  should  intimidate  all  their  neighbours,  and  detei 
them  from  the  like  attempts,  and  yet  not  alienate  their  minds  by  too  cruel  2 
treatment ;  for  which  reason  he  put  none  to  death.  He  spared  the  lives  of 
all  the  inhabitants,  but  at  the  same  time  deprived  them  of  their  liberty,  anc 
reduced  them  all  to  a  state  of  slavery.  From  thencefonvard  they  were  em 
ployed  in  all  mean  and  servile  offices,  and  treated  with  extreme  rigour.  These 
were  the  people  who  were  called  Elotae  or  Helots.  The  number  of  them  ex- 
ceedingly increased  in  process  of  time,  the  Lacedaemonians  giving  undoubt 
edly  the  same  name  to  all  the  people  whom  they  reduced  to  the  same  condi- 
tion of  servitude.  As  they  themselves  were  averse  to  labour,  and  entirely 
addicted  to  war,  they  left  the  cultivation  of  their  lands  to  these  slaves,  assign- 
ing every  one  of  them  a  certain  portion  of  ground,  the  produce  of  which  they 
were  obliged  to  carry  every  year  to  their  respective  masters,  who  endea 
voured,  by  all  sorts  of  ill  usage,  to  make  their  yoke  more  grievous  and  insup- 
portable. This  was  certainly  very  bad  policy,  and  could  only  tend  to  breed 
R  vast  number  of  dangerous  enemies  in  the  very  heart  of  the  state,  who  were 


•  A.M.  2900.    Ant  J.  C.  1104.       t  Lib.  vi.  c.  5*        J  Lib.  riii.  p.  8«6.    Plut.  in  Lvcurg.  p.  40. 

Vol..  L 


IKTEODUCTION. 


always  ready  to  take  arms  and  revolt  on  eveiy  occasion.  The  ^Romans  acted 
more  prudently  in  this  respect ;  for  they  incorporated  the  conquerea  nations 
into  their  state,  by  admitting  them  'o  the  freedom  of  their  city,  and  thereJ^y 
converted  them  from  enemies  into  brethren  and  fellow  citizen^. 

LYCURGUS,  THE  LACEDAEMONIAN  LAWGIVER. 

EuRYTioN,  or  Eurypon,  as  he  is  named  by  others,  succeeded  Soiis.  In 
order  to  gain  the  affections  of  the  people,  ana  render  his  government  agreea- 
ble, he  thought  fit  to  recede,  in  some  points,  from  the  absolute  power  exer- 
cised by  the  kings,  his  predecessors  ;  this  rendered  his  name  so  dear  to  his  sub- 
jects, that  all  his  descendants  were  from  him  called  Eurytionidae.*  But  this 
relaxation  gave  birth  to  horrible  confusion  and  an  unbounded  licentiousness 
in  Sparta,  which  for  a  long  time  occasioned  infinite  mischiefs.  The  people 
became  so  insolent,  that  nothing  could  restrain  them.  If  Eurytion's  succes- 
sors attempted  to  recover  their  authority  by  force,  they  became  odious  ;  and, 
if,  through  complaisance  or  weakness,  they  chose  to  dissemble,  their  mildness 
served  only  to  render  them  contemptible ;  so  that  order  was  in  a  manner 
abolished,  and  the  laws  no  longer  regarded.  These  confusions  hastened  the 
death  of  Lycurgus's  father,  whose  name  was  Eunomus,  and  who  was  killed 
in  an  insurrection.  Polydectes,  his  eldest  son  and  successor,  dying  soon  after 
without  children,  every  body  expected  Lycurgus  would  have  been  king. 
And  indeed  he  was  so  in  effect,  as  long  as  the  pregnancy  of  his  brother's  wife 
was  uncertain  ;  but  as  soon  as  that  was  manifest,  he  declared  that  the  king- 
dom belonged  to  her  child,  in  case  it  proved  a  son ;  and  from  that  moment  he 
V)ok  upon  himself  the  administration  of  the  government,  as  guardian  to  his 
unborn  nephew,  under  the  title  of  prodicos,  which  was  the  name  given  by 
the  Lacedaimonians  to  the  guardians  of  their  kings.  When  the  child  was 
born,  Lycurgus  took  him  up  in  his  arms,  and  criei  out  to  the  company  that 
were  present,  behold,  my  lords  of  Sparta,  this  new-born  child  is  your  king  : 
and  at  the  same  time  he  put  the  infant  in  the  king's  seat,  and  named  him 
Charilaus,  because  of  the  joy  the  people  expressed  upon  occasion  of  his  birth. 
The  reader  will  find  in  the  first  volume  of  this  history,  all  that  relates  to  the 
history  of  Lycurgus,  the  reformation  he  made,  and  the  excellent  laws  he 
established  in  Sparta.  Agesilaus  was  at  this  time  king  in  the  elder  branch  of 
the  family. 

WAR  BETWEEN  THE  ARGIVES  AND  THE  LACEDiEMONIANS. 

Some  time  after  this,  in  the  reign  of  Theopompus,  a  war  broke  out  betw^een 
the  Argives  and  Lacedcemonians,  on  account  of  a  little  country,  called  Thyrea, 
that  lay  upon  the  confines  of  the  two  states,  and  to  which  each  of  them  pre- 
2ended  a  right.  When  the  two  armies  were  ready  to  engage,  it  was  agreed 
on  both  sides,  in  order  to  spare  the  effusion  of  blood,  that  the  quarrel  should 
be  decided  by  three  hundred  of  the  bravest  men  on  both  sides;  and  that  the 
land  in  question  should  become  the  property  of  the  victorious  party.  To 
leave  the  combatants  more  room  to  engage,  the  two  armies  retired  to  some 
distance.  Those  generous  champions,  then,  who  had  all  the  co  irage  of  two 
mighty  armies,  boldly  advanced  towards  each  other,  and  fought  with  so  much 
resolution  and  fury,  that  the  whole  number,  except  three  men,  two  on  the 
Argives,  and  one  on  that  of  the  Lacedaemonians,  lay  dead  upon  tLe  spot,  and 
only  the  night  parted  them.  The  two  Argives  looking  upon  themselves  as  the 
conquerors,  made  what  haste  they  could  to  Argos  to  carry  the  news  :  the 
single  Lacedaemonian,  Othryades  by  name,  instead  of  retirmg,  stripped  the 
dead  bodies  of  the  Argives,  and  carrying  their  arms  into  the  Lacedaemonian 
camp,  continued  in  his  post.  The  next  day  the  two  armies  returned  to  the 
field  of  battle.  Both  sides  laid  equal  claim  to  the  victory  ;  the  Argives,  be- 
cause they  had  more  of  their  champions  left  alive  than  the  enemy  had ;  the 


*  PlaU  la  L^curg.  p.  40,  f  Herod.  1.  1.  o.  9L 


tNTRODUOTION. 


Bd 


Lacedaemonians,  because  the  two  Argives  that  remained  alive  had  fled ;  who  real 
their  single  soldier  had  remained  master  of  the  field  of  battle,  and  had  car- 
ried oif  the  spoils  of  the  enemy ;  in  short,  they  could  not  determirvi  the  dis- 
pute without  coming  to  another  engagement.  Here  fortune  declared  in  fa- 
vour of  the  Lacedtemonians,  and  the  little  territoiy  of  Thyrea  was  the  prize 
of  their  victory.  But  Othryades,  not  able  to  bear  the  thought  of  surriving 
his  brave  companions,  or  of  enduring  the  sight  of  Sparta'  after  their  death, 
killed  himself  on  the  same  field  of  battle  where  they  had  fought,  resolving  tc 
fwive  one  fate  and  tomb  with  them. 

WARS  BETWEEN  THE  MESSENIANS  AND  LACED JIMONIANS. 

There  were  no  less  than  three  several  wars  between  the  Messenians  and 
he  Lacedaemonians,  all  of  them  very  fierce  and  bloody.  Messenia  was  t 
country  in  Peloponnesus,  not  far  westward  from  Sparta ;  it  was  of  considera- 
ble strength,  and  was  governed  by  its  own  kings. 

THE  FIRST  MESSENIAN  WAR* 

The  first  Messenian  war  lasted  twenty  years,  and  broke  out  in  the  second 
year  of  the  ninth  Olympiad.*  The  Lacedaemonians  pretended  to  have  re- 
ceived several  consiaerable  injuries  from  the  Messenians,  and  among  others, 
that  of  having  had  their  daughters  ravished  by  the  inhabitants  of  Messeniai 
•rhen  they  went  according  to  custom,  to  a  temple  that  stood  on  the  borders  oi 
the  two  nations  ;  as  also  that  of  the  murder  of  Telecles,  their  king,  which  was 
a  consequence  of  the  former  outrage.  Probably  a  desire  of  extending  their 
dominion,  and  of  seizing  a  territory  which  lay  so  convenient  for  them,  might 
be  the  true  cause  of  the  war.  But,  be  that  as  it  will,  the  war  broke  out  in  the 
reign  of  Polydorus  and  Theopompus,  kings  of  Sparta,  at  the  time  ^yhen  the 
office  of  archon  at  Athens  was  still  decennial. 

Euphaes,  the  thirteenth  descendant  from  Hercules,  was  then  king  of  Mes- 
senia.j  He  gave  the  command  of  his  army  to  Cleonnis.  The  Lacedaemoni- 
ans opened  the  campaign  with  the  siege  of  Amphea,  an  inconsiderable  city, 
which,  however,  they  thought,  would  be  a  very  convenient  depot  for 
arms.  The  town  was  taken  by  storm,  and  all  the  inhabitants  put  to  the  sword. 
This  first  blow  served  only  to  animate  the  Messenians,  by  showing  them  what 
^  they  were  to  expect  from  the  enemy,  if  they  did  not  defend  themselves  with 
vigour.  The  Lacedaemonians,  on  their  part,  bound  themselves  by  an  oath,  not 
to  lay  down  their  arms,  or  return  to  Sparta,  till  they  had  made  themselves 
masters  of  all  the  cities  and  lands  belonging  to  the  Messenians ;  so  much  did 
they  rely  upon  their  strength  and  valour. 

Two  battles  were  fought,  wherein  the  loss  was  nearly  equal  on  both  sidps. 
But  after  the  second,  the  Messenians  suffered  extremely  through  the  want  (»f 
revisions,  which  occasioned  a  great  desertion  in  their  troops,  and  at  last 
rought  pestilence  among  them. J 
Hereupon  they  consulted  the  oracle  at  Delphos,  which  directed  them,  in 
order  to  appease  the  wrath  of  the  gods,  to  offer  up  a  virgin  of  the  royal  blood 
in  sacrifice.  Aristomenes,  who  was  of  the  race  of  the  Epytides,  offered  his 
own  daughter.  The  Messenians  then  considering,  that  if  they  left  garrisons 
in  all  their  towns,  they  should  extremely  weaken  their  army,  resolved  to 
abandon  them  all  except  Ithoma,  a  little  place  situated  on  the  top  of  a  hill  of 
the  same  name,  about  which  they  encamped  and  fortified  themselves.  In 
this  situation  were  seven  years  spent,  during  which  nothing  passed  but  slight 
skirmishes  on  both  sides,  the  Lacedaemonians  not  daring,  in  all  that  time, 
to  force  the  enemy  to  a  battle. 

Indeed,  they  almost  despaired  of  being  able  to  reduce  them  ;  nor  was  there 
•ny  thing  but  the  obligation  of  the  oath,  by  which  they  had  bound  themselves, 


♦  A.  M.  3261.    Ant.  J.  C.  743.    Pausan,  \.  iv.  p.  Q16— 242.    Juttin.  1.  m.  4> 
t  Pftusan.  1.  iv.  p.  225—226.  J  Ibid.  227—134. 


• 


84 


INTRODUCTION. 


that  made  tliem  continue  so  burdensome  a  war.  What  gave  them  the  great 
est  uneasiness,  was  their  apprehension  lest  their  absence  and  distance  from 
'heir  wives  for  so  many  years,  and  which  might  still  continue  man}^  more, 
should  destroy  their  families  at  home,  and  leave  Sparta  destitute  of  citizens.* 
To  prevent  this  misfortune,  they  sent  home  such  of  their  soldiers  as  were  come 
to  the  army  since  the  fore-mentioned  oath  had  been  taken,  and  made  no  scru- 
ple of  prostituting  their  wives  to  their  embraces.  The  children  that  sprung 
from  these  unlawful  connexions,  were  called  Parthenice^  a  name  given  to  them 
to  denote  the  infamy  of  their  birth.  As  soon  as  they  were  grown  up,  not  be- 
ing able  to  endure  such  an  opprobrious  distinction,  they  banished  themselves 
from  Sparta  with  one  consent,  and  under  ihe  conduct  of  Phalanthus,t  went 
and  settled  at  Tarentum  in  Italy,  after  driving  out  the  ancient  inhabitants. 

At  last,  in  the  eighth  year  of  the  war,  which  was  the  thirteenth  of  Euphaes's 
reign,  a  fierce  and  bloody  battle  was  fought  near  Ithoma.J  Euphaes  pierced 
through  the  battalions  of  Theopompus  with  too  much  heat  and  precipitation 
for  a  king.  He  there  received  a  multitude  of  wounds,  several  of  which  were 
mortal.  He  fell,  and  seemed  to  have  expired.  Whereupon  wonderful  efforts 
of  courage  were  exerted  on  both  sides;  by  the  one,  to  carry  off  the  king; 
by  the  other,  to  save  him.  Cleonnis  killed  eight  Spartans,  wno  were  drag- 
ging him  along,  and  spoiled  them  of  their  arms,  which  he  committed  to  the 
custody  of  some  of  his  soldiers.  He  himself  received  several  wounds,  all  in 
the  fore-part  of  his  body,  which  was  a  certain  proof  that  he  had  never  turned 
his  back  upon  his  enemies.  Aristomenes,  fighting  on  the  same  occasion,  and 
for  the  same  end,  killed  five  Lacedaemonians,  whose  spoils  he  likewise  carried 
off,  without  receiving  any  wound.  In  short,  the  king  was  saved  and  carried 
off  by  the  Messenians ;  and  all  mangled  and  bloody  as  he  was,  he  expressed 
great  joy  that  they  had  not  been  worsted.  Aristomenes,  after  the  battle  was 
over,  met  Cleonnis,  who,  by  reason  of  his  wounds,  could  neither  walk  by 
himself,  nor  with  the  assistance  of  those  that  lent  him  their  hands.  He  there- 
fore took  him  upon  his  shoulders  without  quitting  his  arms,  and  carried  him  to 
the  camp. 

As  soon  as  they  had  applied  the  first  dressing  to  the  wounds  of  the  king  of 
Messenia  and  of  his  officers,  there  arose  a  new  contention  among  the  Messe- 
nians, that  was  pursued  with  as  much  warmth  as  the  former,  but  was  of  a  very 
different  kind,  and  yet  the  consequence  of  the  other.  The  affair  in  question 
was  the  adjudging  the  prize  of  glory  to  him  that  had  signalized  his  valour 
most  in  the  late  engagement.  For  it  was  a  custom  among  them,  publicly  to 
proclaim  after  a  battle  the  name  of  the  man  that  had  shown  the  greatest  cou- 
rage. Nothing  could  be  more  proper  to  animate  the  officers  and  soldiers,  to 
inspire  them  with  resolution  and  intrepidity,  and  to  stifle  the  natural  appre- 
hension of  death  and  danger.  Two  illustrious  champions  entered  the  lists  on 
this  occasion,  namely,  Cleonnis  and  Aristomenes. 

The  king,  notwithstanding  his  weak  condition,  being  attended  with  the 
principal  officers  of  his  army,  presided  in  the  council,  where  this  important 
dispute  was  to  be  decided.  Each  competitor  pleaded  his  own  cause.  Cleonnis 
oegan  and  founded  his  pretensions  upon  the  great  number  of  the  enemies  he 
had  slain,  and  upon  the  multitude  of  wounds  he  had  received  in  the  action. 
H'hich  were  so  many  undoubted  testimonies  of  the  courage  with  which  he  haa 
faced  both  death  and  danger ;  whereas  the  condition  in  which  Aristomenes 
came  out  of  the  engagement,  without  hurt  and  without  wound,  seemed  to 
show  that  he  had  been  very  careful  of  his  own  person,  or  at  most,  could  only 
prove  that  he  had  been  more  fortunate,  but  not  more  brave  or  courageous  than 
himself.  And  as  to  his  having  carried  the  king  on  his  shoulders  into  the 
camp,  that  action  indeed  might  serve  to  prove  the  strength  of  his  body,  but 


*  Diod.  1.  XV.  p.  378. 
I  Et  regnata  petam  Laconi  rura  Phalanto.  Hor  Od.  ri  I.  9 

I  Pauian.  L  iv.  p.  234.  235.  V'tog.  ia  Frag;. 


IXTRODUCTION. 


nothing  farther ;  and  the  thing  in  dispute  at  this  time,  says  he,  is  ncl  strengtii, 
but  va\our. 

The  only  thing  Aristomenes  was  reproached  for,  was  his  not  being  wounded ; 
therefore  he  confined  himself  to  that  point,  and  answered  in  the  follow! njf 
manner:  "  I  am,"  says  he,  "  called  fortunate,  because  I  have  escaped  from 
the  battle  without  wounds.  If  that  were  owing  to  my  cowardice,  I  should 
deserve  another  epithet  than  that  of  fortunate ;  and  instead  of  being  admit- 
ted to  dispute  the  prize,  ought  to  undergo  the  rigour  of  the  laws  that  punish 
towards.  But  what  is  objected  to  me  as  a  crime,  is  in  truth  my  greatest 
glory.  For,  if  my  enemies,  astonished  at  my  valour,  durst  not  venture  to 
attack  or  oppose  me,  it  is  no  small  degree  of  merit,  that  I  made  them  fear 
me ;  or  if  while  they  engaged  me,  1  had  at  the  same  time  strength  to  cut 
them  in  pieces,  and  skill  to  guard  against  their  attacks,  1  must  then  have 
been  at  once  both  valiant  ani  prudent.  For  whoever,  in  the  midst  of  an 
engagement,  can  expose  himself  to  danger  with  caution  and  security,  shows 
that  he  excels  at  the  same  time  both  in  the  virtues  of  the  mind  and  the 
body.  As  for  courage,  no  man  living  can  reproach  Cleonnis  with  any  want 
of  it ;  but,  for  his  honour's  sake,  I  am  sorry  that  he  should  appear  to  want 
gratitude." 

After  the  conclusion  of  these  harangues,  the  question  was  put  to  the  vote. 
The  whole  army  was  in  suspense,  and  impatiently  waited  for  the  decision. 
No  dispute  couid  be  so  warm  and  interesting  as  this.  It  is  not  a  competition 
for  gold  or  silver,  but  solely  for  honour.  The  proper  reward  of  virtue  is 
pure  disinterested  glory.  Here  the  judges  are  unsuspected.  The  actions 
of  the  competitors  still  speak  for  them.^  It  is  the  king  himself,  surrounded 
with  his  officers,  who  presides  and  adjudges.  A  whole  army  are  the  wit- 
nesses. The  field  of  battle  is  a  tribunal  without  partiality  and  cabal.  In 
short,  all  the  votes  concurred  in  favour  of  Aristomenes,  and  adjudged  him 
the  prize. 

Euphaes,  the  king,  died  not  many  days  after  the  decision  of  this  affair.* 
He  had  reigned  thirteen  years,  and  during  all  that  time  had  been  engaged  in 
war  with  the  Lacedaemonians.  As  he  died  without  children,  he  left  the  Mes- 
senians  at  liberty  to  choose  his  successor.  Cleonnis  and  Damis  were  candi- 
dates in  opposition  to  Aristomenes  ;  but  he  was  elected  king  in  preference  to 
them.  When  he  was  on  the  throne,  he  did  not  scruple  to  confer  on  his  two 
rivals  the  principal  offices  of  the  state.  AU  strongly  attached  to  the  public 
good,  even  more  than  to  their  own  glory  ;  competitrrs.  but  not  enemies,  these 
great  men  were  actuated  by  a  zeal  for  their  country,  and  were  i.aither  friends 
nor  adversaries  to  one  another,  but  for  its  preservation. 

In  this  relation,  I  have  followed  the  opinion  of  the  late  Monsieur  Boivin, 
the  elder,  and  have  made  use  of  his  learned  dissertation  upon  a  fragment  of 
Drodorus  Siculus,  which  the  world  was  little  acquainted  with.  He  supposes, 
and  proves  in  it,  that  the  king  spoken  of  in  that  fragmerit  is  Euphaes,  and  that 
Aristomenes  is  the  same  that  Pausanias  called  Aristodemus,  according  to  th« 
custom  of  the  ancients,  who  are  called  by  two  dilferent  names. t 

Aristomenes,  otherwise  called  Aristodemus,  reigned  near  seven  years,  and 
was  equally  esteemed  and  beloved  by  his  subjects.  The  war  still  continued 
all  this  time.J  Towards  the  end  of  his  reign  he  beat  ihe  Lacedaemonians,  took 
their  king  Theopompus,  and,  in  honour  of  Jupiter  and  Ithoma,  sacniiced  three 
hundred  of  them,  among  whom  the  king  was  the  principal  victim.  Shortly 
after,  Aristodemus  sacrificed  himself  upon  the  tomb  of  his  daughter,  in  con- 
formity to  the  answer  of  an  oracle.  Damis  was  his  successor,  but  without 
taking  upon  him  the  title  of  king. 

After  his  death,  the  Messenians  had  never  any  success  in  their  affairs,  but 
found  themselves  in  a  very  wretched  and  hopeless  condition.§    Being  reduced 


•  Pautan.  I.  iv.  p.  235,  241.  f  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions,  '  V      p  S4 — HS. 

t  Cl«n.  Alex,  in  protrep.  p.  20.    FAneb.  in  prjiep.  1.  iv.  c.  16.  i  Pausan.  1. .     9^1.  243. 


36 


IWTKODUCTIOW. 


to  the  last  extremity,  and  utterly  destitute  of  provisions,  they  abandoned 
Ithoma,  and  fled  to  such  of  their  allies  as  were  nearest  to  them.  The  city 
was  immediately  razed,  and  all  the  people  that  remained  submitted.  They 
were  made  to  engage  by  oath  never  to  forsake  the  party  of  the  Lacedaemoni- 
ans, and  never  to  revolt  from  them  ;  a  very  useless  precaution,  only  proper  to 
make  them  add  the  guilt  of  perjury  to  their  rebellion.  Their  new  masters 
imposed  no  tribute  upon  them,  but  contented  themselves  with  obliging  them 
to  bring  to  the  Spartan  market,  one  half  of  the  corn  they  should  reap  every 
harvest.  It  was  likewise  stipulated,  that  the  Messenians,  both  men  and  wo 
men,  should  attend  in  mourning  the  funerals  of  the  kings,  the  chief  citizeris  of 
Sparta ;  which  the  Lacedaemonians  probably  looked  upon  as  a  mark  of  de- 

endence,  and  as  a  kind  of  homage  paid  to  their  nation.    Thus  ended.the 

rst  Messenian  war,  after  having  lasted  twenty  years.* 

THE  SECOND  MESSENIAN  WAR. 

The  lenity  with  which  the  Lacedaemonians  treated  the  Messenians  at  first, 
was  of  no  long  duration.!  When  once  they  found  the  whole  country  had  sub- 
mitted, and  thought  the  people  incapable  of  giving  them  any  further  trouble, 
they  returned  to  their  natural  character  of  insolence  and  haughtiness,  that 
often  degenerated  into  cruelty,  and  sometimes  even  into  ferocity.  Instead  of 
treating  the  vanquished  with  kindness,  as  friends  and  allies,  ana  endeavouring 
by  gentle  methods  to  win  those  whom  they  had  subdued  by  force,  they  seemed 
intent  upon  nothing  but  aggravating  their  yoke,  and  making  them  feel  the 
whole  weight  of  subjection.  They  laid  heavy  taxes  upon  them,  delivered 
them  up  to  the  avarice  of  the  collectors  of  those  taxes,  gave  no  ear  to  their 
complaints,  rendered  them  no  justice,  treated  them  like  vile  slaves,  and  com- 
mitted the  most  heinous  outrages  against  them. 

Man,  who  is  born  for  liberty,  can  never  reconcile  himself  to  servitude ;  the 
most  gentle  slavery  exasperates,  and  provokes  him  to  rebel.  What  could  be 
expected,  then,  from  so  cruel  a  one  as  that  under  which  the  Messenians  groaned? 
After  having  endured  it  with  great  uneasiness  near  forty  years,  they  resolved 
to  throw  off  the  yoke,  and  to  recover  their  ancient  liberty. f  This  was  in  the 
fourth  year  of  the  twenty-third  Olympiad  ;§  the  office  of  archon  at  Athens 
was  then  made  annual ;  and  Anaxander  and  Anaxidamus  reigned  at  Sparta. 

The  Messenians'  first  care  was,  to  strengthen  themselves  with  the  alliance 
of  the  neighbouring  nations.  These  they  found  well  inclined  to  enter  into 
their  views,  as  very  agreeable  to  their  own  interests.  For  it  was  not  without 
jealousy  and  apprehension,  that  they  saw  so  powerful  a  city  rising  up  in  the 
midst  of  them,  which  manifestly  seemed  to  aim  at  extending  her  dominion 
over  all  the  rest.  The  people,  therefore,  of  Elis,  the  Argives  and  Sicyonians, 
declared  for  the  Messenians.  But  before  their  forces  were  joined,  a  battle 
was  fought  between  the  Lacedaemonians  and  Messenians.  Aristomenes,||  the 
second  of  that  name,  was  at  the  head  of  the  latter.  He  was  a  commander  ot 
mtrepid  courage,  and  of  great  abilities  in  war.  The  Lacedaemonians  were 
beaten  in  this  engagement.  Aristomenes,  to  give  the  enemy  at  first  an  ad- 
t^antageous  opinion  of  his  bravery,  knowing  what  influence  it  has  on  the  suc- 
cess of  future  enterprises,  boldly  ventured  to  enter  into  Sparta  by  night,  and 
upon  the  gate  of  the  temple  of  Minerva,  who  was  surnamed  Chalcioecos  to 
hang  up  a  shield,  on  which  was  an  inscription,  signifying  that  it  was  a  present 
offered  by  Aristomenes  to  the  goddess,  out  of  the  spoils  of  the  Lacedaemonians 

This  bravado  did  in  reality  astonish  the  Lacedaemonians.  But  they  wer^ 
jitill  more  alarmed  at  the  foraiidable  league  that  was  formed  against  ihem 


»  A.  M.  3281.  Anf .  J.  C.  723.  t  Pausan.  1.  iv.  p.  'i42— 261.    Justin.  1.  iii.  c.  5. 

Cum  per  cornplurcs  annosgravia  servitutis  verbera,  plerur/ique  ac  vincula,  caeteraque  captivitatis  malv 
perpeMi  essent,  post  loneam  poenarum  patientiam  bellum  instaurant. — Justin.  1.  iii.  c.  5. 

}  A.  M .  3320.    Ant.  J.  C.  684. 
Q  Afsc^filug  to  leyeral  hiitorlaai,  there  wa>  another  ArUtomenei  in  the  first  MeiseniaB  war.-»Dio4  1 
p.  91>t> 


NTRODUCnOW. 


The  Delphic  oracle,  which  tney  consulted,  in  order  to  know  by  what  meoi^ 
they  should  be  successful  in  this  war,  directed  them  to  send  to  Athens  for  * 
commander,  and  to  submit  to  his  counsel  and  conduct.  This  was  a  very  morli- 
{ying  step  to  so  haughty  a  city  as  Sparta.  But  the  fear  of  incurring  the  god't 
displeasure  by  a  direct  disobedience,  prevailed  over  all  other  considerations. 
They  sent  an  embassy,  therefore,  to  the  Athenians.  The  people  of  Athens  were 
somewhat  perplexed  at  this  request.  On  the  one  hand,  they  were  not  sorry  it 
see  the  Lacedaemonians  at  war  with  their  neighbours,  and  were  far  from  desir» 
ing  to  furnish  them  with  a  good  general ;  on  the  other,  they  were  afraid  also 
of  disobeying  the  god.  To  extricate  themselves  out  of  this  difficulty,  they 
offered  the  Lacedaemonians  a  person  called  Tyrtaeus.  He  was  a  poet  by  pro- 
fession, and  had  something  original  in  the  turn  of  his  mind,  and  disagreeable 
in  his  person,  for  he  was  lame.  Notwithstanding  these  defects,  the  Lacedae- 
monians received  him  as  a  general  sent  them  by  heaven  itself.  Their  suc- 
cesses did  not  at  first  answer  their  expectation,  fof  they  lost  three  battles  suc- 
cessively. 

The  kings  of  Sparta,  discouraged  by  so  many  tiisappointments,  and  out  of  all 
hopes  of  better  success  for  the  future,  w^ere  absolutely  bent  upon  returning  to 
Sparta,  and  marching  home  again  with  their  forces.  Tyrtaeus  opposed  this 
design  very  warmly,  and  at  length  brought  them  over  to  his  opinion.  He  ad- 
dressed the  troops,  and  repeated  to  them  some  verses  he  had  made  on  the 
occasion,  and  on  which  he  had  bestowed  great  pains  and  application.  He 
first  endeavoured  to  comfort  them  for  their  past  losses,  which  he  imputed  to 
no  fault  of  theirs,  but  only  to  ill  fortune,  or  to  fate,  which  no  human  wisdom 
can  surmount.  He  then  represented  to  them,  what  a  shame  it  would  be  for 
Spartans  to  fly  from  an  enemy,  and  how  glorious  it  would  be  for  them  rather 
to  perish  sword  in  hand  in  fighting  for  their  country,  if  it  was  so  decreed  by 
fate.  Then,  as  if  all  lianger  was  vanished,  and  the  gods,  fully  satisfied  and 
appeased  with  their  late  calamities,  were  entirely  turned  to  their  side,  he  set 
victory  before  their  eyes  as  present  and  certain,  and  as  if  she  herself  was  invit- 
ing them  to  battle.  All  the  ancient  authors  who  have  made  any  mention  of 
the  style  and  character  of  Tyrtseus's  poetry,^  observe,  that  it  was  full  of  a 
certain  fire,  ardour,  and  enthusiasm,  that  animated  the  minds  of  men,  that  ex- 
alted them  above  themselves,  that  inspired  them  with  something  generous  and 
martial,  that  extinguished  all  fear  and  apprehension  of  danger  or  death,  and 
made  them  wholly  intent  upon  the  preservation  of  their  country  and  their  own 
glory.t 

Tyrtaeus's  verses  had  really  this  effect  on  the  soldiei^s  upon  this  occasion. 
They  desired  with  one  voice  to  march  against  the  enemy.  Being  wholly 
indifferent  as  to  their  lives,  they  had  ho  thoughts  but  to  secure  to  themselves 
the  honour  of  a  burial.  To  this  end  they  all  tied  bands  round  their  right  amis, 
on  which  were  inscribed  their  own  and  their  fathers'  names,  that  if  they 
chanced  to  be  killed  in  the  battle,  and  to  have  their  faces  so  altered  through 
time  or  accidents,  as  not  to  be  distinguishable,  it  might  certainly  be  knowr 
who  each  of  them  was  by  these  marks.  Soldiers  determined  to  die  are  veiy 
valiant.  This  appeared  in  the  battle  that  ensued.  It  was  very  bloody,  tht 
victory  being  a  long  time  disputed  on  boih  sides  ;  but  at  last  the  Messenians 
gave  way.  When  Tyrtaeus  went  afterwards  to  Sparta,  he  was  received  wife 
me  greatest  marks  of  distinction,  and  incorporated  into  the  body  of  citizens 

The  gaining  of  this  battle  did  not  put  an  end  to  the  war,  which  had  alreadj 
lasted  three  years.  Aristomenes,  having  assembled  the  remains  of  his  army^ 
retired  to  the  top  of  a  mountain  of  difficult  access,  which  was  called  Ira.  Fhi 
conquerors  attempted  to  carry  the  place  by  assault ;  but  that  brave  prince  de« 
fended  himself  there  for  the  space  of  eleven  years,  and  performed  the  mo«t 


♦  Plat,  h  i.  de  Le^ib.  p.  629.    Plut.  in  Agid.  et  Cleom.  p.  805. 
t  Tyrtaeusquc  mares  aniroos  id  martia  bella 

Versibus  «exacuit.  Hor  'in  Art  Poet. 


88 


NTRODUCTION. 


extraordinary  actions  of  bravery.  He  was  at  last  obliged  to  quit  it  only  by 
surprise  and  treachery,  after  having  defended  it  like  a  lion.  Such  of  the  Mes- 
senians  as  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Lacedaemonians  on  this  occasion,  were 
reduced  to  the  condition  of  the  Helots,  or  slaves.  The  rest,  seeing  their  coun- 
try ruined,  went  and  settled  at  Zancle,  a  city  in  Sicily,  which  afterwards  took 
its  name  from  this  people,  and  was  called  Messana  ;  the  same  place  called  al 
this  day  Messina.  Aristomenes,  after  having  conducted  one  of  his  daughters 
to  Rhodes,  whom  he  had  given  in  marriage  to  the  tyrant  of  that  place,  thought 
of  passing  on  to  Sardis,  and  to  remain  with  Ardys,  king  of  the  Lydians,  or  to 
Ecbatana,  with  Phraortes,  king  of  the  Medes ;  but  death  prevented  the  ex* 
ecution  of  all  his  designs. 

The  second  Messenian  war  was  of  fourteen  years'  duration,  and  ended  the 
first  year  of  the  twenty-seventh  Olympiad.* 

There  was  a  third  war  betv/een  these  people  and  the  Lacedaemonians,  which 
began  both  at  the  time,  and  on  the  occasion,  of  a  great  earthquake  that  hap* 
pened  at  Sparta.    We  shall  speak  of  this  war  in  its  place. 

The  history,  of  which  it  remains  for  me  to  treat  in  this  work,  is  that  of  the 
successors  of  Alexander,  and  comprehends  the  space  of  two  hundred  and 
ninety-three  years  ;  from  the  death  of  that  monarch,  and  the  commencement 
of  the  reign  of  Ptolemy,  the  son  of  Lagus,  in  Egypt,  to  the  death  of  Cleopatra, 
when  that  kingdom  became  a  Roman  province,  under  the  emperor  Augustus. 

This  history  will  present  to  our  view  a  series  of  all  the  crimes  which  usually 
arise  from  inordinate  ambition;  scenes  of  jealousy  and  perfidious  conduct, 
treason,  ingratitude,  and  cr}"ing  abuses  of  sovereign  power,  cruelty,  impiety, 
an  utter  oblivion  of  the  natural  sentiments  of  probity  and  honour,  with  the 
violation  of  all  laws  human  and  divine,  will  rise  before  us.  We  shall  behold 
nothing  but  fatal  dissensions,  destructive  wars,  and  dreadful  revolutions.  Men 
originally  friends,  brought  up  together,  and  natives  of  the  same  country,  com- 
panions in  the  same  dangers,  and  instrun.ents  in  the  accomplishment  of  the 
same  exploits  and  victories,  will  conspire  tc  tear  in  pieces  the  empire  they 
had  ail  concurred  to  form  at  the  expense  of  .heir  blood.  We  shall  see  the 
captains  of  Alexander  sacrifice  the  mother,  the  wives,  the  brother,  the  sisters 
of  that  prince,  to  their  ambition ;  and  without  sparing  even  those  to  whum 
they  either  owed  or  gave  life.  We  shall  no  longer  behold  those  glorious 
times  of  Greece,  that  were  once  so  productive  of  great  men,  and  great  exam- 
ples ;  or  if  we  should  happen  to  discover  some  traces  and  remains  of  them, 
they  will  only  resemble  the  gleams  of  lightning  that  shoot  along  in  a  rapid 
track,  and  are  only  remarkabje  from  the  profound  darkness  that  precedes  and 
follows  them. 

I  acknowledge  myself  to  be  sufficiently  sensible  how  much  a  writer  is  to  be 
pitied,  who  is  obliged  to  represent  human  nature  in  such  colours  and  linea- 
ments as  dishonour  her,  and  which  cannot  fail  of  inspiring  disgust  and  a  secret 
affliction  in  the  minds  of  those  who  are  made  spectators  of  such  a  picture. 
History  loses  whatever  is  most  interesting  and  most  capable  of  conveying 
pleasure  and  instruction,  when  she  can  only  produce  those  effects,  by  inspir- 
ing the  mind  with  horror  for  criminal  actions  and  by  a  representation  of  the 
calamities  which  usually  succeed  them,  anda  e  to  be  considered  as  their  just 
punishment.  It  is  difficult  to  engage  the  attention  of  a  reader  for  any  con- 
siderable time,  on  objects  which  only  raise  his  indignation  and  it  would  be 
affronting  him,  to  seem  desirous  of  dissuading  him  from  the  excess  of  inordi- 
nate passions  of  which  he  conceives  himself  incapable. 

How  is  it  possible  to  diffuse  any  interest  through  a  narration,  which  has 
nothing  to  offer  but  a  uniform  series  of  vices  and  great  crimes,  and  which 
makes  it  necessary  to  enter  into  a  particular  detail  of  the  actions  and  charac- 
ters of  men,  born  for  the  calamity  of  the  human  race,  and  whose  very  names 
should  not  be  transmitted  to  posterity  ?  It  may  even  be  thought  dangerous  ^ 


*  A-  M.  3334.   Ant  J  C.  670. 


LNTR0DUCT10:V. 

iamil^anze  the  minds  of  the  generality  of  mankind  to  uninterrupted  scenes  of 
too  successful  inquity ;  and  to  be  particular  in  describing  the  unjust  success 
which  waited  on  those  illustrious  criminals,  the  long  duration  of  whose  pros- 
perity being  frequently  attended  with  the  privileges  and  rewards  of  virtue, 
may  be  thought  an  imputation  on  Providence  by  persons  of  weak  understand- 
ings. 

This  history,  which  seems  likely  to  prove  very  disagreeable  from  the  rea- 
sons I  have  just  mentioned,  will  become  more  so  from^the  obscurity  and  con- 
tusion in  which  the  several  transactions  will  be  involved,  and  which  it  will  be 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  remedy.  Ten  or  twelve  of  Alexander's  captains 
were  engaged  in  a  course  of  hostilities  against  each  other,  for  the  partition  of 
his  empire  after  his  death,  and  to  secure  themselves  some  portion,  greater  or 
less,  of  that  vast  body.  Sometimes  feigned  friends,  sometimes  declared  ene- 
mies, they  are  continually  forming  different  parties  and  leagues,  which  are  to 
subsist  no  longer  than  is  consistent  with  the  interest  of  each  individual.  Mace- 
donia changed  its  masters  five  or  six  times  in  a  very  short  space ;  by  what 
means  then  can  order  and  perspicuity  be  preserved,  in  a  prodigious  variety 
of  events  that  are  perpetually  crossing  and  breaking  in  upon  each  other  ? 

Besides  which,  I  am  no  longer  supported  by  any  ancient  authors  capable 
of  conducting  me  through  this  darkness  and  confusion.  Diodorus  will  entirely 
abandon  me,  after  having  been  my  guide  for  some  time  ;  and  no  other  histo- 
rian will  appear  to  take  his  place.  No  proper  series  of  affairs  will  remain ; 
the  several  events  are  not  to  be  disposed  into  any  regular  connexion  with 
each  other ;  nor  will  it  be  possible  to  point  out,  either  the  motives  to  the  rf^so- 
lutions  formed,  or  the  proper  character  of  the  principal  actors  in  this  scene  of 
obscurity.  I  think  myself  happy  when  Polybius,  or  Plutarch,  lend  me  their  • 
assistance.  In  my  account  of  Alexander's  successors,  whose  transactions  are 
perhaps  the  most  complicated  and  perplexed  part  of  ancient  history.  Usher, 
Prideaux,  and  Vaillant,  will  be  my  usual  guides  ;  and,  on  many  occasions,  I 
shall  only  transcribe  from  Prideaux  ;  but  with  all  these  aids,  I  shall  not  pro- 
mise to  throw  so  much  light  on  this  history  as  I  could  desire. 

After  a  war  of  more  than  twenty  years,  the  number  of  the  principal  competi- 
tors was  reduced  to  four :  Ptolemy,  Cassander,  Seleucus,  and  Lysimachus  : 
the  empire  of  Alexander  was  divided  into  four  fixed  kingdoms,  agreeably  to 
the  prediction  of  Daniel,  by  a  solemn  treaty  concluded  between  the  parties. 
Three  of  these  kingdoms,  Egypt,  Macedonia,  Syria  or  Asia,  will  have  a  regu- 
lar succession  of  monarchs,  sull&ciently  clear  and  distinct ;  but  the  fourth, 
which  comprehended  Thrace,  with  part  of  the  Lesser  Asia,  and  some  neigh- 
bouring provinces,  will  suffer  a  number  of  variations. 

As  the  kingdom  of  Egypt  was  subject  to  the  fewest  changes,  because  Pto- 
lemy,  who  was  established  there  as  a  governor  at  the  death  of  Alexander, 
retained  the  possession  of  it  ever  after,  and  left  it  to  his  posterity  ;  we  shall 
therefore  consider  this  prince  as  the  basis  of  our  chronology,  and  our  several 
epochs  shall  be  fixed  from  him. 

The  third  volitoe  contains  the  events  for  the  space  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years,  under  the  first  four  kings  of  Egypt,  viz.  Ptolemy,  the  son  of 
Lagus,  who  leigned  thirty-eight  years ;  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  who  reigned 
forty  ;  Ptolemy  Euergetes,  who  reigned  twenty-five  ;  and  Ptolemy  Philopator, 
whose  reign  continued  seventeen. 

In  order  to  throw  some  light  upon  the  history  contained  therein,  I  shall, 
in  the  first  place,  give  the  principal  events  of  it  in  a  chronological  abridge- 
ment. 

Introductr  .y  to  which,  I  must  desire  the  reader  to  accompany  me  in  some 
reflections,  ^hich  have  not  escaped  Monsieur  Bossuet,  with  relation  to  Alexan- 
der. This  prince,  who  was  the  most  reno^^^led  and  illustrious  conqueror  in  all 
history,  was  the  last  monarch  of  his  race.  Macedonia,  his  ancient  kingdom, 
which  his  ancestors  had  governed  (ov  so  many  ages,  was  invaded  from  all 
•quarters  as  a  vacant  succession;  nnd  aft»-  it  had  long  been  a  prey  to  the 


9(1 


INTRODUCTION. 


strongest,  it  was  at  last  transferred  to  another  family.  If  Alexander  had  con 
tinued  peaceably  in  Macedonia,  the  grandeur  of  his  empire  would  not  have 
excited  the  ambition  of  his  captains,  and  he  might  have  transmitted  the  scep- 
tre of  his  progenitors  to  his  own  descendants  ;  but,  as  he  had  not  prescribed 
any  bounds  to  his  power,  he  was  instrumental  in  the  destruction  of  his  house ; 
and  we  shall  behold  the  extermination  of  his  family,  w^ithout  the  least  remain- 
ing traces  of  them  in  history.  His  conquests  occasioned  a  vast  effusion  of 
blood,  and  furnished  his  captains  w^ith  a  pretext  for  murdering  one  another. 
These  were  the  effects  that  flowed  from  the  boasted  bravery  of  Alexander',  ot 
rather  from  that  brutality,  which,  under  the  glittering  names  of  ambition  aiy\ 
glory,  spread  and  carried  desolation,  fire  and  sword  through  whole  provinces 
without  the  least  provocation,  and  shed  the  blood  of  multitudes  who  had  neves 
injured  him. 

We  are  not  to  imagine,  however,  that  Providence  abandoned  these  events 
to  chance,  but,  as  it  was  then  preparing  all  things  for  the  approaching  appear^ 
ance  of  the  Messiah,  it  was  vigilant  to  unite  all  the  nations  that  were  to  be  fin^t 
enlightened  with  the  gospel,  by  the  use  of  one  and  the  same  language,  which 
was  that  of  Greece  :  and  the  same  Providence  rendered  it  necessary  for  them 
to  learn  this  foreign  tongue,  by  subjecting  them  to  such  masters  as  spoke  no 
other.  The  Deity,  therefore,  by  the  agency  of  this  language,  which  became 
more  common  and  universal  than  any  other,  facilitated  the  preaching  of  the 
N  apostles,  and  rendered  it  more  uniform. 

The  partition  of  the  empire  of  Alexander  the  Great  among  the  generals  ol 
that  prince,  immediately  after  his  death,  did  not  subsist  for  any  length  of  time, 
and  hardly  took  place,  if  w  e  except  Egypt,  where  Ptolemy  had  first  estab- 
lished himself,  and  on  the  throne  of  w^hich  he  always  maintained  himself,  with- 
out acknowledging  any  superior. 

This  partition  was  not  fully  regulated  and  fixed,  till  after  the  battle  of  Ipsus 
in  Phrygia,*  wherein  Antigones  and  his  son  Demetrius,  surnamed  Poliorcetes, 
were  defeated,  and  the  former  lost  his  life.  The  empire  of  Alexander  was 
then  divided  into  four  kingdoms  by  a  solemn  treaty,  as  had  been  foretold  by 
Daniel.  Ptolemy  had  Egypt,  Libya,  Arabia,  Ccslosyria,  and  Palestine.  Cas- 
Sander,  the  son  of  Antipater,  obtained  Macedonia  and  Greece.  Lysimachus 
acquired  Thrace,  Bithynia,  and  some  other  provinces  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Hellespont  and  the  Bosphorus  ;  and  Seleucus  had  Syria  and  all  that  part  of 
Asia  Major  which  extended  to  the  other  side  of  the  Euphrates,. and  as  far  as 
the  river  Indus. 

Of  these  four  kingdoms,  those  of  Egypt  and  Syria  subsisted  almost  with- 
out any  interruption,  in  the  same  families,  and  through  a  long  succession  of 
princes.  The  kingdom  of  Macedonia  had  several  masters  of  different  fami- 
lies successively.  That  of  Thrace  w^as  at  last  divided  into  several  branches, 
and  no  longer  constituted  one  entire  body,  by  which  means  all  traces  of  regu- 
lar succession  ceased  to  subsist. 

I.  THE  KINGDOM  OF  EGYPT.  # 

The  kingdom  of  Egypt  had  fourteen  monarchs,  including  Cleopatra,  after 
whose  death  those  dominions  became  a  province  of  the  Roman  empire.  Aii 
these  princes  had  the  common  name  of  Ptolemy,  but  each  of  them  was  like- 
wise distinguished  by  a  surname.  They  had  also  the  appellation  of  Lagides, 
from  Lagus,  the  father  of  that  Ptolemy  who  reigned  the  first  in  Egypt.  The 
histories  of  six  of  these  kings  w^ill  be  found  in  the  third  and  fourth  volume  of 
this  work,  and  I  shall  give  their  names  a  place  here,  with  the  duration  of 
their  reigns,  the  first  of  which  commenced  immediately  upon  the  death  of 
.Alexander  the  Great. 

Ptolemy  Soter.    He  reigned  thirty-:^ight  years  and  some  months.! 


•  'A.  M.  3704     Ant  J.  C  200.  f  A.  M.  3^80.    Am  J.  C  324. 


l!fTRODUCTIOJI. 


91 


Ptolemy  Philadelphus.   He  reigned  forty  years,  including  the  two  jetn  of 

his  reign  in  the  lifetime  of  his  fatlier.* 
Ptolemy  Euergetes,  twenty-five  years.t 
Ptolemy  Philopator,  seventeen.J 
Ptolemy  Epiphanes,  tvventy-four.§ 
Ptolemy  Philometer,  thirty-four.  11 

II.  THE  KINGDOM  OF  SYRIA. 

The  kingdom  of  Syria  had  twenty-seven  kings ;  which  makes  it  evident, 
their  reigns  were  often  very  short ;  and,  indeed,  several  of  these  princefl 
ivaded  to  the  throne  through  the  blood  of  their  predecessors. 

They  are  usually  called  Seleu^^ides,  from  Seleucus,  who  reigned  the  first 
in  Syria.  History  reckons  up  su  kings  of  this  name,  and  thirteen  who  are 
called  by  that  of  Antiochus ;  but  they  are  all  distinguished  by  different  sur- 
names. Others  of  them  assumed  different  names,  and  the  last  was  called  An- 
tiochus XIII.  with  the  surnames  of  Epiphanes,  Asiaticus,  and  Commagenus. 
In  his  reign,  Pompey  reduced  Syria  into  a  Roman  province,  after  it  had  been 
governed  by  kings  for  the  space  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  according  lo 
Eusebius. 

The  kings  of  Syria,  the  transactions  of  whose  reigns  are  contained  in  the 
'bird  and  fourth  volumes,  are  eight  in  number. 
Seleucus  Nicator.    He  reigned  twenty  years.  1[r 
Antiochus  Soter,  nineteen.** 
Antiochus  Theos,  fifteen.jt 
Seleucus  Callimcus,  twenty .JJ 
Seleucus  Ceraunus,  three. §§ 
Antiochus  the  Great,  thirty-six. HH 
Seleucus  Philopator,  twelve. 

Antiochus  Epiphanes,  brother  of  Seleucus  Philopator,  eleven.*! 

III.   THE  KINGDOM  OF  MACEDONIA. 

Macedonia  frequently  changed  its  masters,  after  the  solemn  partition  had 
been  made  between  the  foiT  princes.^J  Cassander  died  three  or  four  year? 
ifter  that  partition,  and  left  three  sons.  Philip,  the  eldest,  died  shortly  after 
his  father.  The  other  two  contended  for  the  crown  without  enjoying  it,  both 
dying  soon  after  without  issue. 

Demetrius  Poliorcetes,  Pyrrhus,  and  Lysimachus,  made  themselves  mas 
ters  of  all,  or  the  greatest  part  of  Macedonia  ;  sometimes  in  conjunction,  and 
at  other  times  separately .*§ 

After  the  death  of  Lysimachus,  Seleucus  possessed  himself  of  Macedonia, 
but  did  not  long  enjoy  it.*il 

Ptolemy  Ceraunus,  having  slain  the  preceding  prince,  seized  the  kingdom 
and  possessed  it  alone  but  a  very  short  time,  having  lost  his  life  in  a  battle 
with  the  Gauls,  who  nad  made  an  irruption  into  that  country.*^ 

Sosthenes,  who  defeated  the  Gauls,  reigned  but  a  short  time  in  Macedonia. tj 

Antigonus  Gonatus,  the  son  of  Demetrius  Poliorcetes,  obtained  the  peace- 
able possession  of  the  kingdom  of  MacedoDia,  and  transmitted  those  dominions 
to  his  descendants,  after  he  had  reigned  thirty-four  years. t§ 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Demetrius, III  who  reigned  ten  years,  and  then 
iied,  leaving  a  son  named  Philip,  who  was  but  two  years  old. 

Antigonus  Doson  reigned  tv/elve  years  in  the  quality  of  guardian  to  the 
roung  prince.!  1i 

Philip,  after  the  death  of  Antigonus,  ascended  the  throne,  at  the  age  of  four- 
ten  years,  and  reigned  something  more  than  forty.j:§ 


•  A.  M.  3718.        i  3758.       %  3783.       J  3800.       fj  38M.       TT  3704.       **  3724.       ft  S743. 
tX  3758.  3778.     jUi  3781.    IT^T  ?-fil7.     -n  38-2Q.      *+  37r,7.  3710.  37^ 

3724       f[  3726,         3728.      fU  3'!'62.     Hf  3772.      U  3784. 


99  INTRODUCTION. 

His  son  Perseus  succeeded  him,  and  reigned  about  eleven  years.*  He 
was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  by  Paulus  Emilius ;  and  Macedonia,  in  con- 
sequence of  that  victory,  was  added^to  the  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire. 

IV.  THE  KINGDOM  OF  THRACE  AND  BITHYNIA,  &C. 

This  fourth  kingdom,  composed  of  several  separate  provinces,  very  remote 
from  one  another,  had  not  any  succession  of  princes,  and  did  not  long  subsist 
in  its  first  condition  ;  Lysimachus,  w^ho  first  obtained  it,  having  been  killed  in 
a  battle,  after  a  reign  of  twenty  years,  and  all  his  family  bemg  exterminated 
by  assassinations,  his  dominions  were  dismembered,  and  no  longer  constituted 
one  kingdom. 

Besides  the  provinces  which  were  divided  among  the  captains  of  Alex  ander. 
there  were  others  which  had  been  either  formed  before,  or  were  then  trecteq 
into  different  and  independent  Grecian  states,  whose  power  greatly  increased 
in  process  of  time. 

KINGS  OF  BITHYNIA. 

While  Alexander  was  extending  his  conquests  in  the  East,  Zypethes  had 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  kingdom  of  Bithynia.t    It  is  not  certain  who  this 
Zypethes  was,  unless  we  may  conjecture  with  Pausanias,  that  he  was  a  Thra 
cian.J    His  successors,  however,  are  better  know^n. 

Nicomedes  I.§  This  prince  invited  the  Gauls  to  assist  him  against  his 
brother,  with  whom  he  was  engaged  in  a  war. 

Prusias  I. 

Prusias  II.  surnamed  the  Hunter,  in  whose  court  Hannibal  took  refuge,  and 
assisted  him  with  his  counsels  in  his  war  against  Eumenes  II.  king  of  Per- 
gamus.ll 

Nicomedes  II.  was  killed  by  his  son  Socrates. 

Nicomedes  III.  was  assisted  by  the  Romans  in  his  wars  with  Mithridates, 
and  bequeathed  to  them  at  his  death  the  kingdom  of  Bithynia,  as  a  testimo- 
nial of  his  gratitude  to  them  ;  by  which  means  these  territories  became  a 
Roman  province. 

KINGS  OF  PERGAMUS. 

This  kingdom  at  first  comprehended  only  one  of  the  smallest  provinces  of 
Mysia,  on  the  coast  of  the  iEgian  sea,  over  against  the  island  of  Lesbos. 

It  was  founded  by  Philatera,1[  a  eunuch,  who  had  been  a  servant  to  Doci 
mus,  a  commander  of  the  troops  of  Antigonus.  Lysimachus  confided  to  him 
the  treasures  he  had  deposited  in  the  castle  of  the  city  of  Pergamus,  and  he 
became  master  both  of  these  and  the  city  after  the  death  cf  that  prince.  He 
governed  this  little  sovereignty  for  the  space  of  twenty  years,  and  then  left 
it  to  Eumenes  his  nephew. 

Eumenes  L  enlarged  his  principality,  by  the  addition  of  several  cities, 
which  he  took  from  the  kings  of  Syria,  having  defeated  Antiochus,  the  son  of 
^  Seleucus,  in  a  battle.**    He  reigned  twelve  years. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Attains  1.  his  cousin-german,  who  assumed  the  title 
t>f  king,  after  he  had  conquered  the  Galatians  ;tt  and  transmitted  it  to  his  pos- 
terity, who  enjoyed  it  to  the  third  generation.  He  assisted  the  Romans  in 
their  war  with  rhilip,  and  died  after  a  reign  of  forty-three  years.  He  left 
four  son.«. 

His  successor  was  Eumenes  U-H  his  eldest  son,  w^lio  founded  the  famous 
library  of  Pergamus.  He  reigned  thirty-nine  years,  and  left  the  crown  to  his 
brother  Attalus,  in  the  quality  of  guard ipn  to  one  of  his  sons,  whom  he  had 
by  Stratonice,  the  sister  of  Ariarathes,  king  of  Cappadocia.    The  Romans 


*  A.  M.  3824.  t  A.  M.  3r.?i.  \  Piinsan.  1  y.  p.  3t0.  {  yi.  M.  371(1        ||  A.  M.  3820 

VA.  M.  3721     Ant.  1  C  '2'ki        **  A.  M.  Ant.  J.  C. '>'33.      .'t  A   I\r  37(13.    AnLJ.  C.a4l 

tt  A.  M.  3807.    Ant.  J.  C.  197 


INTRODUCTION. 

enlar^d  his  domkiions  considerably,  after  the  victoiy  he  obtained  over  Anii 
ochus  the  Great. 

Attalus  II.*  espoused  Stratonice  his  brother's  widow,  and  took  extraordi 
nary  care  of  his  nephew,  to  whom  he  left  the  crown  after  he  had  worn  it 
twenty -one  years. 

Attalus  Ill.t  ?urnamed  Philometer,  distinguished  himself  by  his  barbarous 
and  extravagant  conduct.  He  died  after  he  had  reigned  five  years,  and  be- 
queathed his  riches  and  dominions  to  the  Romans. 

AristonicuSjJ  who  claimed  the  succession,  endeavoured  to  defend  his  pre 
tensions  against  the  Romans  ;  but  the  kingdom  of  Pergamus  was  reduced,  af 
ter  a  war  of  four  years,  into  a  Roman  province. 

KINGS  OF  PONTUS. 

The  kingdom  of  Pontus  in  Asia  Minor  was  anciently  dismembered  from 
the  monarchy  of  Persia,  by  Darius  the  son  of  Hystaspes,  in  favour  of  Arta* 
bazus,  who  is  said,  by  some  historians,  to  have  been  the  son  of  one  of  thos€ 
Persian  lords  who  conspired  against  the  magi.§ 

Pontus  is  a  region  of  Asia  Minor,  and  is  situated  partly  along  the  coast  of 
the  Euxine  sea  {Pontus  Euxinus,)  from  which  it  derives  its  name.  It  extends 
from  the  river  Halys,  as  far  as  Colchis.  Several  princes  reigned  in  that 
country  since  Artabazus. 

The  sixth  monarch  was  Mithridates  I.|l  who  is  properly  considered  as  the 
founder  of  the  kingdom  of  Pontus,  and  his  name  was  assumed  by  the  gene- 
rality of  his  successors. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Ariobarzanes,1F  who  had  governed  Phiygia 
under  Art.axerxes  Mnemon,  who  reigned  twenty-six  years. 

His  successor  was  Mithridates  II.**  Antigones  suspecting,  in  consequence 
of  a  dream,  that  he  favoured  Cassander,  had  determined  to  destroy  him,  but  * 
he  eluded  the  danger  by  flight.    This  prince  was  called  Knaihst  or  The  Foun- 
der^ and  reigned  thirty-five  years. 

Mithridates  III.  succeeded  him,  added  Cappadocia  and Paphlagonia  to  his 
dominions,  and  reigned  thirty-six  years. tt 

After  the  reigns  of  two  other  kings,  Mithridates,  the  great  grandfather  of 
Mithridates  the  Great,  ascended  the  throne,  and  espoused  the  daughter  cf 
Beleucus  Callinicus,  the  king  of  Syria,  by  whom  he  had  Laodice,  who  was 
Tiarried  to  Antiochus  the  Great. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Pharnaces who  had  some  disagreement 
jvith  the  kings  of  Pergamus.  He  made  himself  master  of  Sinope,  which  af- 
ierwards  became  the  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  Pontus. 

After  him  reigned  Mithridates  V.  surnamed  Euergetes,  the  first  who  was 
called  the  friend  of  the  Romans,  because  he  had  assisted  them  against  the 
Carthaginians  in  the  third  Punic  war 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Mithridates  VI.  surnamed  Eupator.§§  This 
is  the  great  Mithridates,  who  sustained  so  long  a  war  with  the  Romans,  and 
reigned  sixty-six  years. 

KINGS  OF  CAPPADOCIA. 

Strabo  informs  us,  that  Cappadocia  was  divided  into  two  satrapies,  i)r  go- 
vernments, under  the  Persians,  as  it  also  was  under  the  Macedonians.  The 
maritime  part  of  Cappadocia  formed  the  kingdom  of  Pontus;  the  other  tracts 
constituted  Cappadocia,  properly  so  called,  or  the  Cappadocia  Major,  which 
extends  along  Mount  Taurus,  and  to  a  great  distance  beyond  it.|ii| 

When  Alexander's  captains  divided  the  provinces  of  his  empire  among 
tliemselves,  Cappadocia  was  governed  by  a  prince  named  Ariarathes.lFIT  Per 
diccas  attacked  and  defeated  him,  after  which  he  caused  him  to  be  slain. 


*  A.  M.  3845.  Ant.  J.  C,  159.  f  A.  M.  3866.    Ant.  J.  C.  133.  t  A.  M.  3871.  Ant  J.  C.  133 

j  A.  M.  3490.  Ant.  J.  C.  514.  ||  A.  M.  3600.    Ant.  J.  C.  404.  IT  A.  M.  3641.  Ant  J.  C.  363 

♦*  A.  M.  3667.  Ant  J.  C.  337.  ff  A.  M.  3702.    Ant  J.  C.  302.  +j  A.  M.  3819.  Ant  J.  C.  i:»5 

H  A.  M.  3860  Ant  J.  C.  124.  ||U  Stxab.  1.  xii.  p.  534.  tTT  A.  M.  3682.  Ant.  J  C.  329 


94 


INTRODUCTION. 


His  sen  Ariarathes  re-entered  the  kingdom  of  his  father,  sometime  aftei  tiu  i 
event,  and  established  himself  so  effectually,  that  he  left  it  to  his  posterity. 

The  generality  of  his  successors  assumed  the  same  name,  and  will  ha  v.  i 
their  place  in  the  series  of  this  history. 

Cappadocia,  after  the  death  of  Archelaus,  the  last  of  its  kings,  became  ,1 
province  of  the  Roman  empire,  as  the  rest  of  Asia  also  did,  much  about  thn 
same  time. 

KINGS  OF  ARMENIA. 

AfiMENiA,  a  vast  country  of  Asia,  extending  on  each  side  of  the  Euphrates , 
was  conquered  by  the  Persians  ;  after  which  it  was  transferred,  with  the  res  i 
of  the  empire,  to  the  Macedonians,  and  at  last  fell  to  the  share  of  the  Ro 
mans.    It  was  governed  for  a  great  length  of  time  by  its  own  kings,  the  moa 
considerable  of  whom  was  Tigranes,  who  espoused  the  daughter  of  ihe  greai 
Mithridates  king  of  Pontus,  and  was  also  engaged  in  a  long  war  with  the  Ro 
mans.    The  kingdom  supported  itself  many  years,  between  the  Roman  and 
Parthian  empires,  sometimes  depending  on  the  one,  and  sometimes  on  the 
other,  till  at  last  the  Romans  became  its  masters. 

KINGS  OF  EPIRUS. 

Epirus  is  a  province  of  Greece,  separated  from  Thessaly  and  Macedonia 
by  mount  Pindus.    The  most  powerful  people  of  this  country  were  the  Mo 
lossians. 

The  kings  of  Epirus  pretended  to  derive  their  descent  from  Pyrrhus  the  soi 
of  xA.chilles,  who  established  himself  in  that  country,  and  called  then:?elvei 
iEaciJes,  from  iEacus  the  grandfather  of  Achilles. 

The  genealogy  of  the  latter  kings,  who  were  the  only  sovereigns  of  this 
*  country  of  whom  any  accounts  remain,  is  variously  related  by  authors,  and 
consequently  must  be  doubtful  and  obscure.* 

Arymbas  ascended  the  throne,  after  a  long  succession  of  kings  ;  and  as  he 
was  then  very  young,  the  states  of  Epirus,  who  were  sensible  that  the  welfare 
of  the  people  depended  on  the  proper  education  of  their  princes,  sent  him  to 
Athens,  which  was  the  residence  and  centre  of  all  the  arts  and  sciences,  in 
order  to  cultivate,  in  that  excellent  school,  such  knowledge  as  was  necessary 
to  form  the  mind  of  a  king.  He  there  learned  the  art  of  reigning,  and  as  he 
surpassed  all  his  ancestors  in  ability  and  knowledge,  he  was  in  consequence 
infinitely  more  esteemed  and  beloved  by  his  people  than  they  had  been."* 
When  he  returned  from  Athens,  he  made  laws,  established  a  senate  and  a  ma- 
gistracy, and  regulated  the  form  of  the  government. 

Neoptolemus,  whose  daughter  Olympias  had  espoused  Philip  king  of  Ma- 
cedon,  attained  an  equal  share  m  the  regal  government  with  AiTinbas,  his  elder 
brother,  by  the  credit  of  his  son-in-law.  After  the  death  of  Arymbas,  ^Eaci- 
des,  his  son,  ought  to  have  been  his  successor ;  but  Philip  had  still  sufficient 
influence  to  procure  his  expulsion  from  the  kingdom  by  the  Molossians,  who 
established  Alexander  the  son  of  Neoptolemus  sole  monarch  of  Epirus. 

Alexander  espoused  Cleopatra  the  daughter  of  Philip,  and  marched  with  aa 
amiy  into  Italy,  where  he  lost  his  life  in  the  country  of  the  Brutians. 

iEacides  then  ascended  the  throne,  and  reigned  without  any  associate  in 
Epirus.  He  espoused  Phthia,  the  daughter  of  Menon  the  Thessalian,  by 
whom  he  had  two  daughters,  Deidamia,  andTroias,  and  one  son,  the  celebra- 
ted Pyrrhus. 

As  he  was  marching  to  the  assistance  of  Olympias,  his  troops  mutinied 
against  him,  condemned  him  to  exile,  and  slaughtered  most  of  his  friends. 
Pyrrhus,  who  was  then  an  infant,  happily  escaped  this  massacre. 

Neoptolemus,  a  prince  of  the  blood,  but  whose  particular  extraction  is  lit- 
tle known,  was  placed  on  the  throne  by  the  people  of  Epirus. 


♦  Diod.  1.  xvi.  p.  465.    Justin.  1.  viii.  c.  6.    Plut.  in  Pjjrrrho. 
T  Q-w.vnto  doctior  majoribuii  Unto  et  ffratior  popolo  fuit. — JusUn.  1.  xril.  «.  9u 


INTRODUCTIOK. 


95 


Pyrrhus,  bein^  recalled  by  his  subjects  at  the  age  cf  twclre  yeaw.  first 

iharedthe  sovereignty  with  Neoptolemus,  but  having  afterwards  diiestea  him 
of  his  dignity,  he  reigned  alone. 

This  history  will  treat  of  the  various  adventures  of  this  prince.  He  died  in 
the  city  of  Argos,  in  an  attempt  to  make  himself  master  of  it.* 

Helenus  his  son  reigned  after  him  for  some  time  in  Epirus,  which  was  after- 
wards united  to  the  Roman  empire. 

TYRANTS  OF  HERACLEA. 

Heraclea  is  a  city  of  Pontus,  anciently  founded  by  the  Boeotians,  who  sent 
a  colony  into  that  country  by 'the  order  of  an  oracle. 

When  the  Athenians,  having  conquered  the  Persians,  had  imposed  a  tri- 
bute on  the  cities  of  Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  for  the  fitting  out  and  support 
of  a  fleet,  intended  for  the  defence  of  the  common  liberty,  the  inhabitants  of 
Heraclea,  in  consequence  of  their  attachment  to  the  Persians,  were  the  only 
people  who  refused  to  acquiesce  in  so  just  a  contribution.!  Lamachus  was 
therefore  sent  against  them,  and  he  ravaged  their  territories  ;  but  a  violent 
tempest  having  destroj^ed  his  whole  fleet,  he  beheld  himself  abandoned  to  the 
mercy  of  that  people,  whose  natural  ferocity  might  well  have  been  increased 
by  the  severe  treatment  they  had  lately  received.  But  they  had  recourse  to 
no  other  vengeance  but  benefactions ;  they  furnished  him  with  troops  and 
revisions  for  his  return,  and  were  willing  to  consider  the  depredations  which 
ad  been  committed  in  their  country  as  advantageous  to  them,  if  they  acqui- 
red the  friendship  of  the  Athenians  at  that  price. J 

Some  time  after  this  event,§  the  populace  of  Heraclea  excited  a  violent 
commotion  against  the  rich  citizens  and  senators,  who  having  implored  assist' 
ance  to  no  effect,  first  from  Timotheus  the  Athenian,  and  afterwards  from 
Epaminondas,  the  Theban,  were  necessitated  to  recal  Clearchus,  a  senator, 
to  their  defence,  whom  themselves  had  banished ;  but  his  exile  had  neither 
improved  his  morals,  nor  rendered  him  a  better  citizen  than  he  was  before.  ^ 
He  therefore  made  the  troubles  in  which  he  found  the  city  involved,  subser- 
vient to  his  design  of  subjecting  it  to  his  own  power.  With  this  view  he 
openly  declared  for  the  people,  caused  himself  to  be  invested  with  the  highest 
office  in  the  magistracy,  and  assumed  a  sovereign  authority  in  a  short  time. 
Being  thus  become  a  professed  tyrant,  there  were  no  kinds  of  violence  to 
vvhich  he  had  not  recourse  against  the  rich  and  the  senators,  to  satiate  his  ava- 
rice and  cruelty.  He  proposed  for  his  model  Dionysius  the  Tyrant,  who  had 
established  his  power  over  the  Syracusans  at  the  same  time. 

After  a  hard  and  inhuman  servitude  of  twelve  years,  two  young  citizens, 
who  were  Plato's  disciples,  and  had  been  instructed  in  his  maxims,  formed  a 
conspiracy  against  Clearchus,  and  slew  him  ;  but  though  they  delivered  their 
country  from  the  tyrant,  the  tyranny  still  subsisted. 

Timotheus,  the  son  of  Clearchus,  assumed  his  place,  and  pursued  the  same 
conduct  for  the  space  of  fifteen  years. I| 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Dionysius,^  who  was  in  danger  of  bejng 
dispossessed  of  his  authority  by  Perdiccas  ;  but  as  this  last  was  soon  de- 
stroyed, Dionysius  contracted  a  friendship  with  Antigonus,  whom  he  assisted 
against  Ptolemy  in  the  Cyprian  war. 

He  espoused  Amastris,  the  widow  of  Craterus,  and  daughter  of  Oxiathres, 
the  brother  of  Darius.  This  alliance  inspired  him  with  so  much  courage,  that 
he  assumed  the  title  of  king,  and  enlarged  his  dominions  by  the  addition  of 
several  places  which  he  seized  on  the  confines  of  Heraclea. 


♦  A.  M.  3733.    Ant.  J.  C.  271.    f  Justin.  1.  xvi.  c.  3—5.    Diod.  1.  xv.  p.  390. 
I  Heraclienses  honestiorem  beneficii,  qiiam  ultionis  occasionem  rati,  instructos  comnieatibus  auxiliiiquc 
^mittunt :  bene  agrorum  suorum  populationem  impensam  existiriantcs,  si,  quos  hostcs  habuerant,  a«ico< 
•vMidiMent. — J  ustin. 

j  A.  M.  Ant.  J.  C.  364.  |!  A.  M.  3«62.    Ant.  J.  C.  353.    DM.  1.  ir.  p. 

H  A.  M.  36G7.    Aot.  J.  C  337    Diod.  1.  x>i  p.  478. 


Hg  INTRODUCTION 

He  died  two  or  three  years  before  the  battle  of  Ipsus,  aiter  a  reign  of  thli 
♦y-three  years,  leaving  two  sons  and  a  daughter  under  the  tutelage  and  re 
jfjency^  of  Amastris.* 

This  princess  was  rendered  happy  in  her  administr-^tion  by  the  affecti<^ 
\ntigonus  entertained  for  her.  She  founded  a  city,  and  called  it  by  her 
lame  ;  after  which  she  transplanted  *hL*.V/^r  *he  inhabitants  of  hree  othet 
:ities,  and  espoused  Lysimachus,  alter  the  death  oi  A,±:^tTi£'^  \ 

KINGS  OF  SYRACUSE. 

HiEROjj;  and  his  son  Hieronymus,  reigned  at  Syracuse  ;  the  first  fifty-four 
fears,  the  second  but  one  year. 

Syracuse  recovered  its  liberty  by  the  death  of  the  last,  but  continued  in  the 
interest  of  the  Carthaginians,  which  Hieronymus  had  caused  it  to  espouse. § 
His  conduct  obliged  Marcellus  to  form  the  siege  of  that  city,  which  he  took 
the  following  year.ll  I  shall  enlarge  upon  the  history  of  these  two  kings  in 
another  place. 

OTHER  KINGS. 

Several  kings  likewise  reigned  in  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus,  as  also  in 
Thrace,  Cyrene  in  Africa,  Paphlagonia,  Colchis,  Iberia,  Albania,  and  a  vari- 
ety of  other  places  ;  but  their  history  is  veiy  uncertain,  and  their  successions 
have  but  little  regularity. 

These  circumstances  are  very  different  with  respect  to  the  kingdom  of  the 
Parthians,  who  formed  themselves,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel,  into  such  » 
powerful  monarchy,  as  became  formidable  even  to  the  Roman  empire.  That 
of  the  Bactrians  also  took  its  rise  about  the  same  period  ;  I  shall  treat  of 
»ach  in  their  proper  places. 


CATALOGUE 

OF  THE 

EDITIONS  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  GREEK  AUTHORS  CITED  IN  THIS  WORK. 

Herodotus. — Francof.  An.  1608. 

THucYDiDES.--Apud  HenHcum  Stephanum,  An.  1588. 

Xenophon. — Lutetise  Parisiorum,  apud  Societatem  Grajcarum  Editionum, 

An.  1625. 
PoLYBius. — Parisiis,  An.  1609. 

Diodorus  Siculus. — Hanoviae,  Typis  Wechelianis,  An.  1604. 
Plutarchus. — Lutetiae  Parisiorum,  apud  Societatem  Graecarum  Editionum, 
An.  1624. 

Strabo. — Lutetise  Parisiorum,  Typis  Regiis,  An.  1620. 
ATHENiEus. — Lugduni.  An.  1612. 
Pausanias. — Hanoviae,  Typis  Wechelianis,  An.  1613. 
Appianus  Alexander. — Apud  Henric.  Stephan.  An.  1592. 
Plato. — Ex  nova  Joannis  Serrani  interpretatione.    Apud  Henricum  Stephih 
num.  An.  1678. 

Aristoteles. — Lutetiae  Parisiorum,  apud  Societatem  Graecarum  Editionum, 
An.  1619. 

Isocrates. — Apud  Paulum  Stephanun\  An.  1604. 
Diogenes  Laertius. — Apud  Henricum  Stephanum,  An.  1594. 
Demosthenes. — Francof.  An.  1604. 
Arrianus,— Ludgd.  Batav.  An.  1704. 


•  A.M.  5700.    Ant.  J.  C.  304.      t  D^od.  1  xx.  p.  833.      %  A.  M.  3735.    Ant.  J.  C.  9fiil 
jA.  M.  8789     Ant.J.  C.  215.       jj  A  M.  3791.    Ant  J  C.  213. 


BOOK  FIRST. 


THE 

ANCIENT  HISTORY 

OF  THE 

ECIYPTIB.MS. 


PLAN. 

1  •ball  divide  wht  .  I  have  to  say  upon  the  Egyptians  into  three  parts.  The  first  contains  f.  ^oncl!5c  desrrip 
lion  of  the  differ  mt  parts  of  Egypt,  and  oi  what  is  most  remarkable  in  it ;  in  the  second,  I  treat  ot'  th» 
customs,  laws,  a^d  religion  of  the  Egyptians  ;  and  in  the  third,  I  give  the  history  of  tlieir  kiiijs 


PART  FIRST. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  EGYPT  ;   WITH  AN  ACCOUNT  OF  WHATEVER  IS  MOST  Cimi- 

OUS  AND  REMARKABLE  IN  THAT  COUNTRY. 

Egypt  comprehended  anciently,  within  limits  of  no  very  great  extent,  a  pro- 
digious number  of  cities,  and  an  incredible  number  of  inhabitants.* 

It  is  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  on  the 
«outh  by  Ethiopia,  on  the  west  by  Libya,  and  on  the  north  by  the  Mediterra- 
nean. The  Nile  runs  from  south  to  north,  through  the  whole  countr}%  about 
two  hundred  leagues  in  length.  This  country  is  enclosed  on  each  side  with  a 
ridge  of  mountains,  which  very  often  leave,  between  the  foot  of  the  hills  and 
tiie  river  Nile,  a  tract  of  ground  of  not  above  half  a  day's  journey  in  length,1 
md  sometimes  less. 

On  the  west  side,  the  plain  grows  wider  in  some  places,  and  extends  to 
twenty-five  or  thirty  leagues.    The  greatest  breadth  of  Egypt  is  from  Alexan 
dria  to  Damietta,  being  about  fifty  leagues. 

Ancient  Egypt  may  be  divided  into  three  principal  parts  ;  Upper  Egj^pt, 
othf^rwise  called  Thebais,  which  was  the  most  southern  part ;  Middle  Egypt, 
or  Heptanomis,  so  called  from  the  seven  Nomi  or  districts  it  contained  ;  Lower 
Egypt,  which  included  what  the  Greeks  call  Delta,  and  all  the  country  as  far 
as  the  Red  Sea,  and  along  the  Mediterranean  to  Rhinocolura,  or  Mount  Casius. 
Under  Sesostris,  all  Egypt  became  one  kingdom,  and  was  divided  into  thirty- 
six  governments  or  Nomi ;  ten  in  Thebais,  ten  in  Delta.,  and  sixteen  in  the 
country  between  both.J 

The  cities  of  Syene  and  Elephantina  divided  Egypt  from  Ethiopia,  and,  ia 
the  days  of  Augustus,  were  the  boundaries  of  the  Roman  empire ;  daukn 
olim  nomanii'nweru^  Tacit.  Annal.  lib.  ii.  cap.  61. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THEBAIS. 

rHEBEu,  from  whence  Thebais  had  its  name,  miffht  vie  with  tlie  noblest  ci- 
ries  in  the  universe.    Its  hundred  gates,  celebrated  by  Homer,  are  universally 


•  It  it  relatrd,  that  under  Amaiis,  there  were  twenty  thousand  inhabited  cities  in  Egypt. — Herod.  1.  ii 
•       t  A  day's  journey  is  Q4  eastern,  or  33  I^njlish  nules  and  a  quarter.  J  8trab.  1.  xrli.  p-  19^. 

Vol.  f.  5 

I    ■  •  * 


99 


DEHCIIIFTIOW 


known,*  and  acquired  it  the  surname  of  Hecatonpylos,  to  distinguish  it  from 
the  other  Thebes  in  BcKotia.  Its  population  was  proportionate  to  its  extent  ;t 
and,  according  to  history,  it  could  send  out  at  once  two  hundred  chariots,  and 
ten  thousand  fighting  ii;en,  at  each  of  its  gates.  The  Greeks  and  Roman* 
have  celebrated  its  magnincence  and  grandeur,  though  they  saw  it  only  in  its 
ruins  ;  so  august  were  the  remains  of  this  city.J 

In  the  Thebaid,  now  called  Said,  have  been  discovered  temples  and  palaces, 
which  are  still  almost  entire,  adorned  with  innumerable  columns  and  statues.6 
One  palace  especially  is  admired,  the  remains  of  which  seem  to  have  existed 
purely  to  eclipse  the  glory  of  the  most  pompous  edifices.  Four  walks,  ex- 
tend mg  farther  than  the  eye  can  see,  and  bounded  on  each  side  with  sphinxes, 
composed  of  materials  as  rare  and  extraordinary  as  their  size  is  remarkable, 
serve  as  avenues  to  four  porticoes,  whose  height  is  amazing  to  behold.  And 
even  they  who  have  given  us  the  description  of  this  wonderful  edifice,  had  not 
time  to  go  round  it,  and  are  not  sure  that  they  saw  above  half ;  however,  what 
they  had  a  sight  of  was  astonishing.  A  hall,  which  to  all  appearance  stood  in 
the  middle  of  this  stately  palace,  was  supported  by  a  hundred  and  twenty 
pillars,  six  fathoms  round,  of  a  proportionable  height,  and  intermixed  with 
obelisks,  which  so  many  ages  have  not  been  able  to  demolish.  Painting  had 
displayed  all  her  art  and  magnificence  in  this  edifice.  The  colours  them- 
selves, which  soonest  feel  the  injury  of  time,  still  remain  amid  the  ruins  of  this 
♦Tonderful  structure,  and  preserve  their  beauty  and  lustre  ;  so  happily  could 
the  Egyptians  imprint  a  character  of  immortality  on  all  their  works.  Strabo, 
who  was  on  the  spot,  describes  a  temple  he  saw  in  Egypt,  very  much  resem- 
bling that  of  which  1  have  been  speaking.il 

The  same  author,1I  describing  the  curiosities  of  Thebais,  speaks  of  a  veiy 
famous  statue  of  Memnon,  the  remains  of  which  he  had  seen.  It  is  said  that 
this  statue,  when  the  beams  of  the  rising  sun  first  shone  upon  it  in  the  morn- 
ing, uttered  an  articulate  sound.**  And  indeed  Strabo  himself  was  an  ear-wit- 
ness of  this  ;  but  then  he  doubts  whether  the  sound  came  from  the  statue. 


CHAPTER  II 
MIDDIiS  EGYPT^  OR  KSPTANOIMEZS. 

Memphis  was  the  capital  of  this  part  of  Egypt.    In  this  city  were  to  be  seci. 
many  stately  temples,  especially  that  of  the  god  Apis,  who  was  honoured  here 
in  a  particular  manner.    I  shall  speak  of  it  hereafter,  as  well  as  of  the  pyra- 
mids, which  stood  in  the  neighbourhood  of  this  place,  and  rendered  it  so  famous 
Memphis  was  situated  on  the  west  side  of  the  Nile. 

Grand  Cairo,  which  seems  to  have  succeeded  Memphis,  was  built  on  the 
other  side  of  thatriver.jt  The  castle  of  Cairo  is  one  of  the  greatest  curiosities 
H)  Egypt.  It  stands  on  a  hill,  without  the  city  has  a  rock  for  its  foundation, 
and  is  surrounded  with  walls  of  a  vast  height  and  solidity.  You  go  up  to  the 
castle  by  a  way  hewn  out  of  the  rock,  and  which  is  so  easy  of  ascent,  that 
loaded  horses  and  camels  get  up  without  difficulty.  The  greatest  rarity  in  this 
castle  is  Joseph's  well,  so  called,  either  because  the  Egyptians  are  pleased 
with  ascribing  what  is  most  remarkable  among  them  to  that  great  man,  or  be- 
cause there  is  realiy  such  a  tradition  in  the  country.  This  is  a  proof  at  least, 
that  the  work  in  question  is  very  ancienf ;  and  it  is  certainly  worthy  the  mag- 
nificence of  the  most  powerful  kings  of  Egypt.  This  well  has,  afs  it  were,  two 
stories,  cut  out  of  the  solid  rock  to  a  prodigious  depth.   The  descent  to  th« 


♦  HoBL.  II.  1.  vcr.  381.  t  Strab.  1.  xvii.  p.  816.  t  Tacit.  Ann.  1.  ii.  c.  60. 

5  Thevenot'g  Travels.  ||  Lib.  xvix.  p.  805.  IT  P.  816. 

Oennanicus  aliis  quoque  miraculis  intendit  animum,  quornnn  praecipua  fuere  Memnonis  saxea  effigi«i^ 
nbc  ndiis  solis  icta  est  vei[;alcni  sonum  reddens,  &x — Tacit  Aan&l.  1.  ii.  c.  61.  ft  Th^veaot. 


OF  EG^PT. 


99 


reservoir  of  wat?'',  between  the  two  wells,  is  by  a  stair  case  seven  or  eight 
feet  broad,  consisting  of  two  hundred  and  tv/enty  steps,  and  so  contrived,  that 
the  oxen  employed  to  throw  up  the  water,  go  down  with  all  imaginable  ease, 
\he  descent  being  scarcely  perceptible.  The  well  is  supplied  from  a  spring, 
which  is  almost  the  only  one  in  the  whole  country.  The  oxen  are  continually 
turning  a  wheel  with  a  rope,  to  which  a  number  of  buckets  are  fastened.  The 
water  thus  drawn  from  the  first  and  lowermost  well  is  conveyed,  by  a  little 
canal,  into  a  reservoir,  which  forms  the  second  well,  from  whence  it  is  drawn 
to  the  top,  in  the  same  manner,  and  then  conveyed  by  pipes  to  all  parts  of  the 
castle.  As  this  well  is  supposed  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  to  be  of 
great  antiquity,  and  has  indeed  much  of  the  antique  manner  of  the  Eyptians, 
I  thought  it  mi^'ht  deserve  a  place  among  the  curiosities  of  ancient  Egypt. 

Strabo  speaks  of  «unilar  engine,  which,  by  wheels  and  pulleys,  threw  up 
the  water  of  the  Nile  to  the  top  of  a  very  high  hill  ;  with  this  difference,  that 
instead  of  oxen,  a  hundred  and  fifty  slaves  were  employed  to  turn  these  wheels.* 

The  part  of  Egypt  of  which  we  now  speak  is  famous  for  several  rarities, 
each  of  which  deserves  a  particular  examination.  I  shall  mention  only  the 
principal,  such  as  the  obelisks,  the  pyramids,  the  labyrinth,  the  lake  of  Moeris, 
and  the  Nile. 

SECT.  I.     THE  OBELISKS 

Egypt  seemed  to  place  its  chief  glory  in  raising  monuments  for  posterity. 
Its  obelisks  form  at  this  day,  on  account  of  their  beauty  as  well  as  height,  the 
principal  ornament  of  Rome ;  and  the  Roman  power,  despairing  to  equal 
the  Egyptians,  thought  it  honour  enough  to  borrow  the  monuments  of  their 
kings. 

An  obelisk  is  a  quadrangular,  taper,  high  spire  or  pyramid,  raised  perpen- 
dicularly, and  terminating  in  a  point,  to  serve  as  an  ornament  to  some  open 
square  ;  and  is  very  often  covered  with  inscriptions  or  hieroglyphics,  that  is, 
with  mystical  characters  or  symbols  used  by  the  Egyptians  to  conceal  and  dis 
guise  their  sacred  things,  and  the  mysteries  of  their  theology. 

Sesostris  erected  in  the  city  of  Heliopolis  two  obelisks  of  extreme  hard 
stone,  brought  from  the  quarries  of  Syene,  at  the  extremity  of  Egypt. t  They 
were  each  one  hundred  and  twenty  cubits  high,  that  is,  thirty  fathoms,  or  one 
hundred  and  eighty  feet. J  The  emperor  Augustus,  having  made  Egypt  a 
province  of  the  empire,  caused  these  two  obelisks  to  be  transported  to  Rome, 
one  of  which  was  afterwards  broken  to  pieces.  He  da^'ed  not  venture  upon  a 
third,  which  was  of  a  monstrous  size.§  It  was  made  in  the  reign  of  Ramises  ; 
it  is  said  that  twenty  thousand  men  were  employed  in  the  cutting  of  it.  Con- 
stantius,  more  daring  than  Augustus,  caused  it  to  be  removed  to  Rome.  Two 
of  these  obelisks  are  still  to  be  seen  there,  as  well  as  another  a  hundred  cubits, 
or  twenty-five  fathoms  high,  and  eight  cubits,  or  two  fathoms  in  diameter. 
Caius  Caesar  had  it  brought  from  Egypt,  in  a  ship  of  so  odd  a  form,  that,  ac- 
cording to  Pliny,  the  like  had  never  been  seen.ll 

Every  part  of  Egypt  abounded  with  this  kind  of  obelisks ;  they  were  for 
the  most  part  cut  in  the  quarries  of  Upper  E^pt,  where  some  are  now  to  be 
seen  half  finished.  But  the  most  wonderful  circumstance  is,  that  the  ancient 
Egyptians  should  have  had  the  art  and  contrivance  to  dig,  even  in  the  very 
quarry,  a  canal,  through  which  the  water  of  the  Nile  ran  in  the  time  of  its 
inundation ;  from  whence  they  afterwards  raised  up  the  columns,  obelisks, 
ind  statues,  on  raftsIT  proportioned  to  their  weight,  in  order  to  convey  ^hem 
mto  Lowe*-  Egypt.  And  as  tlie  country  was  intersected  every  where  with 
sanals,  there  were  few  places  tf  which  those  huge  bodies  might  not  be  carried 
ivith  ease,  although  their  weight  ivould  have  broken  eveiy  other  kind  of  engine. 


*  Lib.  xvii.  p.  807.  f  I>iod.  lib.  i.  p.  37. 

X  I  t  is  propftr  to  obsr.rve,  once  for  all,  that  an  Egyptian  cubit,  according  to  Mr.  Greavei,  was  one  foot 
inc  ';nche8  and  about  three-fourths  of  our  measure. 

{  Plin.  1.  xxxvi.  c.  8,  9.  i|  Plin.  1.  xxxvi.  c.  9. 

T  Kaftji  ar«  pieces  of  flat  timber  put  together,  to  carry  jooJs  on  rirers. 


jQQ  DE8CRIPT10IV 

SECT.  II.— THE  PYRAMIDS. 

A  PTRAMjfD  IS  a  solid  or  hollow  body,  having  a  large,  and  generally  a  squara 
base,  and  terminating  in  a  point.* 

There  were  three  pyramids  in  E^ypt  more  famous  than  the  rest,  one  where- 
of was  justly  ranked  among  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world ;  they  did  not 
stand  very  far  from  the  city  of  Memphis. t  1  shall  take  notice  here  only  of  the 
largest  of  the  three.  This  pyramid,  like  the  rest,  was  built  on  a  rock,  having 
a  square  base,  cut  on  the  outside  as  so  many  steps,  and  decreasing  gradually, 
quite  to  the  summit.  It  was  built  with  stones  of  a  prodigious  size,  the  least 
of  which  were  thirty  feet,  wrought  with  wonderful  art,  and  covered  with  hie- 
roglyphics. According  to  several  ancient  authors,  each  side  was  eight  hun- 
dred feet  broad,  and  as  many  high.  The  suinmit  of  the  pyramid,  which  to 
those  who  viewed  it  from  below  seemed  a  point,  was  a  fine  platform,  com- 
posed of  ten  or  twelve  massy  stones,  with  each  side  of  that  platform  sixteen 
or  eighteen  feet  long. 
M.  de  Chazelles,  cf  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  who  went  purposely  to  the 
'  spot  in  1693,  gives  us  the  following  dimensions  : 

The  side  of  the  square  base  ...         110  fathoms. 

The  fronts  are  equilateral  triangles,  and  there-)  12,100  square 

fore  the  superfices  of  the  base  is  J  fathoms. 

The  perpendicular  height  .         .         -         77i  fathoms. 

The  solid  contents  -  -  -  -  313,590  cubical  fathoms. 
A  hundred  thousand  men  were  constantly  employed  about  this  work,  and 
were  relieved  every  three  months  by  the  same  number.  Ten  complete  years 
were  spent  in  hewing  out  the  stones,  either  in  Arabia  or  Ethiopia,  and  in  con- 
veying them  to  Egypt ;  and  twenty  years  more  in  building  this  immense  edi- 
fice, the  inside  of  which  contained  numberless  rooms  and  apartments.  There 
were  expressed  on  the  pyramid,  in  Egyptian  characters,  the  sums  it  cost  only 
for  garlic,  leeks,  onions,  and  other  vegetables,  for  the  workmen ;  and  the 
whole  amounted  to  sixteen  hundred  talents  of  silver,  that  is,  four  millions  five 
hundred  thousand  French  livres  ;J  from  whence  it  was  easy  to  conjecture  what 
a  vast  sum  the  whole  expense  must  have  amounted  to. 

Such  were  the  famous  Egyptian  pyramids,  which  by  their  figure,  as  well  as 
size,  have  triumphed  over  the  injuries  of  time  and  the  barbarians.  But  what 
efforts  soever  men  may  make,  their  nothingness  will  always  appear.  These 
pyramids  were  tombs  ;  and  there  is  still  to  be  seen,  in  the  middle  of  the  largest,  ^ 
an  empty  sarcophagus,  cut  out  of  one  entire  stone,  about  three  feet  deep 
and  broad,  and  a  little  above  six  feet  long.§  Thus,  all  this  bustle,  all  this 
expense,  and  all  the  labours  of  so  many  thousand  men,  ended  in  procuring 
for  a  prince,  in  this  vast  and  almost  boundless  pile  of  building,  a  little  vault 
six  feet  in  length.  Besides,  the  kings  who  built  these  pyramids,  had  it  not  in 
their  power  to  be  buried  in  them,  and  so  did  not  enjoy  the  sepulchre  they 
had  built.  The  public  hatred^  which  they  incurred,  by  reason  of  their  un- 
heard-of cruelties  to  their  subjects,  in  laying  such  heavy  tasks  upon  them, 
occasioned  their  being  interred  in  some  obscure  place,  to  prevent  their  bodies 
from  being  exposed  to  the  fuiy  and  vengeance  of  the  populace.  | 

This  last  circumstance, ||  which  historians  have  taken  particular  notice  of, 
teaches  us  what  judgment  we  ought  to  pass  on  these  edifices,  so  much  boasted 
of  by  the  ancients.  It  is  but  just  to  remark  and  esteem  the  noble  genius 
which  the  Egyptians  had  for  architecture  ;  a  genius  that  prompted  them  from 
the  earliest  times,  and  before  they  could  have  any  models  to  imitate,  lo  aim 
in  all  things  at  the  grand  and  magnificent ;  and  to  be  intent  on  real  beauties, 
without  deviating  in  the  least  from  a  noble  simplicity,  in  which  the  highest 
perfection  of  the  art  consists.  But  what  idea  ought  we  to  form  of  those  princes^* 
who  considered  as  something  grand,  the  raising  by  a  multitude  of  hands 


♦  Herod.  1.  ii.  c.  124,  &c.    Diod.  1.  i.  p.  39—41.    Plin.  lib.  xxxvi.  c.  12.  f  Vide  Diod.  Sic. 

t  About  ^-883,000.        {  Strabo  mentions  this  sarcopha^tM,  lib.  xvii.  p.  SOS.        {[  Died,  lib  ]  p.  40 


OF  EGYPT. 


101 


aiid  by  the  help  of  money,  immense  structures,  with  the  ^le  view  of  rend('r. 
ing  their  names  immortal  ;  and  who  did  not  scruple  to  destroy  thousands  of 
their  subjects  to  satisfy  their  vain  glory  ?  They  differed  very  much  from  the 
Romans,  who  sought  to  immortalize  themselves  by  works  of  a  magnificent 
kind,  but,  at  the  same  time,  of  public  utility. 

Pliny  gives  us,  in  a  few  words,  a  just  idea  of  these  pyramids,  when  he  calls 
them  a  foolish  and  useless  ostentation  of  the  wealth  of  the  Egyptian  kings ; 
Regum  pecuniae  otiosa  ac  stulta  ostentiho.  And  adds,  that  by  a  just  punish- 
ment their  memory  is  buried  in  oblivion;  the  historians  not  agreeing  among 
themselves  about  the  names  of  those  who  first  raised  those  vain  monuments. 
hiter  eos  non  constat  a  quihus  f acted  sint,  justissima  casu  ohliteratis  tantce  van  i- 
tatis  auctoribus.^  In  a  word,  according  to  the  judicious  remark  of  Diodorus, 
the  industry  of  the  architects  of  those  pyramids  is  no  less  valuable  and  praise- 
worthy than  the  design  of  the  Egyptian  kings  contemptible  and  ridiculous. 

But  what  we  should  most  admire  in  these  ancient  monuments,  is,  the  true 
and  standing  evidence  they  give  of  the  skill  of  the  Egyptians  in  astronomy ; 
that  is,  in  a  science  which  seems  incapable  of  being  brought  to  perfection,  bu/ 
by  a  long  series  of  years,  and  a  great  number  of  observations.  M.  de  Cha- 
zelles,  when  he  measured  the  great  pyramid  in  question,  found  that  the  four 
sides  of  it  were  turned  exactly  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  world  ;  and  conse- 
quently showed  the  true  meridian  of  that  place.  Now,  as  so  exact  a  situa- 
tion was  in  all  probability  purposely  pitched  upon  by  those  who  piled  up  this 
huge  mass  of  stones,  above  three  thousand  years  ago  ;  it  follows,  that  during  so 
long  a  space  of  time,  there  has  been  no  alteration  in  the  heavens  in  that  respect, 
or,  which  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  in  the  poles  of  the  earth  or  the  meridians 
This  is  M.  de  Fontenelle's  remark,  in  his  eulogy  of  M.  de  Chazelles. 

SECT.  nr. — THE  LABYRINTH. 

Wha.t  has  been  said,  concerning  the  judgment  we  ought  to  form  of  the 
pyramids,  may  also  be  applied  to  the  labyrinth,  which  Herodotus,  who  saw 
*  it,  assures  us  was  still  more  surprising  than  the  pyramids.!  It  was  built  at 
the  southern  extremity  of  the  lake  of  Mceris,  whereof  mention  will  be  made 
presently,  near  the  town  of  Crocodiles,  the  same  with  Arsinoe.  It  was  not  so 
much  one  single  palace,  as  a  magnificent  pile  composed  of  twelve  palaces,  re- 
ularly  disposed,  which  had  a  communication  with  each  other.  Fifteen  hun- 
red  rooms,  interspersed  with  terraces,  were  ranged  round  twelve  halls,  and 
discovered  no  outlet  to  such  as  went  to  see  them.  There  was  the  like  num- 
ber of  buildings  under  ground.  These  subterraneous  structures  were  designed 
for  the  burying-place  of  the  kings,  and  also,  (who  can  speak  this  without  con- 
fusion, and  without  deploring  the  blindness  of  man!)  for  keeping  the  sacred 
crocodile  which  a  nation,  so  wise  in  other  respects,  worshipped  as  gods. 

In  order  to  visit  the  rooms  and  halls  of  the  labyrinth,  it  was  necessary,  as 
the  reader  will  naturally  suppose,  for  people  to  take  the  same  precaution  as 
Ariadne  made  Theseus  use,  when  he  was  obliged  to  go  and  fight  the  Minotaur 
in  the  labyrinth  of  Crete.    Vii^il  describes  it  in  this  manner : 

Ut  quondam  Greta  fertur  labyrinthus  in  alta 
Parietibus  textum  cajcis  iter  ancipitemque 
Mille  viis  habuisse  dolum,  qufl  signa  sequendi 
Falleret  indeprensus  et  irremeabilis  error  J 
Hie  labor  ille  domus,  et  inextricabilis  error. 
Dasdalus,  ipse  dolos  tecti  ambagesque  resolvit. 
Caeca  regens  filo  vestig-ia.  J 

And  as  the  Cretan  labyrinth  of  old, 

With  wandering  ways,  and  many  a  winding  fold, 

InvolvM  the  weary  feet  without  redress, 

lo  a  round  error,  which  deny'd  recess: 

Not  far  from  thence  he  grav'd  the  wondrous  majie  | 

A  thousand  d'^ors,  a  thousand  winding  wayi. 


*  Lib.  xxjvi.  o«p.  12. 
t  Herod.  1.  ii.  c  148.    Diod.  1.  i.  p.  4%    Plin.  1.  xxxvi.  c.  13.    Strab.     ivii.  p.  811. 

t  /Kueid.  I.  V.  50.1.  &o  j  .^Ino-d.  1  v,  vi-  ■21,  ice 


70^ 


DESCRIPTIOI* 


SECT.  IV. — THE  LAKE  OF  MCERIS. 

The  noblest  and  most  wonderful  of  all  the  structures  or  works,  of  the  KingB 
of  Egypt,  was  the  lake  of  Moeris ;  accordingly,  Herodotus  considers  it  as 
vastly  superior  to  the  pyramids  and  labyrinth.*  As  Egypt  was  more  or  less 
fruitful  in  proportion  to  the  inundations  of  the  Nile  ;  and  as  in  these  lloods, 
the  tco  great  or  too  little  rise  of  the  waters  was  equally  fatal  to  the  lands ; 
king  Mceris,  to  prevent  these  two  inconveniences,  and  correct,  as  far  as  lay  m 
his  power,  the  irregularities  of  the  Nile,  thought  proper  to  call  art  to  the  as- 
sistance of  nature  ;  and  so  caused  the  lake  to  be  dug,  which  afterwards  went 
by  his  name.  This  lake  was  in  circumference  about  three  thousand  six  bun- 
ded stadia,  that  is,  about  one  hundred  and  eighty  French  leagues,  and  three 
hundred  feet  deep.t  Two  pyramids,  on  each  of  which  was  placed  a  colos- 
sal statue,  seated,  on  a  throne,  raised  their  heads  to  the  height  of  three  hun- 
dred feet,  in  the  midst  of  the  lake,  while  their  foundations  took  up  the  same 
space  under  the  water ;  a  proof  that  they  were  erected  before  the  cavity  was 
filled,  and  a  demonstration  that  a  lake  of  such  vast  extent  was  the  work  of 
man's  hands,  in  one  prince's  reign.  This  is  what  several  historians  have  re- 
lated concerning  the  lake  Moeris,  on  the  testimony  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
country.  And  M.  Bossuet,  the  bishop  of  Meaux,  in  his  discourse  on  Uni- 
versal History,  relates  the  whole  as  fact.  For  my  part,  I  will  confess  that  I 
do  not  see  the  least  probability  in  it.  Is  it  possible  to  conceive,  that  a  lake 
of  a  hundred  and  eighty  leagues  in  circumference,  could  have  been  dug  in 
the  reign  of  one  prince  ?  In  ^vhat  manner,  and  whc~e  could  the  earth  taken 
from  it  be  conveyed  ?  What  should  prompt  the  Egyptians  to  lose  the  surface 
of  so  much  land?  By  what  arts  could  they  fill  this  vast  tract  with  the  super- 
fluous waters  of  the  Nile  ?  Many  other  objections  might  be  made.  In  my 
opinion,  therefore,  we  ought  to  follow  Pomponius  Mela,  an  ancient  geogra- 
pher ;  especially  as  his  account  is  confirmed  by  several  modern  travellers. 
According:  to  that  author,  this  lake  is  about  twenty  thousand  paces,  that  is, 
seven  or  ei2:ht  French  leagues  in  circumference.  Mcsris  aliquando  campus,  * 
nunc  lacus^  viginti  millia  passuum  in  circuitu  patens,^ 

This  lake  had  a  communication  with  the  Nile,  by  a  great  canal  more  than 
four  leagues  long,§  and  fifty  feet  broad.  Great  sluices  either  opened  or  shut 
the  canal  and  lake,  as  occasion  required. 

The  charge  of  opening  or  shutting  them  amounted  to  fifty  talents,  that  is, 
fifty  thousand  French  crowns. ||  The  fishing  of  this  lake  brought  to  the  rno 
narch  immense  sums;  but  its  chief  use  related  to  the  overflowing  of  the  Nile. 
When  it  arose  too  high,  and  was  like  to  be  attended  with  fatal  consequences, 
the  sluices  were  opened  ;  and  the  waters,  having  a  free  passage  into  the  lake, 
covered  the  lands  no  longer  than  was  necessary  to  enrich  them.  On  the  con- 
contrary,  when  the  inundation  was  too  low,  and  threatened  a  famine,  a  suffi- 
cient quantity  of  water,  by  the  helf)  of  drains,  was  let  out  of  the  kke,  to  wa- 
ter the  lands.  In  this  manner,  the  irregularities  of  the  "^ile  were  corrected ; 
and  Strabo  remarks,  that,  in  his  time,  under  Petronius,  a  governor  of  Egypt, 
when  the  inundation  of  the  Nile  was  twelve  cubits,  a  very  great  plenty  en- 
Bued  ;  and  even  when  it  rose  but  to  eight  cubits,  the  dearth  was  scarce  felt  in 
the  countiy ;  doubtless,  because  the  waters  of  the  lake  made  up  for  those  of 
the  inundation,  by  the  help  of  canals  and  drains. 

SECT.  V. — THE  INUNDATIONS  OF  THE  NILE 

The  Nile  is  the  greatest  wonder  of  Egypt.  As  it  seldom  rains  there,  this 
fiver,  which  waters  the  whole  country  by  its  regular  inundations,  supplies  that 
defect,  by  bringing,  as  a  yearly  tribute,  the  rains  of  other  countries ;  which 


♦  He«cd  I.  ii.  c.  140.    Strab.  1.  xvii.  p.  787.    Diod.  1.  i.  p.  47.    Plin.  1.  v.  c.  9.    Pomp.  Mel»,  1.  ) 
t  Vide  Herod,  and  Diod.    Pliny  Kgreet  almosi  with  them. 
X  Mela.  1.  i.  i  Eiyhty-five  »udia.  y  $65,000. 


OF  EGYPT. 


103 


made  a  poet  say  ingeniously,  The  Egyptian  pastures^  fww  great  ioever  the 
drought  may  be,  never  implore  Jupiter  for  rain* 

«•  Te  propter  nuUos  lellus  tua  postulat  imbres, 
Arida  nec  pluvio  supplicat  herba  Jovi."* 

To  multiply  so  beneficent  a  river,  Effypt  was  cut  inio  numberless  canals,  of 
a  length  and  breadth  proportioned  to  the  different  situations  and  wants  of  the 
lands.  The  Nile  brought  fertility  every  where  with  its  salutary  streams ; 
united  cities  one  with  another,  and  the  Mediterranean  with  the  Red  Sea ; 
maintained  trade  at  home  and  abroad,  and  fortified  the  kingdom  against  the 
enemy ;  so  that  it  was  at  once  the  nourisher  and  protector  of  Egypt.  The 
fields  were  delivered  up  to  it ;  but  the  cities,  that  were  raised  with  immense 
labour,  and  stood  like  islands  in  the  midst  of  the  waters,  looked  down  with 
joy  on  the  plains  which  were  overflowed,  and  at  the  same  time  enriched,  by 
the  Nile. 

This  is  a  general  idea  of  the  nature  and  effects  of  this  river,  so  famous  among 
the  ancients.    But  a  wonder  so  astonishing  in  itself,  and  which  has  been  the 
object  of  the  curiosity  and  admiration  of  the  learned  in  all  ages,  seems  to  re 
quire  a  more  particular  description,  in  which  I  shall  be  as  concise  as  possible. 

I.  THE  SOURCES  OF  THE  NILE. 

The  ancients  placed  the  sources  of  the  Nile  in  the  mountains  of  the  moon 
(as  they  are  commonly  called,)  in  the  10th  degree  of  south  latitude.  But  our 
modern  travellers  have  discovered  that  they  lie  in  the  12th  degree  of  north 
latitude :  and  by  that  means  they  cut  off  about  four  or  five  hundred  leagues  of 
the  course  which  the  ancients  gave  that  river.  It  rises  at  the  foot  of  a  ^reat 
mountain  in  the  kingdom  of  Gojam  in  Abyssinia,  from  two  springs,  or  eyes, 
to  speak  in  the  language  of  the  country,  the  same  word  in  Arabic  signitying 
eye  and  fountain.  These  springs  are  thirty  paces  from  one  another,  each  as 
*arge  as  one  of  our  wells  or  a  coach  wheel.  The  Nile  is  increased  with  many 
fivulets  which  run  into  it ;  and  after  passing  through  Ethiopia  in  a  very  wind- 
ing course,  flows  at  last  into  Egypt.  ^ 

II.  THE  CATARACTS  OF  THE  NILE. 

This  name  is  given  to  some  parts  of  the  Nile,  where  the  water  falls  down 
^om  the  steep  rocks. t  This  river,  which  at  first  glided  smoothly  along  the 
rast  deserts  of  Ethiopia,  before  it  enters  Egypt,  passes  by  the  cataracts.  Then 
growing  on  a  sudden,  contrary  to  its  nature,  raging  and  violent  in  those  places 
where  it  is  pent  up  and  restrained ;  after  having  at  last  broke  through  all  ob- 
stacles in  its  way,  it  precipitates  itself^rom  the  top  of  some  rocks  to  the  bot- 
tom, with  so  loud  a  noise  that  it  is  heard  three  leagues  off. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  country,  accustomed  by  long  practice  to  this  sport, 
exhibit  here  a  spectacle  to  travellers  that  is  more  terrifying  than  diverting. 
Two  of  them  go  into  a  little  boat ;  the  one  to  guide  it,  the  other  to  throw  out 
(he  water.  After  having  long  sustained  the  violence  of  the  raging  waves,  by 
managing  their  little  boat  very  dexterously,  they  suffer  themselves  to  be  car- 
ried away  with  the  impetuous  torrent  as  swift  as  an  arrow.  The  affi-ighted 
gpectator  imagines  they  are  going  to  be  swallowed  up  in  the  precipice  down 
which  they  fall  ;  when  the  Nile,  restored  to  its  natural  course,  discovers  them 


*  Seneca  (Nat.  Q^uaest.  1.  iv.  c.  2.)  ascribes  these  verses  to  Ovid,  but  they  are  Tibullus's. 

f  Excipiunt  eum  (Nilum)  cataractas,  nobilis  icsigni  spectaculo  locus.  1  lie  excitatis  primilm  aqois, 

i{uas  sine  tumultu  leni  alveo  duxerat,  violenlus  et  torrens  per  malignos  transitus  prosilit,  dissimilis  sibi  

tandemque  elu'-.tatus  obstantia,  in  vastam  altitudinem  subito  destilutus  cadil»  cum  ingenti  circumjacentiiui 
regionuni  strepitu  ;  quem  perferre  gens  ibi  \  Persis  collocata  non  potuit,  obtusis  assiduo  fragore  auribus,  et 
cb  hoc  sedibus  ad  quietiora  translatis.  Inter  miracula  fluminis  incredibil'»m  incolarum  audaciam  accept 
Itiai  parvula  navigia  conscendunt,  quorum  alter  navem  regit,  alter  exhaurit.  Deinde  multum  inter  rapidaa 
iAS»j:iam  Niii  et  reciprocos  fluctus  volutati,  tandem  tenuissimos  canales  tenent,  per  quos  angusta  rupioin 
•ITufitint'  et  cum  toto  rtumine  effusi  a-^vi^ium  ruens  manu  temperant,  magnoque  spectantium  metu  in  caput 
Ittxi,  cum  jam  adploraveris  mersosqu  atque  obrutos  tanta.  mole  credideris,  longd  ab  eo  in  quern  ceciderMH 
k>R«.  navipaot,  tormeuti  inodo  missi.   Nec  meruit  cadens  unda  «ed  planis  aquis  tradlt  — Seoec  Nat.  (^uftit 


DESCRIPTION 

sigfain,  at  a  considerable  distance,  on  its  smooth  and  calm  waters  Thi%  m 
Seneca's  account,  which  is  confirmed  by  our  modem  travellers. 

III.  CAUSES  OF  THE  INUNDATIONS  OF  THE  NILE. 

The  ancients  have  invented  many  subtle  reasons  for  tha  Nil^'s  great  in 
crease,  as  may  be  seen  in  Herodotus,  Diodorus  Siculus,  and  Seneca,*  But  i\ 
is  now  no  longer  a  matter  of  dispute,  it  being  almost  universally  allowed,  thai 
the  inundations  of  the  Nile  are  owing  to  the  great  rains  which  fall  in  Ethiopia, 
from  whence  this  river  flows.  These  rains  swell  it  to  such  a  degree,  that 
Ethiopia  first,  and  then  Egypt,  are  overflowed  ;  and  that  which  at  first  was  but 
a  large  river,  rises  like  a  sea,  and  overspreads  the  whole  country. 

Strabo  observes,  that  the  ancients  only  guessed  that  the  inundations  of  the 
Nile  were  owing  to  the  rains  which  fall  in  great  abundance  in  Ethiopia :  but 
adds,  that  several  travellers  have  since  been  eye-witnesses  of  it  ;t  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus,  who  was  veiy  curious  in  all  things  relating  to  the  arts  and  sci- 
ences, having  sent  thither  able  persons,  purposely  to  examine  this  matter,  and 
to  ascertain  the  cause  of  so  uncommon  and  remarkable  an  efiiect. 

IV.  THE  TIME  AND  CONTINUANCE  OF  THE  INUNDATIONS. 

Herodotus, t  and  after  him  Diodorus  Siculus,  and  several  other  authors, 
declare  that  the  Nile  begins  to  flow  in  Egypt  at  the  summer  solstice,  that  is, 
about  the  end  of  June,  and  continues  to  rise  till  the  end  of  September,  and 
then  decreases  gradually  during  the  months  of  October  and  November ;  aflei 
which  it  returns  to  its  channel,  and  resumes  its  wonted  course.  This  account 
agrees  very  nearly  with  the  relations  of  all  the  moderns,  and  is  founded  in 
reality  on  the  natural  cause  of  the  inundation,  viz.  the  rains  \yh\ch  fall  in 
Ethiopia.  Now,  according  to  the  constant  testimony  of  those  who  have  beei< 
on  the  spot,  these  rains  begin  to  fall  in  the  month  of  April,  and  continue, 
during  five  months,  till  the  end  of  August  and  beginning  of  September.  The 
Nile's  increase  in  Egypt  must  consequently  begin  three  weeks  or  a  month  af- 
ter the  rains  have  begun  to  fall  in  Abyssinia  ;  and,  accordingly,  travellers  ob 
serve,  that  the  Nile  begins  to  rise  in  the  month  of  May,  but  so  slowly  at  the 
first,  that  it  probably  does  not  yet  overflow  its  banks.  The  inundation  hap- 
pens not  till  about  the  end  of  June,  and  lasts  the  three  following  months,  ac- 
cording to  Herodotus.  .  .  *. 

1  must  point  out  to  such  as  consult  the  originals,  a  contradiction  in  this  place 
between  Herodotus  and  Diodorus  on  one  side  ;  and  between  Strabo,  rliny, 
and  Solinus,  on  the  other.  These  last  shorten  very  much  the  continuance  of 
the  inundation ;  and  suppose  the  Nile'lo  retire  from  the  lands  in  three  months, 
or  a  hundred  days.  And  what  adds  to  the  difficulty  is,  that  Pliny  seems  to 
ground  his  opinion  on  the  testimony  of  Herodotus :  fn  totum  autem  revocatur 
Nilus  intra  ripas  in  libra,  ut  tradit  Herodotus^  centesimo  die.  I  leave  to  the 
learned  the  reconciling  of  this  contradiction 

V.  THE  height  OF  THE  INUNDATION. 

The  just  height  of  the  inundation,  according  to  Pliny,  is  sixteen  cubits.§ 
\\  hen  it  rises  but  twelve  or  thirteen,  a  famine  is  threatened ;  and  when  it  ex- 
rrcds  sixteen,  there  is  danger.  It  must  be  remembered,  that  a  cubit  is  a  toot 
iFid  a  half.  The  emperor  Julian  takes  notice,  in  a  letter  to  Ecdicius,  prefect 
(  r  Egypt,  that  the  height  of  the  Nile's  overflowing  was  fifteen  cubits,  the  20th 
of  September,  in  362.||  The  ancients  do  not  agree  entirely  with  one  another, 
tior  with  the  modems,  with  regard  to  the  height  of  the  inundation;  but  thi 

♦  Herod.  1.  ii.  c.  19—27.    Diod.  1.  i.  p.  35—39.    Senec.  Nat.  Qutest.  1.  iv.  c.  1.  ct  2. 
t  Lib.  xvii.  p.  789.  ;  Herod.  1.  ii.  c.  19.    Diod.  1.  i.  p.  32. 

}  Justiim  iocrementum  est  cubitorum  xvi.  Minores  aqure  non  omnia  rigant :  ampliores  detinenl,  tardifii 
rccedendo.  Hrj  serendi  tempora  absumunt  solo  madenle  :  ilia;  non  dant  sitiente.  Utrumque  reputal  pr©- 
vincia.  In  duodecim  cubitis  famem  sentit,  in  tredecirn  etianinum  esllr<^  quatuorieclm  cubit«  bilvritatev 
aileruit,  qniode'rim  securilalem,  se-Kdec'.n  dclicias. — Plin.  1.  v.  c.  9. 

II  Jul.  rpist.  5a 


OF  EGYPT. 


105 


difference  is  not  very  considerable,  and  may  proceed,  1.  from  the  disparity 
between  the  ancient  and  modern  measures,  which  it  is  hard  to  estimate  on 
a  fixed  and  certain  foot ;  2.  from  the  carelessness  of  the  observers  and  histo- 
rians; 3.  from  the  real  difference  of  the  Nile's  increase,  which  was  not  so 
g;reat  the  nearer  it  approached  the  sea. 

As  the  riches  of  Egypt  depended  on  the  inundation  of  the  Nile,  all  the  cir- 
cumstances and  different  degrees  of  its  increase  were  carefully  considered  ; 
and  by  a  long  series  of  regular  observations,  made  during  many  years,  the 
inundation  itself  discovered  what  kind  of  harvest  the  ensuing  year  was  likely 
to  produce.*  The  kings  had  placed  at  Memphis  a  measure  on  which  these 
different  increases  were  marked;  and  from  thence  notice  was  given  to  all  the 
rest  of  Egypt,  the  inhabitants  of  which  knew,  by  that  means,  beforehand, 
what  they  might  fear  or  promise  themselves  from  the  harvest.  Strabo  speaks 
of  a  well  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  near  the  town  of  Syene,  made  for  that 
purpose.! 

The  same  custom  is  observed  to  this  day  at  Grand  Cairo.  In  the  court  of 
a  mosque  there  stands  a  pillar,  on  which  are  marked  the  degrees  of  the  Nile's 
increase ;  and  common  criers  every  day  proclaim  in  all  parts  of  the  city,  how 
high  it  is  risen.  The  tribute  paid  to  the  grand  signior  lor  the  lands,  is  regu- 
lated by  the  inundation.  The  day  on  which  it  rises  to  a  certain  height,  is 
kept  as  a  grand  festival,  and  solemnized  with  fire-works,  feasting,  and  all  the 
demonstrations  of  public  rejoicing  ;  and  in  the  remotest  ages,  the  overflowing 
of  the  Nile  was  always  attended  with  an  universal  joy  throughout  all  Egypt, 
that  being  the  fountain  of  its  happiness. 

The  heathens  ascribed  the  inundation  of  the  Nile  to  their  god  Serapis  ;  and 
the  pillar  on  which  was  marked  the  increase,  was  preserved  religiously  in  the 
temple  of  that  idol.J  The  emperor  Constantine  having  ordered  it  to  be  re- 
moved into  the  church  of  Alexandria,  the  Egyptians  spread  a  report,  that  the 
Nile  would  rise  no  more  by  reason  of  the  wrath  of  Serapis ;  but  the  river 
overflowed  and  increased  as  usual  the  following  years.  Julian,  the  apostate, 
a  zealous  protector  of  idolatry,  caused  this  pillar  to  be  replaced  in  the  same 
temple,  out  of  which  it  was  again  removed  by  the  command  of  Theodosius. 

VI.  THE  CANALS  OF  THE  NILE,  AND  SPIRAL  PUMPS. 

Divine  Providence,  in  giving  so  benefxent  a  river  to  Egypt,  did  not  thereby 
intend  that  the  inhabitants  of  it  should  be  idle,  and  enjoy  so  great  a  blessing, 
without  taking  any  pains.  One  may  naturally  suppose,  that  as  the  Nile  could 
not  of  itself  cover  the  whole  country,  great  labour  was  to  be  used  to  facilitate 
the  overflowing  of  the  lands ;  and  numberless  canals  cut,  in  order  to  convey 
the  waters  to  all  parts.  The  villages,  which  stood  very  thick  on  the  banks 
of  the  Nile,  on  eminences,  had  each  their  canals,  which  were  opened  at  pro- 
per times,  to  let  the  water  into  the  country.  The  more  distant  villages  had 
theirs  also,  even  to  the  extremities  of  the  kingdom.  Thus  the  waters  were 
successively  conveyed  to  the  most  remote  places.  Persons  are  not  permitted 
to  cut  the  trenches  to  receive  the  waters,  till  the  river  is  at  a  certain  height, 
nor  to  open  them  altogether ;  because  otherwise  some  lands  would  be  too  much 
overflowed,  and  others  not  covered  enough.  They  begin  with  opening  them 
in  Upper,  and  afterwards  in  Lower  Egypt,  accord.ing  to  the  rules  prescribed 
m  a  roll  or  book,  in  which  all  the  measures  are  exactly  set  down.  By  this 
means  the  water  is  husbanded  with  such  care,  that  it  spreads  itself  over  all 
the  lands.  The  countries  overflowed  by  the  Nile  are  so  extensive,  and  lie  so 
low,  and  the  number  of  canals  is  so  great,  that  of  all  the  waters  which  ^ov 
into  Egypt  during  the  months  of  June,  July,  and  August,  it  is  believed  th<i 
not  a  tenth  part  of  them  reaches  the  sea. 

But  as,  notwithstanding  all  these  canals,  there  are  abundance  cf  high  Jan  is 
which  cannot  receive  the  benefit  of  the  Nile's  overflowing  ;  this  want  is  snp* 


♦  Jiod.  1.  i.  p  33. 


t  Lib.  xvii.  p.  817, 


X  Socrat.  1.  1.  c  18.    S^azoni.  I.  v.  c.  X 


106 


DESCRIPTION 


plied  by  spiral  pumps,  which  are  turned  with  oxen,  in  order  to  bring  the  watex 
into  pipes,  which  convey  it  to  these  lands.  Diodorus  speaks  of  a  similar  engine 
called  Cochlea  JEgyptia^  invented  by  Archimedes,  in  his  travels  into  Egypt.* 

VII.  THE  FERTILITY  CAUSED  BY  THE  NILE. 

There  is  no  country  in  the  world  where  the  soil  is  more  fruitful  than  in 
Egypt ;  which  is  owing  entirely  to  the  Nile.  For  whereas  other  rivers,  when 
they  overflow  lands,  wash  away  and  exhaust  their  vivific  moisture  ;  the  Nile, 
on  the  contrary,  by  the  excellent  slime  it  brings  along  with  it,  fattens  and  en« 
riches  them  in  such  a  manner,  as  sufficiently  compensates  for  what  the  fore- 
going harvest  had  impaired.t  The  husbandman,  in  this  country,  never  tires 
himself  with  holding  the  plough,  or  breaking  the  clods  of  earth.  As  soon  as 
the  Nile  retires,  he  has  nothing  to  do  but  to  turn  up  the  earth,  and  temper  it 
with  a  little  sand.,  in  order  to  lessen  its  rankness ;  after  which  he  sows  it  with 
great  ease,  and  at  little  or  no  expense.  Two  months  after,  it  is  covered  with 
all  sorts  of  corn  and  pulse.  The  Egyptians  sow  in  October  and  November, 
according  as  the  waters  recede,  and  their  harvest  is  in  March  and  April. 

The  same  land  bears,  in  one  year,  three  or  four  different  kinds  of  crops. 
Lettuces  and  cucumbers  are  sown  first :  then  corn  ;  and,  after  harAest,  seve- 
ral sorts  of  pulse,  which  are  peculiar  to  Egypt.  As  the  sun  is  extremely  hot 
in  this  country,  and  rains  fall  very  seldom  in  it,  it  is  natural  to  suppose,  that 
the  earth  would  soon  be  parched,  and  the  corn  and  pulse  burnt  up  by  so 
scorching  a  heat,  were  it  not  for  the  canals  and  reservoirs  with  which  Egypt 
abounds  ;  and  which,  by  the  drains  from  thence,  amply  supply  wherewith  to 
water  and  refresh  the  fields  and  gardens. 

The  Nile  contributes  no  less  to  the  nourishment  of  cattle,  which  is  another 
source  of  wealth  to  Egypt.  The  Egyptians  begin  to  turn  them  out  to  grass 
in  November,  and  they  graze  till  the  end  of  March.  Words  could  never  ex 
press  how  rich  their  pastures  are,  and  how  fat  the  flocks  and  herds  (which,  by 
reason  of  the  mildness  of  the  air,  are  out  night  and  day)  grow  in  a  very  lit- 
tle time.  During  the  inundation  of  the  Nile,  they  are  fed  with  hay  and  cut 
straw,  barley  and  beans,  which  are  their  common  food. 

A  man  cannot,  says  Corneille  le  Bruyn  in  his  Travels,^  help  observing  the 
admirable  providence  of  God  to  this  country,  who  sends  at  a  fixed  season 
such  great  quantities  of  rain  in  Ethiopia,  in  order  to  water  Egypt,  where  a 
shower  of  rain  scarce  ever  falls ;  and  who  by  that  means  causes  the  driest 
and  most  sandy  soil  to  become  the  richest  and  most  fruitful  country  in  the 
universe. 

Another  thing  to  be  observed  here  is,  that,  as  the  inhabitants  say,  in  the 
beginning  of  June,  and  the  four  following  months,  the  north-east  winds  blow 
constantly,  in  order  to  keep  back  the  waters,  which  would  otherwise  flow  too 
fast ;  and  to  hinder  them  from  discharging  themselves  into  the  sea,  the  en- 
trance to  which  these  winds  bar  up,  as  it  were,  from  them.  The  ancients  have 
not  omitted  this  circumstance. 

The  same  Providence,  whose  ways  are  wonderful  and  infinitely  various,  dis- 
played itself  after  a  quite  diflerent  manner  in  Palestine,  in  rendering  it  ex- 
ceedingly fruitful ;  not  by  rains,  which  fell  during  the  course  of  the  year,  as 
is  usual  m  other  places  ;  nor  by  a  peculiar  inundation  like  that  of  the  Nile  in 
Egypt ;  but  by  sending  fixed  rains  at  two  seasons,  when  his  people  were  obe- 
dient to  him,  to  make  them  more  sensible  of  their  continual  dependence  upon 
him.§  God  himself  commands  them,  by  his  servant  Moses,  to  make  this  re- 
flection. ||  The  land  whither  thou  goest  in  to  possess  it,  is  not  as  the  land  of 
Egypt,  from  whence  ye  came  out,  where  thou  sowedst  thy  seed,  and  watereast 
it  Tmth  thy  foot,  as  a  garden  of  herbs :  but  the  land  whither  ye  go  to  possess  u , 

*  Lib.  i.  p.  30.  et  lib.  r.  p.  313. 
f  Cilm  cae*eri  amnes  abluant  terra«  et  eviscerent,  Nilus  adeo  nihil  exe<lil  nec  abradit,  ut  conlri  adjicial 
Hpm. — Ita  juvat  agros  duabus  ex  causir,  et  qvdd  inundat,  et  qudd  oblinaat. — Senec.  Nat.  Q,u»5t.  1.  iv.  c.  2, 
X  Vol.  u.  {  Muhifoniu.;«  sapientia,  Eph.  iii.  10.  [j  Deut.  xi.  10 — 13. 


or  KGYPT,  J  Q7 

w  a  land  of  hills  and  va^teys,  and  drinketh  water  of  the  rain  of  heaven.  After 
this,  God  promises  to  give  his  people,  so  long  as  they  shall  continue  obedient 
to  him,  the  former  and  the  latter  rain :  the  first  in  autumn,  to  bring  up  the 
com  ;  and  tiie  second  in  the  spring  and  summer,  to  make  it  grow  and  ripen. 

VIII.  THE  DIFFERENT  PROSPECTS  EXHIBITED  BY  THE  NILE. 

There  cannot  be  a  finer  sight  than  Egypt  at  two  seasons  of  the  year.*  For 
if  a  man  ascends  some  mountain,  or  one  of  the  largest  pyramids  of  Grand 
Cairo,  in  the  months  of  July  and  August,  he  beholds  a  vast  sea,  in  which  num- 
berless towns  and  villages  appear,  with  several  causeys  leading  from  place  to 
place  ;  the  whole  interspersed  with  groves  and  fruit-trees,  whose  tops  only 
ire  visible,  all  which  forms  a  delightiul  prospect.  This  view  is  bounded  by 
mountains  and  woods,  which  terminate,  at  the  utmost  distance  the  eye  can  dis- 
cover, the  most  beautiful  horizon  that  can  be  imagined.  On  the  contrary,  in 
winter,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  months  of  January  and  February,  the  whole 
country  is  like  one  continued  scene  of  beautiful  meadows,  whose  verdure  ena- 
melled with  flowers,  charms  the  eye.  The  spectator  beholds,  on  every  side, 
flocks  and  herds  dispersed  over  all  the  plains,  with  infinite  numbers  of  hus- 
bandmen and  gardners.  The  air  is  then  perfumed  by  the  great  quantity  of 
blossoms  on  the  orange,  lemon,  and  other  trees  ;  and  is  so  pure,  that  a  whole- 
somer  or  more  agreeable  is  not  found  in  the  world  ;  so  that  nature,  being  then 
dead  as  it  were  in  all  other  climates,  seems  to  be  alive  only  for  so  delightful 
an  abode. 

«<, 

rx.  THE  CANAL  FORMED  BY  THE  NILE,  BY  WHICH  A  COMMUNICATION  iS  MADE 

BETWEEN  THE  TWO  SEAS. 

The  canal ,t  by  which  a  communication  was  made  between  the  Red  Sea 
and  Mediterranean,  ought  to  have  a  place  here,  as  it  was  not  one  of  the  least 
advantages  which  the  Nile  procured  to  Egypt.  Sesostris,  or,  according  to 
others,  Psammeticus,  first  projected  the  design,  and  began  this  work,  ree- 
cho, successor  to  the  last  prince,  laid  out  immense  sums  upon  it,  and  employed 
a  prodigious  number  of  men.  It  is  said,  that  above  six  score  thousand  Egyp- 
tians perished  in  the  undertaking.  He  gave  it  over,  terrified  by  an  oracle, 
^vhich  told  him  that  he  would  thereby  open  a  door  for  barbarians,  for  by  this 
name  they  called  all  foreigners,  to  enter  Egypt.  The  work  was  contiuued  by 
Darius,  the  first  of  that  name ;  but  he  also  desisted  from  it,  on  his  being  told, 
that  as  the  Red  Sea  lay  higher  than  Egypt,  it  would  drown  the  whole  country. 
But  it  was  at  last  finished  under  the  Ptolemies,  who,  by  the  h:^lp  of  sluices, 
opened  or  shut  the  canal  as  there  was  occasion.  It  began  not  far  from  the 
Delta,  near  the  town  of  Bubastus.  It  was  a  hundred  cubits,  that  is,  twenty- 
five  fathoms  broad,  so  that  two  vessels  might  pass  with  ease  ;  it  had  depth 
enough  to  carry  the  largest  ships,  and  was  above  a  thousand  stadia,  that  is, 
above  fifty  leagues  long.  This  canal  w^as  of  great  service  to  Egypt.  But  it  is 
now  almost  filled  up,  and  theie  are  scarce  any  remains  of  it  to  be  seen. 


CHAPTER  III. 
Z.OWER  EGYPT. 

I  AM  now  to  speak  of  Lower  Egypt.  Its  shape,  which  resembles  a  triangie, 
or  delta  A,  gave  occasion  to  its  bearing  the  latter  name,  which  is  that  of  one 
of  the  GreeK  letters.   Lower  Egypt  forms  a  kind  of  island  ;  it  begins  at  a 


♦  Ula  facies  pulcherrima  est,  ciim  jam  se  in  agfros  Nilus  ingessit.    Latent  campi,  operta;que  sunt  ra! 
let:  oppida  insularum  modo  extant.    Nullum  in  Mediterraneis,  nisi  per  navisfia,  commercium  eit;  majaff 
est  istitia  in  gentibus,  quo  minus  terrarum  suarum  vident. — Senec.  Nat.  Qusst  1.  iv.  c.  2* 
t  Htfod.  1.  ii.  c.  1S8.    Strab.  1.  xvii.  p.  804.    Plin.  1.  vi.  c.  29.    Diod.  1.  i.  p.  79. 


103 


DESCRlPriON 


place  where  the  Nile  is  divided  into  t^^o  laige  canals,  tnrough  which  il  cmp 
ties  itself  into  the  Mediterranean  ;  the  mouth  on  the  right  hand  is  called  th< 
Felusian,  and  the  other  the  Canopic,  from  the  two  cities  in  their  neighbour- 
hood,  Pelusium  and  Canopus,  now  called  Damietta  and  Rosetta.  Between 
these  two  large  branches,  there  are  five  others  of  less  note.  The  island  is  the 
l)est  cultivated,  the  most  fruitful,  and  the  richest  part  of  Egypt.  Its  chief 
cities,  very  anciently,  were  Heliopolis,  Heracleopolis,  Naucratis,  Sais,  Tanis, 
Canopus,  Pelusium  ;  and,  in  later  times,  Alexandria,  Nicopolis,  &c.  1 1 
was  in  the  country  of  Tanis  that  the  Israelites  dwelt. 

There  was  at  Sais  a  temple  dedicated  to  Minerva,*  who  is  supposed  to 
oe  the  same  as  Isis,  with  the  following  inscription  ;  I  am  whatever  hath  been, 
9ind  is,  and  shall  be ;  and  no  mortal  hath  drawn  aside  my  veil. 

Heliopolis,!  that  is,  the  city  of  the  sun,  was  so  called  from  a  magnificent 
temple  there  dedicated  to  that  planet.  Herodotus,  and  other  authors  after 
him,  relate  some  particulars  concerning  the  phoenix  and  this  temple,  which,  if 
true,  would  indeed  be  very  w^onderful.  Of  this  kind  of  birds,  if  we  may  be- 
lieve the  ancients,  there  is  never  but  one  at  a  time  in  the  world.  He  is  brought 
forth  in  Arabia,  lives  five  or  six  hundred  years,  and  is  of  the  size  of  an  eagle. 
Hio  head  is  adorned  with  a  shining  and  most  beautiful  crest ;  the  feathers  of 
his  neck  are  of  a  gold  colour,  and  the  rest  of  a  purple  :  his  tail  is  white  inter- 
mixed with  red,  and  his  eyes  sparkling  like  stars.  When  he  is  old,  and  finds 
his  end  approaching,  he  builds  a  nest  with  wood  and  aromatic  spices,  and 
then  dies.  Of  his  bones  and  marrow  a  worm  is  produced,  out  of  which  an- 
other phoenix  is  formed.  His  first  care  is  to  solemnize  his  parent's  obsequies, 
for  which  purpose  he  makes  up  a  ball  in  the  shape  of  an  egg,  with  abundance 
of  perfumes  of  myrrh,  as  heavy  as  he  can  carry,  which  he  often  essays  be- 
forehand ;  then  he  makes  a  hole  in  it,  where  he  deposits  his  parent's  body, 
and  closes  it  carefully  with  myrrh  and  other  perfumes.  After  this  he  takes 
up  the  precious  load  on  his  shoulders,  and  flying  to  the  altar  of  the  sun,  in  the 
city  of  Heliopolis,  he  there  burns  it. 

Herodotus  and  Tacitus  dispute  the  truth  of  some  of  the  circumstances  of 
this  account,  but  seem  to  suppose  it  true  in  general.  Pliny,  on  the  contrar}^ 
in  the  very  beginning  of  his  account  of  it,  insinuates  plainly  enough,  that  he 
looks  upon  the  whole  as  fabulous  ;  and  this  is  the  opinion  of  all  moderr 
authors. 

This  ancient  tradition,  though  grounded  on  an  evident  falsehood,  hath  yet 
introduced  into  almost  all  languages,  the  custom  of  giving  the  name  of  phoenix 
to  whatever  is  singular  or  uncommon  in  its  kind  :  Rara  avis  in  terris,l  says 
Juvenal,  speaking  of  the  difficulty  of  finding  an  accomplished  woman  in  all 
respects.    And  Seneca  observes  the  same  of  a  good  man.§ 

What  is  reported  of  swans,  viz.  that  they  never  sing  but  in  their  expiring 
moments,  and  that  then  they  warble  very  melodiously,  is  likewise  grounded 
merely  on  a  vulgar  error  ;  and  yet  it  is  used,  not  only  by  the  poets,  but  also 
by  the  orators,  and  even  the  philosophers.  O  mutis  quoque  piscihus  donatura 
Cycnt^  si  libeat,  sonum^W  says  Horace  to  Melpomene.  Cicero  compares  the 
pxcellenl  discourse  which  Crassus  made  in  the  senate,  a  few  days  before  hig 
death,  to  the  melodious  singing  of  a  dying  swan.  Ula  tanquam  cycnea  fuii 
divini  hominis  vox  et  oratio,  De  Orat.  1.  iii.  n.  6.  And  Socrates  used  to  say, 
that  good  men  ought  to  imitate  swans,  who  perceiving  by  a  secret  instinct,  and 
Bort  of  divination,  what  advantage  there  is  in  death,  die  singing  and  with  joy. 
Providentes  quid  in  morte  boni  sit^  cum  cantu  et  -^luptate  moriuniur.  Tusc. 
Qu.  1.  i.  n.  73.  I  thought  this  short  digression  migift  be  of  service  to  youth ; 
and  return  now  to  my  subject. 


*  Plutar.  de  Isid.  p.  354. 

t  Strab.  1.  xril,  p.  805.    Herod.  1.  ii.  c.  73.    Plin.  1.  x.  c.  2.    Tacit.  Ann.  1.  ri.  c.  28.  t  Sat.  vi. 

I  Vir  bonus  tarn  cito  nec  fieri  potest,  nee  intelli^i — tanquam  phoenix,  semei  anno  qrdnn^entesimo  naaci' 
ter-^-E^  40.  1.1  Oil.  iii.  1.  ir 


OF  EGVPT 


109 


It  was  in  Heliopol^s,  that  an  ox,  under  the  name  of  Mnevis,  was  worshipped 
4s  a  god.*  Cambyses,  king  of  Persia,  exercised  his  sacrilegious  lage  on  fnis 
city  ;  burning  the  temples,  demolishing  the  palaces,  and  destroying  the  most 
precious  monuments  of  antiquity  in  it.  There  are  still  to  be  seen  some  or:€- 
•  isks  which  escaped  his  fury  ;  and  others  were  brought  from  thence  lo  Ptome, 
'0  which  city  they  are  an  ornament  even  at  this  day. 

Alexandria,  built  by  Alexander  the  Great,  from  whom  it  had  its  name, 
/iedalm(jst  in  magnificence  with  the  ancient  cities  in  Egypt.  It  stands  four 
day's  journey  from  Cairo,  and  was  formerly  the  chief  mart  of  all  the  eastern 
trade.  The  merchandizef  was  unloaded  at  Portus  Muris,J:  a  town  on  the 
ivestern  coast  of  the  Red  Sea  ;  from  whence  it  was  brought  upon  camels  to  a 
town  of  Thebais,  called  Copht,  and  conveyed  down  the  Nile  to  Alexandria, 
whither  merchants  resorted  from  all  parts. 

It  is  well  known,  that  the  East-India  trade  has  at  all  times  enriched  those 
who  carried  it  on.  This  was  the  chief  source  of  the  vast  treasures  that  Solo- 
mon amassed,  and  which  enabled  him  to  build  the  magnificent  temple  of  Je- 
rusalem. David,  by  conquering  Idumaea,  became  master  of  Elath  and  Esion- 
geber,§  two  towns  situated  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Red  Sea.  From  these 
two  ports,  Solomon  sent  fleets  to  Ophir  and  Tarshish,!|  which  ahvays  brought 
back  immense  riches. II  This  traffic,  after  having  been  enjoyed  some  time  by 
the  Syrians,  Avho  regained  Idumaea,  passed  from  them  into  the  hands  of  the 
Tyrians.  These  got  all  their  merchandise  conveyed  by  the  way  of  Rhino- 
culura,  a  sea-port  town,  lying  between  the  confines  of  Egypt  and.  Palestine, 
to  Tyre,  from  whence  they  distributed  them  all  over  the  western  world.  Here- 
by the  Tyrians  enriched  themselves  exceedingly,  under  the  Persian  empire, 
by  the  favour  and  protection  of  w^hose  monarchs  they  had  the  full  possession 
of  this  trade.  But  when  the  Ptolemies  had  made  themselves  masters  of  Egypt, 
they  soon  drew  all  this  trade  into  their  kingdom,  by  building  Berenice  and 
other  ports  on  the  western  side  of  the  Red  Sea,  belonging  to  Egypt ;  and  fixed 
their  chief  mart  at  Alexandria,  which  thereby  rose  to  be  the  city  of  the  great- 
est trade  in  the  world.^*  There  it  continued  for  many  centuries  after; 
and  all  the  traffic,  which  the  v/estern  parts  of  the  world  from  that  time  had 
with  Persia,  India,  Arabia,  and  the  eastern  coasts  of  Africa,  was  w^holly  car- 
ried on  through  the  Red  Sea  and  the  mouth  of  the  Nile,  till  a  way  was  dis- 
covered, a  little  above  two  hundred  years  since,  of  sailing  to  these  parts  by 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  After  this,  the  Portuguese  for  some  time  w^ere  mas- 
ters of  this  trade  ;  but  now  it  is  in  a  manner  engrossed  by  the  English  and 
Dutch.  This  short  account  of  the  East-India  trade,  from  Solomon's  time  to 
the  present  age,  is  extracted  from  Dr.  Prideaux.jt 

For  the  convenience  of  trade,  there  was  built  near  Alexandria,  in  an  island 
called  Pharos,  a  tower  which  bore  the  same  name.^J  At  the  top  of  this  tow^er 
was  kept  a  fire,  to  light  such  ships  as  sailed  by  night  near  those  dangerous 
coasts,  which  were  full  of  sands  and  shelves  ;  n-om  whence  all  other  towxTS 
designed  for  the  same  use  have  been  called,  as  Pharo  di  Messina,  kc.  The 
famous  architect  Sostratus  built  it  by  order  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  who  ex- 
pended ei^ht  hundred  talents  upon  it.§§  It  w^as  reckoned  one  of  the  seven 
wonders  of  the  world.  Some,  through  a  mistake,  have  commended  that  prince, 
for  permitting^  the  architect  to  put  his  name  in  the  inscription  which  was  fixed 
on  the  tower  instead  of  hisowm.||||  It  was  very  short  and  plain,  according  to 
*be  manner  of  the  ancients.  Sostratus  Cnidvus  Dexiphctnis  F,  Diis  Servatori 
bus^  pro  navigantibus :  i,e,  Sostratus,  the  Cnidian,  son  of  Dexiphanes,  to  the 


♦  Strab.  1.  xvii.  p.  805.  j  Strab.  1.  xvi.  p.  781.  +  Or,  Myos  Hormos. 

5  2  Sam.  viii.  14.  H  l  Kin^ s,  ix.  26. 

IT  He  got  in  one  voyage  450  talents  of  gold,  2  Chron.  viii.  13.  which  amounts  to  fourteen  milliong  thre« 
fjodred  and  eighty-six  thousand  and  six  hundred  dollars.— Prid.  Connect  vol.  I.  ad.  ann.  740,  note. 
*•  Strab.  1.  xvi  p.  481.  ft  Part  I.  1.  i.  p.  9.  i+  Strab.  1.  xvii.  p.  791.    Plin.  1.  xxxvi.  e.  li. 

[6^  Eight  hundred  thousand  crowns,  or  almost  eight  hundred  and  eleven  thousand  dollars. 
)|J)  Maerao  animo  Ptoleroai  regis,  quod  in  ea  permiserit  Sostrati  Cnidii  architect/  Jtructurc  noracn  i»- 
cnbi — Plin- 


no 


MANNERS  AiND  CUSTOMS 


protecting  deities,  for  the  use  of  sea-faring  people.  But  certainly  Ptolemy 
must  have  very  much  undervalued  that  kind  of  immortality  which  princes  are 
generally  very  fond  of,  to  suffer  that  his  name  should  not  be  so  much  as  men- 
tioned in  the  insciiption  of  an  edifice  so  capable  of  immortalizing  him.  What 
we  read  in  Luoian  concerning  this  matter,  deprives  Ptolemy  of  a  modfisty, 
which  indeed  would  be  very  ill  placed  here.  This  author  informs  us  that 
Sostratus,  to  engross  the  whole  glory  of  that  noble  structure  to  himself,  caused 
the  inscription  with  his  own  name  to  be  carved  in  the  marble,  which  he  after- 
wards covered  with  lime,  and  thereupon  put  the  king's  name.  TThe  lime 
5oon  mouldered  away  :  and  by  that/ means,  instead  of  procuring  the  architect 
the  honour  with  which  he  had  flattered  himself,  served  only  to  discover  to 
future  ages  his  mean  fraud  and  ridiculous  vanity.* 

Riches  failed  not  to  bring  into  this  city,  as  they  usually  do  in  all  places, 
luxury  and  licentiousness  ;  so  that  the  Alexandrian  voluptuousness  became  a 
proverb. t  In  this  city  arts  and  sciences  were  also  industriously  cultivated  ; 
witness  that  stately  edifice,  surnamed  the  Museum,  where  the  literati  used  tc 
meet,  and  were  maintained  at  the  public  expense  :  and  the  famous  library, 
which  was  augmented  considerably  by  Ptclemy  Philadelphus,  and  whi(  h,  by 
the  munificence  of  the  kings,  his  successors,  at  last  contained  seven  hundred 
thousand  volumes.  In  Caesar's  wars  with  the  Alexandrians,!  part  of  this  library, 
situate  in  the  Bruchion,§  which  consisted  of  four  hundred  thousand  volume* 
•vas  unhappily  consumed  by  fire. 


PART  SECOND. 

OF  THE  MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  EGYPTIANS. 

Egypt  was  ever  considered  by  all  the  ancients  as  the  most  renowned  schoo) 
for  wisdom  and  politics,  and  the  source  from  whence  most  arts  and  sciences 
were  derived.  This  kingdom  bestowed  its  noblesi  labours  and  finest  arts  on 
the  improvement  of  mankind  ;  and  Greece  was  so  sensible  of  this,  that  its 
most  illustrious  men,  as  Homer,  Pythagoras,  Plato,  even  its  great  legislators, 
Lycui^us  and  Solon,  with  many  more  whom  it  is  needless  to  mention,  travelled 
into  Egypt  to  complete  their  studies,  and  draw  from  that  fountain  whatever 
was  most  rare  and  valuable  in  every  kind  of  learning.  God  himself  has  given 
this  kingdom  a  glorious  testimony.  When  praising  Moses,  he  says  of  hin^, 
that  He  was  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians. \\ 

To  give  some  idea  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  Egypt,  I  shall  confine 
myself  principally  to  these  particulars  :  its  kings  and  government ;  priests  and 
religion  ;  soldiers  and  war ;  sciences,  arts,  and  trades. 

The  reader  must  not  be  surprised,  if  he  sometimes  finds,  in  the  custon^s  1 
>ake  notice  of,  a  kind  of  contradiction.  This  circumstance  is  owing,  either  to 
the  difference  of  countries  and  nations  which  did  not  always  follow  the  same 
•isages,  or  to  the  different  way  of  thinking  of  the  historians  whom  I  copy.  • 


CHAPTER  I. 

CONCERNXNa  THE  KINGS  AHB  GOVEHNMEIf  T. 

The  Egyptians  were  the  first  people  who  rightly  understood  the  lules  of  go 
rernment.  A  nation  so  grave  and  serious,  immediately  perceived,  that  thp 
irue  end  of  politics  is  to  make  life  easy,  and  a  people  happy. 


♦  De  Scribend.  Hist.  p.  706.  f  Ne  A  lexandriuis  qui  .'em  perrnittenda  deliciia. — 

^  Plut.  in  Caes.  p.  731.    Seneoa  de  tranquil,  nniin.  c.  ix. 
\  A  quarter  or  division  of  th«  city  of  Al^f  xjndria.  |{  AcU  vii  22. 


Quiati} 


OF  THE  EGYPTIANS. 


Ill 


The  kingdom  was  hereditary ;  but,  according  to  Diodonis,  the  Egyptian 
princes  conducted  themselves  in  a  different  manner  from  what  is  usually  seen 
in  other  monarchies,  where  the  prince  acknowledges  no  other  rule  of  his  ac 
tions  but  his  own  arbitrary  will  and  pleasure.*  But  here,  kings  were  undef 
gre-^ter  restraint  than  their  subjects.  They  had  some  particular  ones,  digested 
by  a  former  monarch,  that  composed  part  of  those  books  which  the  Egyptians 
called  Sdcred.  Thus,  every  thing  being  settled  by  ancient  custom,  they  never 
so'^ght  to  live  in  a  different  way  from  their  ancestors. 

Is  0  slave  nor  foreigner  was  admitted  into  the  immediate  service  of  the 
prince  ;  such  a  post  was  too  important  to  be  entrusted  to  any  persons,  except 
those  who  were  the  most  distinguished  by  their  birth,  and  had  received  the 
most  excellent  education  ;  to  the  end  that,  as  they  had  the  liberty  of  approach- 
ing the  king's  person  day  and  night,  he  might,  from  men  so  qualified,  heal 
nothing  which  was  unbecoming  the  royal  majesty  ;  or  have  any  sentiments 
instilled  into  him,  but  such  as  were  of  a  noble  and  generous  kind.  For,  adds 
Diodorus,  it  is  very  rarely  seen,  that  kings  fly  out  into  any  vicious  excess  un- 
less those  who  approach  them  approve  their  irregularities,  or  serve  as  instru- 
ments to  their  passions. 

The  kings  of  Egypt  freely  permitted,  not  only  the  quality  and  proportion 
of  their  eatables  and  liquids  to  be  prescribed  them,  (a  thing  customary  in 
Egypt,  the  inhabitants  of  which  were  all  sober,  and  whose  air  inspired  frugal- 
ity ;)  but  even  that  all  their  hours,  and  almost  every  action,  should  be  under 
the  regulation  of  the  laws. 

In  the  morning  at  day-break,  when  the  head  is  clearest,  and  the  thoughts 
most  unperplexed,  they  read  the  several  letters  they  received,  to  form  a  more 
just  and  distinct  idea  of  the  affairs  which  were  to  come  under  their  considera- 
tion that  day. 

As  soon  as  they  were  dressed,  they  went  to  the  da^ly  sacrifice  performed  in 
the  temple  ;  w^here,  surrounded  with  their  whole  court,  and  the  victims  placed 
before  the  altar,  they  assisted  at  the  prayer  pronounced  aloud  by  the  high- 
riest,  in  which  he  asked  of  the  gods  health  and  all  other  blessings  for  the 
ing,  because  he  governed  hjfi  people  with  clemency  and  justice,  and  made 
the  laws  of  hi€  kingdom  the  rule  and  standard  of  his  actions.  The  high-priest 
entered  into  a  long  detail  of  his  royal  virtues  ;  observing  that  he  was  religious 
to  the  gods,  affable  to  men,  moderate,  just,  magnanimous,  sincere ;  an  enemy 
to  falsehood,  liberal,  master  of  his  passions,  punishing  crimes  with  the  utmost 
lenity,  but  boundless  in  rewarding  merit.  He  never  spoke  of  the  faults  which 
kings  might  be  guilty  of,  but  supposed  at  the  same  time,  that  they  never  com- 
mitted any,  except  by  surprise  or  ignorance  ;  and  loaded  with  impreoations 
such  of  their  ministers  as  gave  them  ill  counsel,  and  suppressed  or  disguised 
the  truth.  Such  were  the  methods  of  conveying  instruction  to  their  kings.  It 
was  thought  that  reproaches  would  only  sour  their  tempers  ;  and  that  the  moit 
effectual  method  to  inspire  them  with  virtue,  would  be  to  point  out  to  them 
their  duty  in  praises  conformable  to  the  sense  of  the  laws,  and  pronounced  in  a 
solemn  manner  before  the  gods.  After  the  prayers  and  sacrifice  were  ended, 
the  counsels  and  actions  of  great  men  were  read  to  the  king  out  of  the  sacred 
books,  in  order  that  he  might  govern  his  dominions  according  to  their  maxims, 
and  maintain  the  laws  which  had  made  his  predecessors  and  their  subjects 
80  happy. 

I  have  already  observed,  that  the  quantity  as  well  as  quality  of  both  eatables 
and  liquids  were  prescribed  by  the  laws  to  the  king ;  his  table  was  covered 
with  nothing  but  the  most  common  food,  because  eating  in  Egypt  was  design- 
ed not  tc please  the  palate,  but  to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  nature.  One  would 
have  concluded,  (observes  the  historian,)  that  these  rules  had  been  laid  down 
by  some  able  physician,  who  was  attentive  only  to  the  health  of  the  prince, 
father  than  by  a  legislator.   The  same  simplicity  was  seen  in  all  other  things 


•  Dmi.  1.  i.  |w  6S,  Jee. 


112 


MAI^NEItS  AND  CUISTOMa 


and  we  read  in  Plutarch,  of  a  temple  in  Thebes,  which  had  one  of  its  pillar* 
inscribed  with  imprecations  against  that  king  who  first  introduced  profusion 
and  luxury  into  Egypt.* 

The  principal  duty  of  kings,  and  their  most  essential  function,  is  the  admini- 
stering of  justice  to  their  subjects.  Accordingly,  the  kings  of  Egypt  cultivated 
more  immediately  this  duty ;  convinced  that  on  this  depended  not  only  the 
ease  and  comfort  of  individuals,  but  the  happiness  of  the  state  ;  which  would 
be  a  herd  of  robbers,  rather  than  a  kingdom,  should  the  weak  be  unprotect- 
ed, and  the  powerful  enabled  by  their  riches  and  influence,  to  commit  crimes 
with  impunity. 

Thirty  judges  were  selected  out  of  the  principal  cities,  to  form  a  body  for 
dispensing  justice  through  the  whole  kingdom.  The  prince,  in  filling  these 
vacancies,  chose  such  as  were  most  renowned  for  their  honesty,  and  put  at 
their  head  him  who  was  most  distinguished  for  his  knowledge  and  love  of  the 
laws,  and  was  had  in  the  most  universal  esteem.  By  his  bounty,  they  had 
revenues  assigned  them,  to  the  end  that,  being  freed  from  domestic  cares,  they 
might  devote  their  whole  time  to  the  execution  of  the  laws.  Thus,  honour- 
ably maintained  by  the  generosity  of  the  prince,  they  administered  gratui- 
tously to  the  people,  that  justice  to  which  they  have  a  natural  right,  and  which 
ought  to  be  equally  open  to  all ;  and,  in  some  sense,  to  the  poor  more  than 
the  rich,  because  the  latter  find  a  support  within  themselves;  whereas  the 
very  condition  of  the  former  exposes  them  more  to  injuries,  and  therefore 
calls  louder  for  the  protection  of  the  laws.  To  guard  against  surprise,  affairs 
were  transacted  by  writing  in  the  assemblies  of  these  judges.  That  false  elo- 
quence was  dreaded,  which  dazzles  the  mind,  and  moves  the  passions.  Truth 
could  not  be  expressed  with  too  much  plainness,  as  it  was  to  have  the  only 
sway  in  judgments  ;  because  in  that  alone  the  rich  and  poor,  the  powerful  and 
weak,  the  learned  and  the  ignorant,  were  to  find  relief  and  security.  The 
resident  of  this  senate  wore  a  collar  of  gold  set  with  precious  stones,  at  which 
ung  a  figure  represented  blind,  this  being  called  the  emblem  of  truth.  When 
the  president  put  this  collar  on,  it  was  understood  as  a  signal  to  enter  upo;^ 
business.  He  touched  the  party  with  it  who  \^as  to  gain  his  cause,  and  this 
was  the  form  of  passing  sentence. 

The  most  excellent  circumstance  in  the  laws  of  the  Egyptians,  was,  tba 
every  individual,  from  his  infancy  was  nurtured  in  the  strictest  observance  oJ 
them.  A  new  custom  in  Egypt  was  a  kind  of  miracle.!  All  things  there 
ran  in  the  old  channel ;  and  the  exactness  with  which  little  matters  were  ad- 
hered io,  preserved  those  of  more  importance  ;  consequently  no  nation  evei 
preserved  their  laws  and  customs  longer  than  the  Egyptians. 

Wilful  murder  was  punished  with  death,  whatever  might  be  the  condition 
of  the  murdered  person,  whether  he  was  free-born  or  otherwise.^  In  this  the 
humanity  and  equity  of  the  Egyptians  was  superior  to  that  of  the  Romans 
who  gave  the  master  an  absolute  power  as  to  life  and  death  oyer  his  shve 
The  emperor  Adrian,  indeed,  abolished  this  law,  from  an  opfnion,'that  an  abuse 
of  this  nature  ought  to  be  reformed,  let  its  antiquity  or  authority  be  eves 
io  great. 

Perjury  was  also  punished  with  death,  because  that  crime  attacks  both  the 
gods,  whose  majesty  is  trampled  upon  by  invoking  their  name  to  a  false  oath, 
and  men,  by  breaking  the  strongest  tie  of  human  society,  viz.  sincerity  and 
hf>nesty.§ 

The  false  accuser  was  condemned  to  undergo  the  punishment  which  the 
person  accused  was  to  suffer,  had  the  accusation  been  proved.|| 

He  who  had  neglected  or  refused  to  save  a  man's  life  when  attacked,  if  it 
was  in  his  power  to  assist  him,  was  punished  as  rigorously  as  the  assassin  j 
but  if  the  unfortunate  person  could  not  be  succoured,  the  offender  was  at 
least  to  be  impeached,  and  penalties  were  decreed  for  any  neglect  of  thif 


*  Dc  Isid.  etOsir.  p.  3M.        f  Plut.  iu  Tim.  p.  «3.'-0.        t  Vf'iod.  ].  i.  p.  70.        {  Pas;e  69.  p 


OV  THE  EGVn  iANa 


US 


kind.*  Thus  the  subjects  were  a  guard  and  })rotection  lo  one  another  ;  ;>iid 
the  whole  body  of  the  community  unitea  against  the  designs  of  the  bad. 

No  man  was  allowed  to  be  useless  to  the  rtate  ;  but  every  man  was  obliged 
to  enter  his  name  and  place  of  abode  in  a  public  register,  that  remained  in 
tlie  hands  of  the  magistrate,  and  to  stale  his  profession,  and  means  of  sup- 
port.t  If  he  gave  a  false  account  of  himself,  he  was  immediately  put  to 
death. 

To  prevent  the  borrowing  of  money,  the  parent  of  sloth,  frauds,  and  chi- 
cane, king  Asychus  made  a  very  judicious  law.J  The  wisest  and  best  njau- 
lated  states,  as  Athens  and  Rome,  ever  found  insuperable  difficulties,  in  con- 
triving a  just  medium  to  restrain,  on  the  one  hand,  the  cruelty  of  the  creditoi 
in  the  exaction  of  his  loan  ;  and,  on  the  other,  the  knavery  of  the  debtor,  who 
refused  or  neglected  to  pay  his  debts.  Now,  Egypt  took  a  wise  course  on 
this  occasion ;  and  without  doing  an  injury  to  the  personal  liberty  of  its  in- 
habitants, or  ruining  their  families,  pursued  the  delj^or  with  incessant  fears  oi 
infamy  in  case  he  were  dishonest.  No  man  was  permitted  to  borrow  money 
without  pawning  to  the  creditor  the  body  of  his  father,  which  every  Eg3'p- 
tian  embalmed  with  great  care ;  and  kept  reverentially  in  his  house,  (as  will 
be  observed  in  the  sequel,)  and  therefore  might  easily  be  moved  from  one 
place  to  another.  But  it  was  equally  impious  and  infamous  not  to  redeem 
soon  so  precious  a  pledge ;  and  he  who  died  without  having  discharged  this 
duty,  was  deprived  of  the  customaiy  honour  paid  to  the  dead.§ 

Oiodorus  remarks  an  error  committed  by  some  of  the  Grecian  legisIators.il 
They  forbid,  for  instance,  the  taking  away  (to  satisfy  debts)  the  horses, 
ploughs,  and  other  implements  of  husbandry  employed  by  peasants  ;  judging 
it  inhuman  to  reduce,  by  this  security,  these  poor  men  to  an  impossibility  of 
dischai^ing  their  debts,  and  getting  their  bread :  but  at  the  same  time  they 
permitted  the  creditor  to  imprison  the  peasants  themselves,  who  alone  were 
capable  cf  using  these  implements  ;  which  exposed  them  to  the  same  incon- 
veniences, and  at  the  same  time  deprived  the  government  of  persons  who  be- 
long, and  are  necessary  to  it;  who  labour  for  the  public  emolument,  and  over 
whose  person  no  private  man  has  any  right. 

.Polygamy  was  allowed  in  Egypt,  except  to  priests,  who  could  marry  but 
one  woman. ^  Whatever  was  the  condition  of  the  woman,  whether  she  was 
free  or  a  slave,  her  children  were  deemed  free  and  legitimate. 

One  custom  that  was  practised  in  Egypt,  shows  the  profound  darkness  into 
which  such  nations  as  were  most  celebrated  for  their  wisdom  have  been 
plunged  ;  and  this  is  the  marriage  of  brothers  with  their  sisters,  which  was  not 
only  authorized  by  the  lay*^s,  but  even,  in  some  measure,  was  a  part  of  their 
religion,  from  the  example  and  practice  of  such  of  their  gods  as  had  been  the 
most  anciently  and  universally  adored  in  Egypt,  that  is,  Osiris  and  Isis.** 

A  very  great  respect  was  there  paid  to  old  age.  The  young  were  obliged 
to  rise  up  for  the  old,  and  on  every  occasion  to  resign  to  them  the  most  ho- 
nourable seat.    The  Spartans  borrowed  this  law  from  the  Egyptians. It 

The  virtue  in  the  highest  esteem  among  the  Egyptians,  was  gratitude.*  The 
glory  which  has  been  given  them  of  being  the  most  grateful  of  all  men,  shov.  s 
that  they  were  the  best  formed  of  any  nation  for  social  life.  Benefits  are  the 
band  ot  concord,  both  public  and  private.  He  who  acknowledges  favours, 
loves  to  do  good  to  others  ;  and  in  banishing  ingratitude,  the  pleasure  of  doing 
good  remains  so  pure  and  engaging,  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  man  to  be  in- 
sensible to  il  •  but  no  kind  of  gratitude  gave  the  Egyptians  a  more  pleasing 


*  D"  d  1.  i.  p.  69.  r  I.Iern.  -  M  \  ]].  r.  t>  . 

f  This  law  put  the  whole  sepulchre  of  the  debtor  into  the  poTver  of  the  crrditor,  who  removed  to  h« 
own  house  the  body  of  llse  fatJier:  the  debtor  refusing-  to  discharg-e  his  obligation,  was  to  be  deprived  q{ 
onrial,  either  in  l:is  f.ither's  sepulchre  or  any  other;  imd  while  he  lived,  he  was  not  perrr;itted  to  buiy  any 
person  descended  froin  him.  Miv3{  aurw  {xti'vw  Tf XfuTTiaavTi  tTvai  7a(pnf  xuPncrai— pint'  dUov  Lin5{va  y  \ 
icLvr^  arro  7;.vojl£v-v  i-a\i/>'ii — Herod. 

H  Diod.  1.  i.  p.  11.  V  Diod.  1.  i.  p.  ~,Z.  **  Idem.      2'2.  ff  Herod  I       e.  94i 


114 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS 


satisfaction,  than  that  which  was  paid  to  their  kings.  Princes,  while  living, 
were  by  them  honoured  as  so  many  visible  representations  of  the  Deity  ;  aira 
after  their  death  were  mourned  a^  the  fathers  of  their  country.  These  senti- 
•nents  of  respect  and  tenderness,  proceeded  from  a  strong  persuasion,  that 
ihe  Divinity  himself  had  placed  them  upon  the  throne,  as  he  distinguished 
^hem  so  greatly  from  all  other  mortals ;  and  that  kings  bore  the  most  ncble 
characteristics  of  the  Supreme  Being,  as  the  power  and  will  of  doing  good 
others  are  united  in  their  persons. 


CHAPTER  11. 

OONCEHNZNa  TKZ3  FRXSSTS  AND  HBZiIGZON  OP 

THZ2  ZSGYPTIASfS. 

Priests,  in  Egypt,  helS  the  second  rank  to  kings.  They  had  great  privi- 
leges and  revenues;  their  lands  were  exempted  from  all  imposts;  of  which 
some  traces  are  seen  in  Genesis,  where  it  is  said,  Joseph  made  it  a  laz2)  over 
the  land  of  Egypt  ^  that  Pharaoh  should  have  the  fifth  party  except  the  land  of 
the  priests  only,  which  became  not  Pharaoh'' s»^  • 

The  prince  usually  honoured  them  with  a  large  share  in  his  confidence  and 
government,  because  they,  ol  all  his  subjects,  had  received  the  best  educa- 
tion, had  acquired  the  greatest  knowledge,  and  were  most  strongly  attached 
to  the  king's  person  and  the  good  of  the  public.  They  were  at  the  same 
time  the  depositaries  of  religion  and  of  the  sciences  ;  and  to  this  circum- 
stance was  owing  the  great  respect  which  was  paid  them  by  the  natives  as 
well  as  foreigners,  by  whom  they  were  alike  consulted  upon  the  most  sacred 
things  relating  to  the  mysteries  of  religion,  and  the  most  profound  subjects  in 
the  several  sciences. 

The  Egyptians  pretend  to  be  the  first  institutors  of  festivals  and  proces- 
sions in  honour  of  the  gods.  One  festival  was  celebrated  in  the  city  of  Bu- 
bastus,  whither  persons  resorted  from  all  parts  of  Egypt,  and  upwards  of 
seventy  thousand,  besides  children,  were  seen  at  it.  Another,  surnamed  the 
Feast  of  the  Lights,  was  solemnized  at  Sais.  All  persons,  throughout  Egypt, 
who  did  not  go  to  Sais,  were  obliged  to  illuminate  their  windows.t 

Different  animals  were  sacrificed  in  different  countries  ;  but  one  common 
and  general  ceremony  was  observed  in  all  sacrifices,  viz,  the  laying  of  hands 
upon  the  head  of  the  victim,  loading  it  at  the  same  time  with  imprecations, 
and  praying  the  gods  to  divert  upon  that  victim,  all  the  calamities  which 
mjpfht  threaten  Egypt.J 

it  is  to  Egypt  that  Pythagoras  owed  his  favourite  doctrine  of  the  metemp- 
sychosis, or  transmigration  of  souls.  The  Egyptians  believed,  that  at  the 
death  of  men,  their  souls  transmigrated  into  other  human  bodies  ;  and  that,  if 
they  had  been  vicious,  they  were  imprisoned  in  the  bodies  of  unclean  or  ill 
conditioned  beasts,  to  expiate  in  them  their  past  transgressions  :  and  thataftpy 
a  revolution  of  some  centuries,  they  again  animated  other  human  bodies.§ 

The  priests  had  the  possession  of  the  sacred  books,  which  contained^  at 
large,  the  principles  of  governmer^t,  as  well  as  the  mysteries  of  divine  wor- 
ship. Both  were  commonly  involved  in  symbols  and  enigmas,  which  under 
these  veiiS  made  truth  more  venerable,  and  excited  more  strongly  the  curiositjr 
of  men. II  The  figure  of  Harpocrater>,  in  the  Egyptian  sanctuaries,  with  his 
finger  upon  his  mouth,  seemed  to  intimate,  that  mysteries  were  there  inclosed, 
the  knowledge  of  which,  was  revealed  but  to  very  few.  The  sphinxes,  placed 
at  the  entrance  of  all  temples,  implied  the  same.  It  is  very  well  known,  that 
pyramids,  obelisks,  pillars,  statues,  in  a  word,  all  public  monuments,  were 


•  Prcji.  xlvii.  2d  t  Herot!.  1.  ii.  c.  60.  i  Herod.  1.  \\.  c.  39.  h  Uiod.  1.  i.  p.  M 

IJ  Plut.  de  I  A.  »♦  '^-ir  p.  354 


^      OF  THE  EGVPTLANS. 


lib 


usually  adorned  with  hieroglyphics,  that  is,  with  symbolical  writings  ^  Vfhether 
these  were  characters  unknown  to  the  vulgar,  or  figures  of  animals,  under 
which  was  couched  a  hidden  and  parabolical  meaning.  Thus,  by  a  hare  was 
signified  a  lively  and  piercing  attention,  because  this  creature  has  a  very 
delicate  sense  of  hearing.*  The  statue  of  a  judge  without  hands,  and  with 
eyes  fixed  upon  the  ground,  symbolized  the  duties  of  those  who  were  to  exer- 
cise the  judiciary  functions.! 

It  would  require  a  volume  to  treat  fully  of  the  religion  of  the  Egyptians. 
But  I  shall  confine  myself  to  two  articles,  which  form  the  principal  part  of  it ; 
and  these  are,  the  worship  of  the  different  deities,  and  the  ceremonies  relating 
lo  funerals 

SECT.  I. — THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE  VARIOUS  DEITIES. 

Never  were  any  people  more  superstitious  than  the  Egyptians.  They  had 
a  great  number  of  gods,  of  different  orders  and  degrees,  w^hich  I  shall  omit, 
because  they  belong  more  to  fable  than  to  history.  Among  the  rest,  two 
were  universally  adored  in  that  country,  and  these  were  Osiris  and  Isis,  which 
are  thought  to  be  the  sun  and  moon ;  and,  indeed,  the  worship  of  those  planets 
gave  rise  to  idolatry. 

Besides  these  gods,  the  Egyptians  wwshipped  a  great  number  of  beasts  ; 
as  the  ox,  the  dog,  the  wolf,  the  hawd<,  the  crocodile,  the  ibis,J:  the  cat,  &c. 
Many  of  these  beasts  were  the  objects  of  the  superstition  only  of  some  parti 
cular  cities  ;  and  while  one  people  worshipped  one  species  of  animals  as  gods, 
their  neighbours  had  the  sam.e  animal  gods  In  abomination.  This  was  the 
source  of  the  continual  wars  which  were  carried  on  between  one  city  and 
another ;  and  this  was  owing  to  the  false  policy  of  one  of  their  kings,  who  to 
deprive  them  of  the  opportunity  and  means  of  conspiring  against  the  state, 
endeavoured  to  amuse  them,  by  engaging  them  in  religious  contests.  I  call 
this  a  false  and  mistaken  policy,  because  it  directly  thwarts  the  true  spirit  of 
government,  the  aim  of  w^iich  is,  to  unite  all  its  members  in  the  strictest  ties, 
and  to  make  all  its  strength  consist  in  the  perfect  harmony  of  its  several  parts. 

Every  nation  had  a  great  zeal  for  their  gods.  "Among  us,"  says  Cicero, 
"it  is  very  common  to  see  temples  robbed,  and  statues  carried  of!';  but  it  was 
never  known,  that  any  person  in  Egypt  ever  abused  a  crocodile,  an  ibis,  a 
cat ;  for  its  inhabitants  w^ould  have  suffered  the  most  extreme  torments,  rather 
than  be  guilty  of  such  sacrilege. "§  It  was  death  for  any  person  to  kill  one 
of  these  animals  voluntarily;  and  even  a  punishment  was  decreed  against  him 
who  should  have  killed  an  ibis,  or  a  cat,  with  or  without  design. ||  Diodorus 
relates  an  incident,  to  w^ich  he  himself  was  an  eye-w'itness,  during  his  stay 
in  Egypt.  A  Roman  having  inadvertently,  and  without  design,  killed  a  cat, 
the  exasperated  populace  ran  to  his  house,  and  neither  the  authority  of  the 
king,  w^ho  immediately  detached  a  body  of  his  guards,  nor  the  terror  of  the 
Roman  name,  could  rescue  the  unfortunate  criminal. 1l  And  such  was  the  reve- 
rence which  the  Egyptians  had  for  these  animals,  that  in  an  extreme  famine 
they  chose  to  eat  one  another,  rather  than  feed  upon  their  imagined  deities. 

Of  all  these  animals,  the  bull  Apis,  called  Epapttus  by  the  Greeks,  was  the 
fciost  famous.**  Magnificent  temples  were  erected  lo  him  ;  extraordinary  ho- 
nours were  paid  him,  while  he  lived,  and  still  greater  after  his  death.  Egypt 
went  then  into  a  general  mourning.  His  obsequies  were  solemnized  with 
mch  pomp  as  is  hardly  credible,  in  the  reign  of  Ptolemy  Lagus,  the  bull 
\pi?  dying  of  old  age,tt  the  funeral  pomp,  besides  the  ordinary  expenses, 
miounted  to  upwards  of  fifty  thousand  French  crowns.JJ  After  the  last  honours 


♦  Plut.  Sympos.  1.  iv.  p.  670.  f  Id.  de  Isld.  p.  355.  *  Or  ihe  F.<^yplir.n  stork. 

J  De  Nat.  l)<or.  1.  i.  n.  S2.    Tus.  (^uaist.  1.  v.  n.  78.  |1  Herod.  I.  'n.'c.  H5. 

IT  riod.  J.  i.  p.  74,  76.  **  Ht?rod.  1.  iii.  c.  27,  &:c.    Diod.  1.  i.  p.  16.    Plin.  1.  viii.  c.  46. 

ft  Pliny  affirms,  that  he  was  not  all)\veQ  to  exceed  a  certain  term  of  years,  and  was  drowued  in  thi 
O^Rt's  well — Non  est  fas  eum  certos  vitss  excedere  unnos,  mersumque  in  sacerdotim  ^onte  enecan* 
Hist.  I.  viii.  c.  46.  Ji  ^oS.OOO 


116 


MANI^ERfl  AND  CUSTOMS  - 


had  been  paid  to  the  deceased  god,  the  next  care  was  to  provide  him  a  sue 
cessor,  and  all  Egypt  was  sought  through  for  that  purpose.  He  was  known 
bj  certain  signs,  which  distinguished  him  from  all  other  anijnals  of  that  spe- 
cies ;  upon  his  forehead  was  to  be  a  white  spot,  in  form  of  a  crescent ;  on  his 
back,  the  figure  of  an  eagle  ;  upon  his  tongue,  that  cf  a  beetle.  As  soon  as 
.he  was  found,  mourning  gave  place  tojo^ ;  and  nothing  was  heard,  in  all  parts 
of  Egypt,  but  festivals  and  rejoicings.  The  new  god  was  brought  to  Mem- 
phis to  take  possession  of  his  dignity,  and  there  installed  with  a  great  number 
of  ceremonies.  The  reader  will  find  hereafter,  that  Cambvses,  at  his  return 
from  his  unfortunate  expedition  against  Ethiopia,  finding  all  the  Egyptians  in 
transports  of  joy  for  the  discovery  of  their  new  god  Apis,  and  imagining  that 
this  was  intended  as  an  insult  upon  his  misfortunes,  killed,  in  the  first  impulse 
of  his  fury,  the  young  bull,  who  by  that  means  had  but  a  short  enjoyment  of 
his  divinity. 

It  is  plain,  that  the  golden  calf,  set  up  near  Mount  Sinai  by  the  Israelites, 
was  owing  to  their  abode  in  Egypt,  and  an  imitation  of  the  god  Apis  ;  as 
well  as  those  which  were  afterwards  set  up  by  Jeroboam,  who  had  resided  a 
considerable  time  in  Egypt,  in  the  two  extremities  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel. 

The  Egyptians,  not  contented  with  offering  incense  to  animals,  carried  their 
folly  to  such  an  excess,  as  to  ascribe  a  divinity  to  the  pulse  and  roots  of  their 
gardens.    For  this  they  are  ingeniously  reproached  by  the  satirist  • 

"Who  has  not  heard  where  Egypt's  realms  are  nam'd, 
Wh«.t  monster  gods  her  frantic  sons  have  fram'd  ? 
Here  Ibis  gorged  with  well-grown  serpents,  there 
The  Crocodile  commands  religious  fear: 
Where  Memnon's  statue  magic  strains  inspire 
With  vocal  sounds  that  emulate  the  lyre  ; 
And  Thebes,  such,  Fate,  are  thy  disastrous  turns, 
Now  prostrate  o'er  her  pompous  ruins  mourns  ; 
A  monkey-god,  prodigious  to  be  told  ! 
Strikes  the  beholder's  eye  with  burnish'd  gold; 
To  godship  here  blue  Triton's  scaly  herd, 
The  river  progeny  is  there  preferr'd  . 
^  Through  towns  Diana's  power  neglected  lies. 

Where  to  her  dogs  aspiring  temples  rise  : 
And  should  you  leeks  or  onions  eat,  no  time 
Would  expiate  the  sacrilegious  crime. 
Religious  nations  sure,  and  blest  abodes. 
Where  every  orchard  is  o'er-run  with  gods  !* 

It  is  astonishing  to  see  a  nation,  which  boasted  its  superiority  above  all 
others  with  regard  to  wisdom  and  learning,  thus  blindly  abandon  itself  to  the 
most  gross  and  ridiculous  superstitions.  Indeed,  to  read  of  animals,  and  vile 
insects,  honoured  with  religious  worship,  placed  in  temples,  and  maintained 
with  great  care  at  an  extravagant  expense  ;t  to  read,  that  those  who  mur- 
dered them  weitB  punished  with  death  ;  and  that  these  animals  were  embalm- 
ed, and  solemnly  deposited  in  tombs  assigned  them  by  the  public ;  to  hear 
that  this  extravagance  was  carried  to  such  lengths,  as  that  leeks  and  onions 
were  acknowledged  as  deities,  were  invoked  in  necessity,  and  depended  upon 
for  succour  and  protection  ;  are  absurdities  which  we,  at  this  distance  of  time, 
can  scarcely  believe  ;  and  yet  they  have  the  evidence  of  all  antiquity.  You 
enter,  says  Lucian,J  into  a  magnificent  temple,  every  part  of  which  glitters 
njth  gold  ana  silver.    You  there  look  attentively  for  a  god,  and  are  cueated 


*  Q,uis  nescit,  Volusi  Bithynice,  qualia  demens 
jKgyptus  portenta  colat  ?    Crocodilon  adorat 
Pars  haec  :  ilia  pavet  saturam  serpentibus  Ibin. 
Effigies  sacri  nitet  aurea  Cercopitheci, 
Diniidio  magicge  resonant  ubi  Memnone  chordae, 
Atque  vetus  Thebe  centum  jacet  obruta  portis. 
lllic  caeruleos,  hie  piscem  flumini?,  illic 
Oppida  tota  canem  venerantur,  nemo  Dianara. 
Porrum  et  cepe  nefas  violare,  ac  frangere  morsu. 
O  sanctas  gentes,  quibus  haic  nascuntur  in  hortis 
Numinal  Juven.  Satir.  xv. 

t  Diodorus  affirms,  that  in  hii  time,  th«  tzpttnte  ajnoanted  to  no  less  than  one  handrcd  thousand  crovai^ 
•r  fllO.OOO.'  -iHb.  •'.  J.  76  J  Imaj 


or  THE  EGYPTIANS. 


117 


with  a  stork,  an  ape,  a  cat ;  a  just  emblem,  adds  that  author,  of  too  many 
palaces,  the  masters  of  which  are  far  from  being  the  brightest  ornaments  oi 
them. 

Several  reasons  are  given  for  the  worship  paid  to  animals  by  the  Egyptians.* 

The  first  is  drawn  from  fabulous  history.  It  is  pretended  that  the  gods,  in 
a  rebellion  made  against  them  by  men,  fled  into  Egypt,  and  there  concealed 
themselves  under  the  form  of  different  animals ;  and  that  this  gave  birth  to 
the  worship  which  was  afterwards  paid  to  those  animals. 

The  second  is  taken  from  the  benefit  which  these  several  animals  procure 
to  mankind  :t  oxen  by  their  labour;  sheep  by  their  wool  and  milk  ;  dogs  by 
their  service  in  hunting  and  guarding  houses,  whence  the  god  Anubis  was  re- 
presented with  a  dog's  head  ;  the  Ibis,  a  bird  very  much  resembling  a  stork* 
was  worshipped,  because  he  put  to  flight  the  winged  serpents,  with  which 
Egypt  would  otherwise  have  been  grievously  infested  ;  the  crocodile,  an  am- 
phibious creature,  that  is,  living  alike  upon  laTid  and  water,  of  a  surprising 
strength  and  size,J  was  worshipped,  because  he  defended  Egypt  from  the 
incursions  of  the  wild  Arabs ;  the  Ichneumon  was  adored,  because  he  pre- 
vented the  too  great  increase  of  crocodiles,  which  might  have  pro\  ed  destruc- 
tive to  Egypt.  Now,  the  little  animal  in  question  does  this  service  to  the 
country  two  ways.  First,  it  watches  the  time  when  the  crocodile  is  absent, 
and  breaks  his  eggs,  but  does  not  eat  them.  Secondly,  when  he  sleeps  upon 
the  banks  of  the  Nile,  which  he  ahvays  does  with  his  mouth  open,  this  small 
animal,  which  lies  concealed  in  the  mud,  leaps  at  once  into  his  mouth  ;  gets 
down  to  his  entrails,  which  he  gnaws  ;  then  piercing  his  belly,  the  skin  of 
which  is  very  tender,  he  escapes  with  safety  ;  and  thus,  by  his  address  and 
subMety,  returns  victorious  over  so  terrible  an  enemy. 

Philosophers,  not  satisfied  with  reasons,  which  were  too  trifling  to  account 
for  such  strange  absurdities  as  dishonoured  the  heathen  system,  and  at  which 
themselves  secretly  blushed,  have,  since  the  establishment  of  Christianity, 
supposed  a  third  reason  for  the  worship  which  the  Egy  ptians  paid  to  animals  ; 
and  declared  that  it  was  not  offered  to  the  animals  themselves,  but  to  the  gods 
of  w^hom  they  are  symbols.  Plutarch,  in  his  treatise,§  where  he  examines 
professedly^  the  pretensions  of  Isis  and  Osiris,  fhe  two  most  famous  deities  of 
the  Egyptians,  says  as  follow^s  :  "  Philosophers  honour  the  image  of  God 
wherever  they  find  it,  even  in  inanimate  beings,  and  consequently  more  in 
those  which  have  life.  We  are  therefore  to  approve,  not  the  W'orshippers  of 
these  animals,  but  those  who,  by  their  means,  ascend  to  the  Deity  ;  they  are 
to  be  considered  as  so  many  mirrors,  which  nature  holds  forth,  and  in  w-hich 
the  Supreme  Being  displays  himself  in  a  ww.derful  manner  ;  or,  as  so  many 
mstruments,  which  he  makes  use  of  to  manifest  outw^ardly  his  incomprehensi- 
ble wisdom.  Should  men,  therefore,  for  the  embellishing  of  statues,  amass 
together  all  the  gold  and  precious  stones  in  the  world,  the  worship  must  not 
be  referred  to  the  statues,  for  the  Deity  does  not  exist  in  colours  artfully  dis- 
posed, nor  in  frail  matter  destitute  of  sense  and  motion.  Plutarch  says  in 
the  same  treatise, ||  that  as  the  sun  and  moon,  heaven  and  earth,  and  the  sea, 
are  common  to  all  men,  but  have  different  names  according  to  the  difference 
of  nations  and  languages  ;  in  like  manner,  though  there  is  but  one  Deity  and 
one  Providence,  w^hich  governs  the  universe,  and  which  has  several  subaltem 
ministers  under  it,  men  give  to  the  Deity,  which  is  the  same,  different  names  5 
and  pay  it  different  honours,  according  to  the  laws  and  customs  of  eveiy 
Countiy." 

But'  were  these  reflections,  which  offer  the  most  rational  vindication  possi- 
Ne  of  idolatrous  worship,  sufficient  to  cover  the  absurdity  of  it  ?  Could  it  be 


♦  Diod.  1.  i.  p  77,  &c. 

t  Jp"  9"'  irridentur  ^.^yptii,  nullam  belluam  nisi  ob  aliquara  utiliketem  quMB  «x  ca  caperent.  coBMCm 
fifWit.— Cic.  lib.  i.  De  Natura  Deor.  n.  101. 

t  Which,  according  to  Herodotus,  is  mor«  than  17  cubit*  in  length,  I.  ii.  c.  68. 

i  Paje  382.  l|  Page  377,  ettTI. 


1 1 3  MANHmS  AND  UUtTQIttI 

called  exulting  the  divine  attributes  in  a  suitable  nia^ner,  to  direct  the  wor 
Clipper  to  admire  and  seek  for  the  image  of  them  in  beasti  of  the  most  vil  j 
and  contemptible  kinds,  as  crocodiles,  serpents,  and  cats  ?  Was  not  this  ra- 
ther degrading  and  debasing  the  Deity,  of  whom,  even  the  most  stupid^ 
usually  entertain  a  much  greater  and  more  august  idea  ? 

Ana  even  these  philosophers  were  not  always  so  just,  as  to  ascend  from 
sensible  beings  to  their  invisible  Author.  The  Scriptures  tell  us,  that  these 
pretended  sages  deserved,  on  account  of  their  pride  and  ingratitude,  to  U 
given  over  to  a  reprobate  mind;  and  while  they  professed  themselves  wise,  to  be- 
came fools,  for  having  changed  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God,  into  an  imagi 
made  like  to  corruptible  man,  and  to  birds,  and  four  footed  beasts,  and  creeping 
things."^  To  show  what  man  is  when  left  to  himself,  God  permitted  that  very 
nation  which  had  carried  human  wisdom  to  its  greatest  height,  to  be  the  thea- 
tre in  which  the  most  ridiculous  and  absurd  idolatry  was  acted.  And,  on  the 
other  side,  to  display  the  almighty  power  of  his  grace,  be  converted  the 
frightful  deserts  of  Egypt  into  a  terrestrial  paradise,  by  peopling  them,  Tn 
the  time  appointed  by  his  providence,  with  numberless  multitudes  of  illustri- 
ous hermits,  whose  fervent  piety  and  rigorous  penance  have  done  so  much 
honour  to  the  christiar^  religion.  I  cannot  forbear  giving  here  a  famous  in- 
stance of  it ;  and  I  hope  the  reader  will  excuse  this  kind  of  digression. 

The  great  wonder  of  Lower  Egypt,  says  Abbe  Fleary  in  his  Ecclesiastic?.! 
History,  was  the  city  oi  Oxyrinchus,  peopled  with  monks,  both  within  and 
without,  so  that  they  were  more  numerous  than  its  other  inhabitants.!  The 
public  edifices,  andt  idol  temples,  had  been  converted  into  monasteries,  and 
these  likewise  were  more  in  number  than  the  private  houses.  The  monk.** 
lodged  even  over  the  gates,  and  in  the  towers.  The  people  had  twelve 
churches  to  assemble  in,  exclusive  Df  tne  oratories  belonging  to  the  monaste- 
ries. There  were  twenty  thousand  virgins  and  ten  thousand  monks  in  this 
city,  every  part  of  which  echoed  night  and  day  with  the  praises  of  God.  By 
order  of  the  magistrates,  sentinels  were  posted  at  the  gates,  to  take  notice  of 
all  strangers  and  poor  who  came  into  the  city  ;  and  the  inhabitants  vied  with 
each  other  who  should  first  receive  them,  in  order  to  have  an  opportunity  oi 
exercising  their  hospitality  towards  them, 

SECT.  II. — THE  CEREMONIES  OF  THE  EGYPTIAN  FUNERALS. 

I  SHALL  now  give  a  concise  account  of  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  the 
Egyptians. 

The  honours  which  have  been  paid  in  all  ages  and  nations  to  the  bodies  of 
the  dead,  and  the  religious  care  taken  to  provide  sepulchres  for  them,  seem 
to  insinuate  an  universal  persuasion,  that  bodies  were  lodged  in  sepulchres 
merely  as  a  deposit  or  trust. 

We  have  already  observed,  in  our  mention  of  the  pyramids,  with  what 
magnificence  sepulchres  were  built  in  Egypt,  for,  besides  that  they  were  erect- 
ed as  so  many  sacred  monuments,  destined  to  transmit  to  future  times  the 
memory  of  great  princes,  they  were  likewise  considered  as  the  mansions  where 
the  body  was  to  remam  during  a  long  succession  of  ages  ;  whereas,  common 
houses  were  called  inns,  in  which  men  were  to  abide  only  as  travellers,  and 
that  during  the  course  of  a  life  which  was  too  short  to  engage  their  affections.J 

When  any  person  in  a  family  died,  all  the  kindred  and  friends  quitted  their 
usual  habits,  and  put  on  mourning  ;  and  abstained  from  baths,  wine,  and  dain- 
ties of  every  kind.  This  mourning  continued  from  forty  to  seventy  days, 
probably  according  to  the  quality  of  the  person. 

Bodies  were  embalmed  three  different  wtiys.5  The  most  magnificent  was 
bestowed  on  persons  of  distinguished  rank,  and  the  expense  amounted  to  a 
talent  of  silver,  or  three  thousand  French  livres.H 


•  Rom.  i  .  T  29.  as.      \  Tom.  r.  p.  25,  26.      X  I>io^- 1-  »•  P-  47 

II  About  |6J0. 


{  Herod.  1.  u.  c  tS,  fee. 


OF  T»E  EGYPTIAN  a. 


Many  hands  v/ere  employed  in  this  cereinonv.*  Some  drew  th«  fcraSa 
Uirougi)  the  nostrils,  by  an  instrument  made  for  that  purpose.  Others  emp- 
tied the  bowels  and  intestines,  by  cutting  a  hole  in  the  side,  with  an  Ethiopian 
stone  that  was  as  sharp  as  a  razor;  after  which  the  cavities  were  filled  with 
perfumes  and  various  odoriferous  drugs.  As  this  evacuation,  (which  was  ne* 
cessarily  attended  with  some  dissections,)  seemed  ir.  some  measure  cruel  and 
inhuman,  the  persons  employed  fled  as  soon  as  the  operation  was  over,  and 
were  pursued  with  stones  by  the  spectators.  .  But  those  w^ho  embalmed  the 
body  were  honourably  treated.  They  filled  it  with  myrrh,  cinnamon,  and 
nil  sorts  of  spices.  After  a  certain  time,  the  body  was  swathed  in  lawn  fil- 
lets, which  were  glued  together  with  a  kind  of  very  thin  gum,  and  then  crusted 
over  with  the  most  exquisite  perfumes.  By  this  means,  it  is  said,  that  theentire 
figure  of  the  body,  the  very  lineaments  of  the  face,  and  the  hair  on  the  lids  ?nd 
eye-brov/s,  were  preserved  in  their  natural  perfection.  The  body  thus  embalm- 
ed, was  delivered  to  the  relations,  who  shut  it  up  in  a  kind  of  open  chest,  fitted 
exactly  to  the  size  of  the  corpse  ;  then  they  placed  it  upright  against  the  wall, 
either  in  sepulchres,  if  they  had  any,  or  in  their  houses.  These  embalmed  bo 
dies  are  now  what  we  call  mummies,  which  are  still  brought  from  Egypt,  and  are 
found  in  the  cabinets  of  the  curious.  This  shows  the  care  which  the  Eg^/p- 
tians  took  of  their  dead.  Their  gratitude  to  their  deceased  relations  was  im- 
mortal. Children,  by  seeing  the  bodies  of  their  ancestors  thus  preserved, 
recalled  to  mind  those  virtues  for  which  the  public  had  honoured  tnem  ;  and 
were  excited  to  a  love  of  those  laws  which  such  excellent  persons  had  left  for 
their  security.  We  find  that  part  of  these  ceremonies  were  performed  in  the 
funeral  honours  paid  to  Joseph  in  Egypt. 

I  have  said  that  the  public  recognised  the  virtues  of  deceased  persons,  be- 
cause that,  before  they  could  be  admitted  into  the  sacred  asylum  of  the 
tomb,  they  underwent  a  solemn  trial.  And  this  circumstance  in  the  Egyptian 
funerals,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  to  be  found  in  ancient  history. 

It  was  a  consolation,  among  the  heathens,  to  a  dying  man,  to  leave  a  good 
name  behind  him,  imagining  that  this  is  the  only  human  blessing  of  which 
death  cannot  deprive  us.  But  the  Egyptians  would  not  suffer  praises  to  be 
bestowed  indiscriminately  on  all  deceased  persons.  This  honour  was  to  be 
obtained  only  from  the  public  voice.  The  assembly  of  the  judges  met  on 
the  other  side  of  a  lake,  which  they  crossed  in  a  boat.  He  who  sat  at  the 
helm  was  called  Charon,  in  the  Egyptian  language  ;  and  this  first  gave  the 
hint  to  Orpheus,  who  had  been  in  Egypt,  and  after  him  to  the  other  Greeks, 
to  invent  the  fiction  of  Charon's  boat.  As  soon  as  a  man  was  dead,  he  was 
brought  to  his  trial.  The  public  accuser  was  heard.  If  he  proved  tliat  the 
deceased  had  led  a  bad  life,  his  memory  w^as  condemned,  and  he  was  depri- 
ved of  burial.  The  people  admired  the  power  of  the  laws,  w-hich  extended 
even  beyond  the  grave  ;  and  every  one,  struck  with  the  disgrace  inflicted  on 
the  dead  person,  was  afraid  to  reflect  dishonour  on  his  own  memory,  and  his 
family.  Bui  if  the  deceased  person  was  not  convicted  of  any  crime,  he  wag 
interred  in  an  honourable  manner. 

A  still  more  astonishing  circumstance  in  this  public  inquest  upon  the  dead, 
was,  that  the  throne  itself  was  no  protection  from  it.  Kings  were  spared  du- 
ring their  lives,  because  the  public  peace  was  concerned  in  this  forbearance  ; 
nut  their  quality  did  not  exempt  them  from  the  judgment  passed  upon  the 
'lead,  and  even  some  of  them  were  deprived  of  sepulture.  This  custom  w^as 
imitated  by  the  Israelites.  We  see  in  Scripture,  that  bad  kings  were  not  in- 
tf'n  ed  in  the  monuments  of  their  ancestors.  This  practice  suggested  to  princes, 
that  if  their  majesty  placed  them  out  of  the  reach  of  men's  judgment  while 
they  were  alive,  they  would  at  last  be  liable  to  it,  when  should  reduce 

Ihei/.  :  1         "rr^L-  jx^.f 

When,  tbereiore,  a  favourable  judgment  was  pronounced  on  a  deceased 
»crson,  the  next  thing  was  to  proceed  to  the  ceremonies  of  interment.    In  has 


*  Dlod  1  :.  r  8i- 


120 


MANiVERS  AND  CUnOMIS 


panegyric,  no  mention  was  made  of  his  birth,  because  every  Egyptian  wai 
deemed  noble.  No  praises  were  considered  as  just  or  true,  but  such  as  rrla- 
ted  to  the  personal  merit  of  the  deceased.  He  was  applauded  for  having  re* 
ceived  an  excellent  education  in  his  younger  yv^ars  ;  and  in  his  more  advan- 
ced age,  for  having  cultivated  piety  towards  the  gods,  justice  towards  men, 
gentleness,  modesty,  moderation,  and  all  other  virtues  which  constitute  the 
good  man.  Then  all  the  people  shouted,  and  bestowed  the  highest  eulogie? 
on  the  deceased,  as  one  who  would  be  received  for  ever  into  the  society  of  the 
virtuous  in  Pluto's  kingdom. 

To  conclude  this  article  of  the  ceremonies  of  funerab,  U  may  not  be  amiss 
to  observe  to  young  pupils,  the  different  manners  in  which  the  bodies  of  tht 
dead  were  treated  by  the  ancients.  Some,  as  we  observed  of  the  Egyptians, 
exposed  them  to  view  after  they  had  been  embalmed,  and  thus  preserved 
them  to  after  ages.  Others,  as  the  Romans,  burnt  them  on  a  funeral  pile  • 
and  others,  again,  laid  them  in  the  earth. 

The  care  to  preserve  bodies  without  lodging  them  m  tombs,  appears  inju- 
rious to  human  nature  in  general,  and  to  those  persons  in  particular  for  whom 
this  respect  is  designed  ;  because  it  exposes  too  visibly  their  wretched  state 
and  deformity,  since,  whatever  care  may  be  taken,  spectators  see  nothing  but 
the  melancholy  and  frightful  remains  of  what  they  once  were.  The  custom 
of  burning  dead  bodies  has  something  in  it  cruel  and  barbarous,  in  destroying 
so  hastily  the  remains  of  persons  once  dear  to  us.  That  of  interment  is  cer- 
tainly the  most  ancient  and  religious.  It  restores  to  the  earth  what  had  been 
taken  from  it  ;  and  prepares  our  belief  of  a  second  restitution  of  our  bodies, 
from  that  dust  of  which  they  were  at  first  formed. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

or  TKE  Ea?PTZAH  SDIaBZEH  g  AND  WAH. 

The  profession  of  arms  was  in  great  repute  among  the  Egyptians.  Aftei 
the  sacerdotal  families,  the  most  illustrious,  as  with  us,  were  those  devoted  to 
a  militaiy  life.  They  were  not  only  distinguished  by  honours,  but  by  ample 
liberalities.  Every  soldier  was  allowed  twelve  arourae,  that  is,  a  piece  of 
arable  land,  very  nearly  answering  to  half  a  French  acre,*  exempt  from  all  tax 
or  tribute.  Besides  this  privilege,  each  soldier  received  a  daily  allowance  of 
five  pounds  of  bread,  two  of  flesh,  and  a  quart  of  wine.t  This  allowance 
was  sufficient  to  support  part  of  their  family.  Such  an  indulgence  made  them 
more  affectionate  to  the  person  of  their  prince,  and  the  interests  of  their  coun- 
try, and  more  resolute  in  the  defence  of  both  ;  and,  as  Diodorus  observes, 
it  was  thought  inconsistent  with  good  policy,  and  even  common  sense,  to  coi?i- 
mit  the  defence*  of  a  country  to  men  who  had  no  interest  in  its  preservation.! 

Four  hundrcvl  thousand  soldiers,  were  kept  in  continual  pay,  all  natives  oi 
Egypt,  and  trained  up  in  the  exactest  discipline. §  They  were  inured  to  the 
fatigues  of  war,  by  a  severe  and  rigorous  education.  There  is  an  art  of  form- 
ing the  body  as  well  as  the  mind.  This  art,  lost  by  our  sloth,  was  w^ell  known 
to  the  ancients,  and  especially  to  the  Egyptians.  Foot,  horse,  and  chariot 
^  races,  were  perfonned  in  Egypt  with  wonderful  agility,  and  the  world  could 
not  show  better  horsemen  than  the  Egyptians.  The  Scripture  in  several 
places  speaks  advantageously  of  their  cavalry.  || 


♦  Twelve  arourae.  An  E^^yptian  aroura  was  10,000  square  cubits,  equal  to  three  roods,  two  p^fchea, 
65  l-4th  square  feet  of  our  measnrft. 

I  The  Greek  lioivou  r'iaaa^es  (kou^^^es,  which  some  have  made  to  signify  a  determinate  qviantitj  of 
wine,  or  any  other  liquid  ;  others,  regardin^f  the  etymology  of  the  word  dPuaTrif ,  have  translated  it  bj 
hausirum,  a  bucket,  as  I^iicretius,  lib.  v.  1.  51 ;  others,  by  hmistus,  a  draught  or  sup     Herodotus  says  this 
•Howaoce  was  given  onlv  to  the  two  thousand  guards  who  attended  annually  r>n  the  kiofi. — Lib.  ii.  c.  1^8 
I  Lib.  i.  p.  67.        {  Herod.  1,  v.  c.  164, 168.       ||  Cant.  i.  8.    Isa.  xxxvi.  f. 


OF  THE  EGYPTIAiNS. 


121 


Military  laws  were  easily  preserved  in  Egypt,  because  sons  received  thftn 
from  their  fathers  ;  the  profession  of  war,  as  all  others,  being  transmiUed  from 
fa-ther  to  son.  Those  who  fled  in  battle,  or  discovered  any  signs  of  coward- 
ice, were  only  distinguished  by  some  particular  mark  of  ignominy  ;  it  being 
thought  more  adviseable  to  restrain  them  by  motives  of  honour,  than  by  the 
terrors  of  punishment. 

But  notwithstanding  this,  I  will  not  pretend  to  say  that  the  Egyptians  were 
a  warlike  people.*  it  is  of  little  advantage  to  have  regular  and  well-paid 
troops  ;  to  have  armies  exercised  in  peace,  and  employed  only  in  mock-fighta  ; 
it  is  war  alone,  and  real  combats,  which  form  the  soldier.  Egypt  loved  peace, 
because  it  loved  justice,  and  maintained  soldiers  only  for  its  security.  Its  in* 
habitants,  content  with  a  country  which  abounded  in  all  things,  haa  no  anibi* 
tious  dreams  of  conquest.  The  Egyptians  extended  their  reputation  in  a  very 
different  manner,  by  sendine  colonies  into  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  wiXn 
them  laws  and  politeness.  They  triumphed  by  the  wisdom  of  their  counsels, 
and  the  superiority  of  their  knowledge  ;  and  this  empire  of  thre  mind  appear- 
ed more  noble  and  glorious  to  them,  than  that  which  is  achieved  by  arms  an<j 
conquest.    But  nevertheless,  Egypt  has  given  birth  to  illustrious  conquerors 

will  be  observed  hereafter,  when  we  come  to  treat  of  its  kings. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

OF  THEIR  AHTS  AXfD  BOlBl^CViB. 

The  Egyptians  had  an  inventive  genius,  and  turned  it  to  profitable  specu 
lations.  Their  Mercuries  filled  Eg^^pt  with  wonderful  inventions,  and  left  i) 
scarcely  ignorant  of  any  thing  which  could  contribute  to  accomplish  the  laind, 
or  procure  ease  and  happiness.  The  discoverers  of  ary  useful  invention  re- 
ceived, both  living  and  dead,  rewards  worthy  of  their  pxx)fitable  labours.  It 
is  this  which  consecrated  the  books  of  their  two  Mercuries,  and  stamped  them 
with  a  divine  authority.  The  first  libraries  were  in  Egypt  ;  and  the  titles 
they  bore,  inspired  an  eager  desire  to  enter  them,  and  dive  into  the  secrets 
Ihey  contained.'  They^  were  called  the  ''Remedy  for  the  Diseases  of  the 
Soulj^'t  and  that  very  justly,  because  the  soul  was  there  cured  of  ignorance, 
the  most  dangerous,  and  the  parent  of  all  other  maladies. 

As  their  country  was  level,  and  the  air  of  it  always  serene  and  unclouded, 
they  were  among  the  first  who  observed  the  courses  of  the  planets.  These 
observations  led  them  to  regulate  the  year,  from  the  course  of  the  sun  ;  for, 
as  Diodorus  observes,  their  year,  from  the  most  remote  antiquity,  was  com- 
posed of  three  hundred  and  sixt^^-five  da3^s  and  six  hours. J  To  adjust  the 
property  of  their  lands,  which  were  eveiy  year  covered  by  the  overflowing  of 
the  Nile,  they  were  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  surveys  ;  and  this  first  taught 
*/.iem  geometry.  They  were  great  observers  of  nature,  which,  in  a  climate 
so  serene,  and  under  so  intense  a  sun,  was  vigorous  and  fruitful. 

By^  this  study^  and  application,  they  invented  or  improved  the  science  of 
physic.  The  sick  were  not  abandoned  to  the  arbitrary  will  and  caprice  of 
tlie^  physician.  He  was  obliged  to  follow  fixed  rules,  which  were  the  obser- 
rations  of  old  and  experienced  practitioners,  and  WTitten  in  the  sacred  Ijpoka 


*  I^iod.  p.  76.  ♦  -vJ/Lrvn;  laTjcTov. 

J  It  win  not  seem  ourprising-  that  the  Egyptians,  who  were  the  most  ancient  observers  ef  the  celeitial 
ttftotinns,  should  have  arrived  to  this  knowledge,  when  it  is  considered,  that  the  lunar  year,  made  use  of  by 
Ihe  Greeks  and  Roman*,  though  it  appears  so  inconvenient  and  irres^nlar,  supposed  nevertheless  a  know 
l«dge  of  the  solar  ^ear,  such  as  Diodorus  Siculus  aacribes  to  the  Egyptians.  It  will  appear  at  first  sight, 
I'y  calculating  their  intercalations,  that  those  who  first  divided  the  year  in  this  manner  were  not  ignorant, 
that  to  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days,  some  hour*  were  to  be  added,  to  keep  peee  with  the  gun.  Their 
rtnly  error  lay  in  the  supposition.  th;»t  opiy  six  hours  were  wanting;  whereas  an  addition  of  almost  e)«Tea 
wiMiwtsa  were  was  rcqwr*e. 

6 


129 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS 


While  these  mles  were  observed,  the  physician  was  not  answerable  for  thf 
success ;  otherwise  a  miscarriage  cost  him  his  life.  This  law  checked,  in- 
deed,  the  temerity  of  empirics  ;  but  then  it  might  prevent  new  discoveries, 
and  keep  the  art  from  attaining  to  its  just  perfection.  Every  physician,  it 
Herodotus  may  be  credited,*  confined  his  practice  to  the  cure  of  one  disease 
only  ,  one  was  for  the  eyes,  another  for  the  teeth,  and  so  on. 

What  we  have  said  oi  the  pyramids,  the  labyrinth,  and  that  infinite  number 
of  obelisks,  temples,  and  palaces,  whose  precious  remains  still  strike  us  with 
admiration,  and  in  which  were  displayed  the  magnificence  of  the  princes  who 
raised  them,  the  skill  of  the  workmen,  the  riches  of  the  ornaments  diffused 
over  every  part  of  them,  and  the  just  proportion  and  beautiful  symmetry  of 
the  parts  in  which  their  greatest  beauty  consisted,  seemed  to  vie  with  each 
other  ;  works,  in  many  of  which  the  liveliness  of  the  colours  remains  to  this 
day,  in  spite  of  the  rvde  hand  of  time,  which  commonly  deadens  or  destroys 
them :  all  this,  I  say,  shows  the  perfection  to  which  architecture,  painting, 
sculpture,  and  other  arts,  had  arrived  in  Egypt. 

The  Egyptians  entertained  but  a  mean  opinion  of  that  sort  of  exercise, 
which  did  not  contribute  to  invigorate  the  body,  or  improve  health  ;t  and  of 
musicjj  which  they  considered  as  a  useless  and  dangerous  diversion,  and  only 
fit  to  enervate  the  mind. 


CHAPTER  V. 

OF  THEIR  HUSBANDI^EN,  SHEPHERDS,  AND 

ARTIFICERS. 

Husbandmen,  shepherds,  and  artificers,  formed  the  three  classes  of  lower 
iife  in  Egypt,  but  were  nevertheless  had  in  very  great  esteem,  particularly 
husbandmen  and  shepherds.§  The  body  politic  requires  a  superiority  and 
subordination  of  its  several  members  ;  for  as  in  the  natural  body,  the  eye  may 
he  said  to  hold  the  first  rank,  yet  its  lustre  does  not  dart  contempt  upon  the 
leet,  the  hands,  or  even  on  those  parts  which  are  less  honourable  ;  in  like 
manner,  among  the  Egyptians,  the  priests,  soldiers,  and  scholars,  were  distin- 
guished by  particular  honours ;  but  all  professions,  to  the  meanest,  had  their 
share  in  the  public  esteem,  because  the  despising  o^  any  man,  whose  labo'irs, 
however  mean,  were  useful  to  the  state,  was  thou^ul  a  crime. 

A  better  reason  than  the  foregoing,  might  have  inspired  them  at  the  first 
with  these  sentiments  of  equity  and  moderation,  which  they  so  long  preserved. 
As  they  all  descended  from  Cham,||  their  common  father,  the  memory  of  their 
still  recent  origin  occurring  to  the  minds  of  all  in  those  first  ages,  estab- 
lished among  them  a  kind  of  equality,  and  stamped,  in  their  opinion,  a  nobil- 
ity on  every  person  derived  from  the  common  stock.  Indeed,  the  diffbrence 
ol  conditions,  and  the  contempt  with  which  persons  of  the  lowest  rank  are 
treated,  are  owing  merely  to  the  distance  from  the  common  root ;  which 
makes  us  forget,  that  the  meanest  plebeian  when  his  descent  is  traced  back 
k)  the  source,  is  equally  noble  with  those  of  the  most  elevated  rank  and  title. 

Be  that  as  it  will,  no  profession  in  Egypt  was  considered  as  grovellirg"  or 
sordid.  By  this  means  arts  were  raised  to  their  highest  perfection.  The 
honour  which  cherished  them,  mixed  with  every  thought  and  care  for  their 
improvement.  Every  man  had  his  way  of  life  assigned  him  by  the  laws,  and 
it  was  perpetuated  from  father  to  son.  Two  professions  at  one  time,  or  a 
change  of  that  which  a  man  was  bom  to,  were  never  allowed.    By  thii 


♦  Lib.  ii.  c.  84.  f  Diod.  1.  i.  p.  73. 

{  Pidd.  1.  i.  p.  C7, 68  I]  Or  Ham. 


OP  THE  -uGYPTIANS. 


125 


riKTins,  men  became  more  able  and  expert  in  employments  which  they  had 
alwaj^s  exercised  from  their  infancy  ;  and  every  man,  adding  his  own  expe- 
rience to  that  of  his  ancestors,  was  mor*  capable  of  attaining  perfection  in  his 
particular  ar<.  Besides,  this  wholesonre  institution,  which  had  been  establish- 
ed anciently  throughout  Egypt,  t-xti.iguished  al)  irregular  ambition  ;  and 
taught  every  man  to  sit  down  contented  with  his  conaiti  ii,  without  aspiring  to 
one  more  elevated,  from  interest,  vain  glory,  or  levity. 

From  this  source  flowed  numberless  inventions  for  the  improvement  of  all 
the  arts,  and  for  rendering  life  more  commodious,  and  trade  rrore  easy.  I 
could  not  believe  that  Diodorus  was  in  earnest  in  what  he  relates  concerning 
the  Egyptian  industry,  viz.  that  this  people  had  found  out  a  way,  by  an  artifi- 
cial fecundity,  to  hatch  eggs  without  the  sitting  of  the  hen;*  bjit  all  modern 
travellers  declare  it  to  be  a  fact,  which  certainly  is  worthy  "our  curiosity  and 
is  said  to  be  practised  in  some  places  of  Europe.  Their  relations  inform  us, 
liat  the  Egyptians  stow  eggs  in  ovens,  which  are  heated  to  such  a  tempera- 
ture, and  with  such  just  proportion  to  the  natural  warmth  of  the  hen,  that  the 
chickens  produced  ^rom  these  means  are  as  strong  as  those  which  are  hatched 
tlie  natural  way.  1  ne  season  ot  the  year  proper  for  this  operation  is,  from 
the  end  of  December  to  the  end  of  April ;  the  heat  in  Egypt  being  loo  vio- 
lent in  the  other  months.  During  these  four  months,  upwards  of  three  hun- 
dred thousand  eggs  are  laid  in  these  ovens,  which,  though  they  are  not  all 
sdccessful,  nevertheless  produce  ''ast  numbers  of  fowls  at  an  easy  rate.  The 
art  lies  in  giving  the  ovens  a  du^  degree  of  heat,  which  must  not  exceed  a 
fixed  proportion.  About  ten  d?ys  are  bestowed  in  heating  these  ovens,  and 
very  near  as  much  time  in  hatcnm^  the  eggs.  It  is  very  entertaining,  sa}^ 
these  travellers,  to  observe  the  hatching  of  these  chickens,  some  of  which 
show  at  first  nothing  but  their  heads,  Qthers  but  half  their  bodies,  and  others 
again  come  quite  out  of  the  egg  ,  these  last,  the  moment  they  are  hatched, 
make  their  way  over  the  unhatched  eggs,  and  form  a  diverting  spectacle. 
Corneille  le  Bruyn,  in  his  Tra^^els,!  has  collected  the  observations  of  other 
travellers  on  this  subject.  Pliny  Jikewise  mentions  it ;  but  it  appears  from 
him,  that  the  Egyptians,  anciently,  employed  warm  dung,  not  ovens,  to  hatch 

1  have  said,  that  husbandmeii  particularly,  and  those  who  took  care  of 
Piocks,  were  in  great  esteem  in  Egypt,  some  parts  of  it  excepted,  where  the 
latter  were  not  suffered.§  It  was,  indeed,  to  these  two  professions  that  Egypt 
owed  its  riches  and  plenty.  It  is  astonishing  to  reflect  what  advantages  the 
Egyptians,  by  their  art  and  lahour,  drew  from  a  country  of  no  great  extent, 
but  whose  soil  was  made  wonaerfully  fruitful  by  the  inundations  of  the  Nile, 
and  the  laborious  industry  of  the  inhabitants. 

It  v/ill  be  always  so  with  eve  y  kingdom,  whose  governors  direct  all  their 
actions  to  the  public  welfare.  'I  he  culture  of  lands,  and  the  breeding  of  cat- 
tle, will  be  an  inexhaustible  tind  of  wealth  in  all  countries,  where,  as  in 
Rgypt,  these  profitable  calling*?  are  supported  and  encouraged  by  maxims  of 
*tate  policy.  And  we  may  <  fnsider  it  as  a  misfortune,  that  they  are  at 
present  fallen  into  so  general  disesteem  ;  though  it  is  from  them  that  the 
most  elevated  ranks,  as  we  esteem  them,  are  furnished  not  only  with  the  ne- 
cessaries, but  even  the  luxuTies  of  life.  "  For,"  says  Abbe  Fleury,  in  hi« 
admirable  work  '  Of  the  Manners  of  the  Israelites,'  where  the  subject  I  am 
upon  IS  thoroughly  examined,  **  it  is  the  peasant  who  feed?  the  citizen,  the 
magistrate,  the  gentleman,  the  ecclesiastic  :  and  whatever  artifice  or  craft 
may  be  used  to  convert  money  into  commodities,  and  these  back  again  into 
wioney,  yet  all  must  ultimately  be  owned  to  be  received  from  the  products  (/^ 
the  earth,  and  the  animals  that  it  sustains  and  nourishes.  N<ivertheless,  when 
we  compare  men's  different  stations  of  life  together,  we  give  ihe  lowest  place 

*  DioJ.  1.  i.  p.  67.  t  Tom.  ii.  p.  61.  J  Lib.  x.  c.  54. 

(  Swineher(?s,  in  p.'irtiri'Hr,  had  a  ?P!iera'  i>!-nonie  Ihroughoi't  Earvpt,  as  they  haJ  the  care  of  so  impure 
an  animal  Hf'ro<1otii«,  1.  ii.  c.  47,  irlls  11.=.  t'';;t  fhcy  were  not  permitted  to  ente  Ihe  Egyptian  temples- 
%9t  w%uld  any  mnn  tfiv;  lliejn  Jii.-  d.T.ii-ht»;r  i  1  iiirtrrlas:e. 


134 


MANNERS  AM)  CUSTOMS 


to  the  husbandman. ;  and  with  many  people  a  wealthy  citizen,  enervated  with 
sloth,  useless  to  the  public,  and  void  of  all  merit,  b^s  the  preference,  merely 
because  he  has  more  money,  and  lives  a  more  easy  and  delightful  life. 

"  But  let  us  imagine  to  ourselves  a  country  where  so  great  a  difference  is 
not  made  between  the  several  conditions  ;  where  the  life  of  a  nobleman  is  not 
made  to  consist  in  idleness  and  doing  nothing,  but  in  a  careful  preservatiori 
of  his  liberty,  that  is,  in  a  due  subjection  to  the  laws  and  the  constitution  ;  hy 
a  man's  subsisting  upon  his  estate  without  dependence  on  any  one,  and  being 
contented  to  enjoy  a  little  with  liberty,  rather  than  a  great  deal  at  the  price 
of  mean  and  base  compliances  :  a  country,  where  sloth,  effeminacy,  and  the 
ignorance  of  things  necessary  for  life,  are  held  in  just  contempt,  and  where 
pleasure  is  less  valued  than  health  and  bodily  strength  :  in  such  a  country,  k 
wnll  be  much  more  for  a  man's  reputation  to  plough,  and  keep  flocks,  than  to 
waste  all  his  hours  in  sauntering  from  place  to  place,  in  gaming,  and  expen- 
sive diversic  ns."  But  we  need  not  have  recourse  to  Plato's  commonwealth 
for  instances  of  men  who  have  led  these  useful  lives.  It  was  thus  that  the 
greatest  part  of  mankind  lived  during  near  four  thousand  years  ;  and  that  not 
only  the  Israelites,  but  the  Egyptians,  the  Greeks,  and  the  Romans,  that  is  to 
say  ,  nations  the  most  civilized,  and  most  renowned  for  arms  and  wisdom.  They 
all  inculcate  the  regard  which  ought  to  be  paid  to  agriculture  and  the  breed- 
ing of  cattle  ;  one  of  which,  (without  saying  any  thing  of  hemp  and  flax,  so 
necessary  for  our  clothing,)  supplies  us,  by  corn,  fruits,  and  pulse,  with  not 
'  only  a  plentiful  but  a  delicious  nourishment ;  and  the  other,  besides  its  supply 
of  exquisite  meats  to  cover  our  tables,  almost.alone  gives  life  to  manufactures 
and  trade,  by  the  skins  and  stuffs  it  furnishes. 

Princes  are  commonly  desirous,  and  their  interest  certainly  requires  it,  that 
the  peasant,  who,  in  a  literal  sense,  sustains  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day, 
and  pays  so  great  a  portion  of  the  national  taxes,  should  meet  with  favour  and 
encouragement.  But  the  kind  and  good  intentions  of  princes  are  too  often  de- 
feated by  the  insatiable  and  merciless  avarice  of  those  who  are  appointed  to 
collect  their  revenues.  History  has  transmitted  to  us  a  fine  saying  of  Tibe- 
rius on  this  head.  A  prefect  of  Egypt,  having  augmented  the  annual  tribute 
of  the  province,  and  doubtless  with  the  view  of  making  his  court  to  the  em- 
peror, remitted  to  him  a  sum  much  larger  than  was  customary  ;*  that  prince, 
who  in  the  beginning  of  his  reign  thought,  or  at  least  spoke  justly,  answered. 
That  it  was  his  design  not  to  flay,  hut  to  shear  his  sheep,] 


CHAPTER  VI. 

OP  THE  PEIITSI.2TY  OP  E^YPT. 

Under  this  head  I  shall  treat  only  of  some  plants  peculiar  to  Egypt,  andol 
the  abundance  of  corn  which  it  produced. 

Papyrus.  This  is  a  plant,  from  the  root  of  which  shoot  out  a  great  many 
triar^ular  stalks,  to  the  height  of  six  or  seven  cubits,.  The  ancients  wrote  at  ^ 
first  upon  palm  leaves  ;  next,  on  the  inside  of  the  bark  of  trees,  from  whence 
the  word  liber,  or  book,  is  derived  ;  after  that,  upon  tables  covered  over  with 
ivax,  on  which  the  characters  were  impressed  with  an  instrument  called  sty- 
lus, sharp-pointed  atone  end  to  write  with,  and  flit  at  the  other  to  efface 
what  had  been  written  ;J  which  gave  occasion  to  the  following  expression  of 
Horace  : 

Safipe  stylum  verlas,  itftrum  quae  dlgna  leg^i  sint 
Scripturus.  Sat,  lib.  i.  x  ver.  72. 

Oft  turn  your  style,  if  you  desire  to  write 
Things  that  will  bear  a  second  reading. 


DM.  I.  Ivii.  p.  608.       t  Kf.  ?£o-0ai  /lou  ra  nQ6^ara  hW  ouh  fiwoK-PEcrfiai  flooXou«i.— !•  Mi' 

I  Plin.  1.  rvu  c.  n. 


or  THE  EGYPTIANS.  |  ^5 

The  meaning  of  which  is,  that  a  good  performance  is  not  to  be  expected 
without  many  erasures  and  corrections.  At  last  the  use  of  paper*  was  intro- 
duced, and  this  was  made  of  the  bark  of  papyrus,  divided  into  thin  Hakes  or 
leaves,  which  were  very  proper  for  writing ;  and  this  papyjus  was  likewise 
called  byblus. 

Nondum  flumineas  Memphis  contexerc  byblos 

Noverat.  Lucan. 

Memphu  as  yet  knew  not  to  form  In  leaves 
The  wat'ry  Byblus. 

Pliny  calls  it  a  w^onderful  invention,  so  useful  to  life,  that  it  preserves  the 
memory  of  great  actions,  and  immortalizes  thoce  who  achieved  them.j  Varro 
ascribes  this  invention  to  Alexander  the  Great,  when  he  built  Alexandria  ;  but 
he  had  only  the  merit  of  making  paper  more  common,  for  the  invention  was 
of  much  greater  antiquity.  The  same  Pliny  adds,  that  Eumenes,  king  of 
Pergamus,  substituted  parchment  instead  of  paper  ;  in  emulation  of  Ptolemy, 
king  of  Egypt,  whose  library  he  was  ambitious  to  excel  by  this  invention, 
which  had  the  advantage  over  paper.  Parchment  is  the  skin  of  a  sheep, 
dressed  and  made  fit  to  write  upon.  It  was  called  Pergamenum  from  Perga- 
mus, whose  kings  had  the  honour  of  the  invention.  All  the  ancient  manu- 
sccipts  are  either  upon  parchment  or  vellum,  which  is  calf-skin,  and  a  great 
deal  finer  than  the  common  parchment.  It  is  very  curious  to  see  white  fine 
paper,  wrought  out  of  filthy  rags  picked  up  in  the  streets.  The  plant  papy- 
rus was  useful  likewise  for  sails,  tackling,  clothes,  coverlets,  &c.J 

LmuxM.  Flax  is  a  plant  w^hose  bark,  full  of  fibres  or  strings,  is  useful  in 
making  fine  linen.  The  method  of  making  this  linen  in  Egypt  was  wonder- 
ful, and  carried  to  such  perfection,  that  the  threads  wliich  w^ere  drawn  out  of 
them,  w^ere  almost  too  small  for  the  observation  of  the  sharpest  eye.  Priests 
were  alwa^^s  habited  in  linen,  and  never  in  woollen  ;  and  not  only  the  priests, 
but  all  persons  of  distinction,  generally  wore  linen  clothes.  This  flax  formed 
a  considerable  branch  of  the  Egyptian  trade,  and  great  quantities  of  it  wei-e 
exported  into  foreign  countries.  The  manufacture  of  flax  employed  a  great 
number  of  hands  in  Eg}^pt,  especially  of  the  women,  as  appears  from  that 
passage  in  Isaiah,  in  which  the  prophet  menaces  Egypt  with  a  drought  of  so 
terrible  a  kind,  that  it  should  interrupt  every  kind  of  labour.  Moreover,  they 
that  work  in  Jine  Jiax^  and  they  that  weave  net-work,  shall  be  confounded  A 
We  likewise  find  in  Scripture,  that  one  effect  of  the  plague  of  hail,  called 
down  by  Moses  upon  Egypt,|l  was  the  destruction  of  all  the  flax  which  w  as 
iien  boiled.    This  storm  was  in  March. 

Byssus.  This  was  another  kind  of  flax  extremely  fine  and  small,  which 
often  received  a  purple  dye. IT  It  was  veiy  dear;  and  none  but  rich  and 
wealthy  persons  could  afford  to  w^ear  it.  Pliny,  w^ho  gives  the  first  place  to  the 
iisbe«;toii  or  asbestinum,  i,  e,  the  incombustible  flax,  places  the  byssus  in  the 
next  vank  ;  and  says,  that  it  served  as  an  ornament  to  the  ladies.**  It  appears 
from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  that  it  was  chiefly  from  Egypt  cloth  made  from  this 
fine  fax  was  brought.    Fine  linen  with  hroidered  work  from  Egypt,]] 

I  ts:ke  no  notice  of  the  lotus  or  lote-tree,  a  common  plant,  and  in  great  re- 
quest with  the  Egyptians,  of  whose  berries,  in  former  times,  they  made  bread 
There  was  another  lotus  in  Africa,  which  gave  its  name  to  the  eotophagi  ci' 


*  The  papyrus  was  divided  into  thin  flakes,  into  which  it  naturally  parted,  which  beins:  laid  on  a  tabl^ 
"Sind  moistened  with  the  glutlncus  waters  of  the  Nile,  were  afterwards  pressed  together,  and  dried  in  th« 
sun. 

t  Postea  promiscud  patiiit  usus  rel,  qua  constat  immortalitas  hominum — Chartas  usu  maximS  humanitaf 
constat  in  memoria. 

J  Plin.  1.  xix  c.  1.  5  Isa.  xix.  9.  ||  Exod.  ix.  31.  ^  Plin.  1.  xix.  c.  1. 

**  Proximus  byssino  mulieriim  maxlme  deliciis  g-enito :  inventum  Jam  est  eliam  (scilicet  Irimim)  quod 
itlfnibus  non  absumetur;  vivuni  id  vocant,  ardentesque  in  focis  conviviorum  ex  eo  vidimus  mnppas,  sordibus 
exustis  splendescentes  ig'ni  maj^is  qnani  possent  aqvils. — ?.  e.  A  flax  is  now  found  out,  which  is  proof  agairjit 
the  riolence  of  fire  ;  it  is  called  livins^  flax,  and  we  have  seen  table-napkins  of  it  glowing'  in  the  fires  ef 
om  JiniAc  »<N>m8  anJ  'ng  a  lustre  and  a  cleanness  frorr^  flames,  which  no  water  could  have  riTes  it. 

tt  Ezck.  IV."*.  7. 


126 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS 


lotus-eaters  because  they  lived  upon  the  fruit  of  this  tree,  which  had  so  deli= 
clous  a  taste,  if  Honier  may  be  credited,  that  it  made  the  eaters  of  it  forj^et 
all  the  sweets  of  their  native  country,*  as  Ulysses  found  to  his  cost  on  his  re- 
turn from  Troy. 

In  general,  it  may  be  said,  that  the  Egyptian  pulse  and  fruits  were  excel- 
lent;  and  might,  as  Pliny  observes,  have  sufficed  singly  for  the  nourishment  of 
the  inhabitants,  such  was  their  excellent  quality,  and  so  great  their  plenty.t 
And,  indeed,  working  men  lived  then  almost  upon  nothing  else,  as  appears 
from  those  who  were  employed  in  building  the  pyramids. 

Besides  these  rural  riches,  the  Nile,  from  its  fish,  and  the  fatness  it  gave  to 
the  soil  for  the  feeding  of  cattle,  furnished  the  tables  of  the  Egyptians  with  the 
most  exquisite  fish  of  every  kind,  and  the  most  succulent  flesh.  This  it  wa* 
which  made  the  Israelites  so  deeply  regret  the  loss  of  Egypt,  when  they  found 
themselves  in  the  wilderness :  Who.  say  they,  in  a  plaintive,  and  at  the  same 
time  seditious  tone,  shall  give  us  Jiesh  to  eat?  We  remember  the  flesh  which  tsl-c 
did  eat  in  Egypt  freely,  the  cucumbers  and  melons,  and  the  leeks,  and  the 
onions,  and  the  garlic.^  We  sat  by  the  Jiesh  potSy  and  we  did  eat  bread  to 
the fulL^ 

But  the  great  and  matchless  wealth  of  Egypt  arose  from  its  corn,  which, 
even  in  an  almost  universal  famine,  enabled  it  to  support  all  the  neighbouring 
nations,  as  it  particularly  did  under  Joseph's  administration.  In  later  ages  it 
was  the  resource  and  most  certain  granary  of  Rome  and  Constantinople.  It 
is  a  well-known^story,  how  a  calumny  raised  against  St.  Athanasius,  viz,  of  his 
having  menaced  Constantinople,  that  for  the  future  no  more  corn  should  be 
imported  to  it  from  Alexandria,  incensed  the  emperor  Constantine  against  that 
holy  bishop,  because  he  knew  that  his  capital  city  could  not  subsist  without 
the  corn  which  was  brought  to  it  from  Egypt.  The  same  reason  induced  all 
the  emperors  of  Rome  to  take  so  great  a  care  of  Egypt,  which  they  consider- 
ed as  the  nursing  mother  of  the  world's  metropolis. 

Nevertheless,  the  same  river  which  enabled  this  province  to  subsist  the  two 
most  populous  cities  in  the  world,  sometimes  reduced  even  E^pt  itself  to  ihe 
most  terrible  famine  ;  and  it  is  astonishing  that  Joseph's  wise  foresight,  wh^  ;h, 
in  fruitful  years,  had  made  provision  for  seasons  of  sterility,' should  not  h  ive 
taught  these  sc  much  boasted  politicians,  a  like  care  against  the  changes  and 
inconstancy  of  the  Nile.  Pliny,  in  his  panegyric  upon  Trajan,  paints,  V'ith 
wonderful  strength,  the  extremity  to  which  that  country  was  reduced  by  a 
famine,  under  that  prince's  reign,  and  his  generous  relief  of  it.  The  reader 
will  not  be  displeased  to  read  here  an  extract  of  it,  in  which  a  greater  re- 
gard will  be  had  to  Pliny's  thoughts,  than  to  his  expressions. 

The  Egyptians,  says  Pliny,  who  gloried  that  they  needed  neither  rain  nor 
sun  to  produce  their  corn,  and  who  believed  they  might  confidently  co«iitest 
the  prize  of  plenty  with  the  most  fruitful  countries  of  the  world,  were  con- 
demned to  unexpected  drought  and  a  fatal  sterility  ;  from  the  greatest  pa  rt  of 
their  territories  being  deserted  and  left  unwatered  by  the  Nile,  whose  inunda- 
tion is  the  source  and  sure  standard  of  their  abundance.  They  then  implored 
im\.  assistance  from  their  prince,  which  they  used  to  expect  only  from  t\ieir 
nver.ll  The  delay  of  their  relief  was  no  longer  than  that  which  employed  a 
courier  to  bring  the  melancholy  news  to  Rome  ;  and  one  would  have  imagined, 
that  this  misfortune  had  befallen  them  only  to  distinguish  with  greater  lustr< 
the  generosity  and  goodness  of  Caesar.    It  was  an  ancient  and  general  opinion 


*  Tu)v  5'  ocTTis  \coToro  (^h.'ydx  )i£\iTi(5{a  xa$>rrov, 
Ouk  *t'  cLTras/jETKai  ircikiv  -hOeXev, cu5f  Vi£(j9ai.  Odvss.  ix.  ver.  94,  95 

Mn  TTco  TtJ  \coToro  fpaywv,  vocttoio  XaO-nTaj.  '        ver.  102 

I  JK^ypiVb  frvgum  quidem  fertilissima,  sed  ut  prope  sola  ils  carere  possit,  tanta  est  ciborum  ei  bei^ 
ftHa««H&iiUa.  —Plin.  1.  xxi.  c.  13. 

+  IS  umb.  xi.  4,  b.  J  Kiod.  xvi.  j?. 

]}  luttitdatiorie  id  est,  ub€  tate  regio  fruuJata,  sic  opein  Caisariii  Invoc:  v  it,  ut  lolet  amnem  tu«»> 


OP  THE  EGYPTIANS. 


\2y 


that  our  city  could  not  subsist  without  provisions  drawn  from  Egypt.*  This  vain 
and  proud  nation  boasted,  that  though  it  vyas  conquered,  it  nevertheless  fed  its 
conquerors  ;  that,  by  means  of  its  river,  either  abundance  or  scarcity  were  en* 
tirely  at  its  disposal.  But  we  have  now  returned  to  the  Nile  his  own  harvests, 
and  given  him  back  the  provisions  he  sent  us.  Let  the  Egyptians  be  then  con- 
vinced by  their  own  experience,  that  they  are  not  necessary  to  us,  and  are 
only  our  vassals.  Let  them  know  that  their  ships  do  not  so  much  bring  us 
the  provision  we  stand  in  need  of,  as  the  tribute  which  they  owe  us.  And  let 
them  never  forget,  that  we  can  do  without  them,  but  that  they  can  never  do 
without  us.  This  most  fruitful  province  had  been  ruined,  had  it  not  worn  iht 
Roman  chains.  The  Egyptians,  in  their  sovereign,  found  a  deliverer,  and  a 
father.  Astonished  at  the  sight  of  their  granaries,  filled  without  any  labour 
of  their  own,  they  were  at  a  loss  to  know  to  whom  they  owed  this  foreign  and 
gratuitous  plenty.  The  famine  of  a  people,  though  at  such  a  distance  from 
us,  yet  so  speedily  stopped,  served  only  to  let  them  feel  the  advantage  of  liv- 
ing under  our  empire.  The  Nile  may,  in  other  times,  have  diffused  mor  - 
plenty  on  Egypt,  but  never  more  glory  upon  us.t  May  Heaven,  content  with 
this  proof  of  the  people's  patience,  and  the  prince's  generosity,  restore  for  evor 
back  to  Egypt  its  ancient  fertility ! 

Pliny's  reproach  to  the  Egyptians,  for  their  vain  and  foolish  pride,  with  re  - 
gard to  the  inundations  of  the  Nile,  points  out  one  of  their  most  peculiar  cha  - 
racteristics, and  recals  to  my  mind  a  fine  passage  of  Ezekiel,  where  God  th<;.s 
speaks  to  Pharaoh,  one  of  their  kings ;  Behold,  I  am  against  thee,  Pharaoh 
kin^  of  Egypt,  the  great  dragon  that  lieth  in  the  midst  of  his  rivers,  which  haiK 
mid.  My  river  is  my  own,  and  I  have  made  it  for  myself  %  God  perceived  an 
insupportable  pride  in  the  heart  of  ^his  prince,  a  sense  of  security  and  confi- 
dence in  the  inundations  of  the  Nile,  independent  entirely  of  the  influences  of 
Heaven ;  as  though  the  happy  effects  of  this  inundation  had  been  owing  J[o 
nothing  but  his  own  care  and  labour,  or  those  of  his  predecessors  :  the  river 
is  mine,  and  I  have  made  it. 

Before  I  conclude  this  second  part,  which  treats  of  the  manners  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, I  think  it  incumbent  on  me  to  direct  the  attention  of  my  readers  to 
different  passages  scattered  in  the  history  of  Abraham,  Jacob,  Joseph,  and 
Moses,  which  confirm  and  illustrate  part  of  what  we  meet  with  in  profane  au- 
thors upon  this  subject.  They  will  there  observe  the  perfect  polity  which 
reip-ned  in  Egypt,  both  in  the  court  and  the  rest  of  the  kingdom  ;  the  vigilance 
of  the  prince,  who  was  informed  of  all  transactions,  had  a  regular  council^a 
chosen  number  of  ministers,  armies  ever  well  maintained  and  disciplined,  atid 
of  every  order  of  soldiery,  horse,  foot,  armed  chariots;  intendants  in  all  the 
provinces ;  overseers  or  guardians  of  the  public  granaries ;  wise  and  exact 
dispensers  of  the  corn  lodged  in  them ;  a  court  composed  of  great  officers  of 
the  crown,  a  captain  of  his  guards,  a  chief  cup-bearer,  a  master  of  his  pantry, 
in  a  word,  all  things  that  compose  a  pence's  household,  and  constitute  a  mag- 
nificent court.  But  above  all  these,  the  readers  will  admire  the  fear  in  which 
the  threatenings  of  God  were  held,  the  inspector  of  all  actions,  and  the  judge 
of  kings  themselves  ;  and  the  horror  the  Egyptians  had  for  adultery,  which  was 
ack  lowledged  to  be  a  crime  of  so  heinous  a  nature,  that  it  alone  was  capable 
of  b  ringing  destruction  on  a  nation. § 


*  Pen-rebuorat  antlqnilas  urbem  nostram  nisi  opibus  jEg-ypti  ali  sustentanque  non  posse.  Supcrbai 
rentosa  et  insolens  natio,  quod  victorcm  quidem  populum  pasceret  tamen,  quodqne  in  suo  flumine,  in  suit 
manibus,  vel  abundantia  nostra  rel  fames  esset.    Refudimus  Nilo  suas  copia*.    Recepit  frumenta  qua 
ierat,  deportatasq-ue  meises  revexit. 

t  Nilus  ^gypto  quidem  sicpe,  Bed  srlorios  nostrae  nunquam  largior  flui't- 
t  Ezek.  xxix.  S,  9.  ^  I  Gen.  xii.  10—20. 


lis 


HIBTORY  OF  THE 


PART  THIRD. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  KINGS  OF  EGYPT 

No  part  of  ancient  history  is  more  obscure  or  uncertain  than  ihi  t  of  the  firsj 
kings  of  Egypt.  This  proud  nation,  fondly  conceited  of  its  antiquity  and  no. 
bility,  thought  it  glorious  to  lose  itself  in  an  abyss  of  infinite  ages,  as  though 
it  seemed  to  cariy  its  pretensions  backward  to  eternity.  According  to  its  owti 
liistorians,  first  gods,  and  afterwards  demi-gods  or  heroes,  governed  it  suc- 
cessively, through  a  series  of  more  than  twenty  thousand  years.*  But  the  al> 
surdity  of  this  vain  and  fabulous  claim  is  easily  discovered. 

To  gods  and  demi-gods,  men  succeeded  as  rulers  or  kings  in  Egypt,  of 
whom  Manetho  has  left  us  thirty  dynasties  or  principalities.  This  Sfanetho 
was  an  Egyptian  high-priest,  and  keeper  of  the  sacred  archives  of  Egypt,  and 
had  been  instructed  in  the  Grecian  learning :  he  wrote  a  history  oi  Egypt, 
which  he  pretended  to  have  extracted  from  the  writings  of  Mercurius,  and 
other  ancient  memoirs  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  Egyptian  temples.  He 
drew  up  this  history  under  the  reign,  and  at  the  command  of  Ptolemy  Phila- 
delphus.  If  his  thirty  dynasties  are  allowed  to  be  successive,  they  make  up 
a  series  of  time,  of  more  than  five  thousand  three  hundred  years,  to  the  reign 
of  Alexander  the  Great;  but  this  is  a  manifest  forgery.  Besides,  we  find  In 
Eratosthenes,t  who  was  invited  to  Alexandria  by  Ptolemy  Euergetes^  a  cata- 
lc)G,ue  of  thirty-eight  kings  of  Thebes,  all  different  from  those  of  Manetho. 
TIjc  clearing  up  of  these  difficulties  has  put  the  learned  to  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  and  labour.  The  most  effectual  way  to  reconcile  such  contradictions, 
is  to  suppose,  with  almost  all  the  modern  writers  upon  this  subject,  that  the 
kings  of  these  different  dynasties  did  not  reign  successively  after  one  another 
but  many  of  them  at  the  same  time,  and  in  different  countries  of  Egypt.  There 
weie  in  Egypt  four  principal  dynasties,  that  of  Thebes,  of  Thin,  of  Memphis, 
and  of  Tanis.  I  shall  not  here  give  my  readers  a  list  of  the  kings  who  have 
reigned  in  Egypt,  most  of  whom  are  only  known  to  us  by  their  names.  I  shall 
only  take  notice  of  what  seems  to  me  most  proper  to  give  youth  the  necessary 
light  into  this  part  of  histoiy,  for  whose  sake  principally  I  engaged  in  this  un- 
dertaking ;  and  I  shall  confine  myself  chiefly  to  the  memoirs  left  us  by  Hero- 
dotus amd  Diodorus  Siculus  concerning  the  Egyptian  kings,  without  even  scru- 
pulously preserving  the  exactness  of  succession,  at  least  in  the  beginnings, 
which  are  very  obscure  ;  and  without  pretending  to  reconcile  these  two  histo- 
rians. Their  design,  especially  that  of  Herodotus,  was  not  to  lay  before  us 
an  exact  series  of  the  kings  of  Egypt,  but  only  to  point  out  those  princes,  whose 
history  appeared  to  them  most  important  and  instructive.  I  shall  follow  the 
same  plan,  and  hope  to  be  forgiven,  for  not  having  involved  either  mj^self  or 
iny  readers,  in  a  labyrinth  of  almost  inextricable  difficulties,  from  which  the 
most  able  canscarcely disengage  themselves,  when  they  pretend  to  follow  the 
series  of  history,  and  reduce  it  to  fixed  and  certain  dates.  The  curious  may 
r.onsult  the  learned  works,  in  which  this  subject  is  treated  in  all  its  extent.^ 

I  am  to  premise,  that  Plerodotus,  upon  the  credit  of  the  Egyptian  priests 
^\hom  he  had  t^onsulted,  gives  us  a  great  number  of  oracles,  and  singular  inci- 
dents, all  which,  though  he  relates  them  as  so  many  facts,  the  judicious  reader 
will  easily  discover  to  be  what  they  really  are,  I  mean  fictions. 

The  ancient  history  of  Egypt  comprehends  2158  year5,  and  is  naturally 
divided  into  three  periods. 

The  first  begins  with  the  establishment  of  the  Egyptian  monarchy,  by  Me- 
nes  or  Misra'im,  the  son  of  Cham,§  in  the  year  of^the  world  1816  ;  ana  ends 


*  Diod.  1.  i.  p.  41.  t  A  historian  of  Cyrene. 

X  Hir  Jobs  Marsham's  Canon.  Chsnnir.  Father  Pnzron  ;  the  ^dissertations  of  F.  Tournemin«,  Abb4  Se- 
na feo  i  OrHara. 


/ 


KINGS  OF  EGYPT  | 

ffith  the  destruction  of  that  monarchy  by  Cambyses,  king  of  Persia,  in  the 
year  of  the  world  3479.    This  first  period  contains  1663  years. 

The  second  period  is  intermixed  with  the  Persian  and  Grecian  history,  and 
extends  to  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Great,  which  happened  in  the  year  3681, 
and  consequently  includes  202  years. 

The  third  period  is  that  in  which  a  new  monarchy  was  formed  in  Egypt  by 
the  Lagidse,  or  Ptolemies,  descendants  from  Lagus,  to  the  death  of  Cleopatra 
the  last  queen  of  Egypt,  in  3974  ;  and  this  last  comprehends  293  years. 

I  shall  now  treat  only  of  the  first  period,  reserving  the  two  others  for  the 
era<?  to  which  they  belong. 


THE  EXNGS  OF  SGYPT. 

Menes.*  Historians  are  unanimous^  agreed,  that  Menes  was  the  first  king 
of  Egypt.  It  is  pretended,  and  not  without  foundation,  that  he  is  the  same 
with  Misraim,  the  son  of  Cham. 

Cham  was  the  second  son  of  Noah.  When  the  family  of  the  latter,  after 
the  extravagant  attempt  of  building  the  tower  of  Babel,  dispersed  themselves 
into  different  countries,  Cham  retired  to  Africa,  and  it  doubtless  was  he  who 
afterwards  was  worshipped  as  a  god,  under  the  name  of  Jupiter  Ammcn.  He 
had  four  children,  Chus,t  Misraim,  Phut,  and  Canaan.  Chus  settled  in  Ethi- 
opia, Misraim  in  Egypt,  which  generally  is  called  in  Scripture  after  his  name 
and  by  that  of  Cham  his  father  ;J  Pnut  took  possession  of  that  part  of  Africa 
whicK  lies  westward  of  Egypt ;  and  Canaan,  of  that  country  which  after- 
wards bore  his  name.  The  Canaanites  are  certainly  the  same  people  who 
are  called  almost  always  Phoenicians  by  the  Greeks,  of  which  foreign  name 
no  reason  can  be  given,  any  more  than  of  the  oblivion  of  the  true  one. 

I  return  to  Misraim. §  He  is  agreed  to  be  the  same  with  Menes,  whom  all 
historians  declare  to  be  the  first  king  of  Egypt,  the  institutor  of  the  worship  of 
the  gods,  and  of  the  ceremonies  of  the  sacrifices. 

BusiRis,  some  ages  after  him,  built  the  famous  cit}''  of  Thebes,  and  made 
it  the  seat  of  his  empire.  We  have  elsewhere  taken  notice  of  the  wealth  and 
magnificence  of  this  city.  This  prince  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  Busiris, 
so  infamous  for  his  cruelties. 

OsYMANDYAS.  Diodorus  gives  a  very  particular  description  of  many  mag- 
nificent edifices  raised  by  this  king ;  one  of  which  was  adorned  with  sculp- 
tures and  paintings  of  exquisite  beauty,  representing  his  expedition  against  the 
Bactrians,  a  people  of  Asia,  whom  he  had  invaded  with  four  hundred  thousand 
foot  and  twenty  thousand  horse. ||  In  another  part  of  the  edifice,  was  exhibited 
an  assembly  of  the  judges,  whose  president  wore  on  his  breast  a  picture  of 
truth,  with  her  eyes  shut,  and  himself  was  surrounded  with  books  ;  an  emphatic 
emblem,  denoting  that  judges  ought  to  be  perfectly  versed  in  the  laws,  aiid 
impartial  in  the  administration  of  them. 

The  king  likewise  was  painted  here,  offering  to  the  gods  gold  and  silver, 
which  he  drew  every  year  from  the  mines  of  Egypt,  amounting  to  the  sum  ol 
§ixteen  millions. IF 

Not  far  from  hence  was  seen  a  magnificent  library,  the  oldest  mentioned  in 
history.  Its  title  or  inscription  on  the  front  was,  The  office^  or  treasury^  of  re* 
medies  for  the  diseases  of  the  soul.  Near  it  were  statues,  representing  all  the 
Egyptian  gods,  to  each  of  whom  the  king  made  suitable  offerings  ;  by  which 
.he  seemed  to  be  desirous  of  informing  posterity,  that  his  life  and  reign  had  been 
distinguished  by  piety  to  the  gods  ana  justice  to  men. 


*  A.  M.  1816.    Ant.  J.  C.  2188.  t  Or  Cush,  Gen.  x.  6. 

X  The  traces  of  its  old  name,  Mesra'im,  remain  to  this  day  among^  the  Arabians,  who  rail  it  Mesre  j  '}j 
the  testimony  of  Plutarch,  it  was  called  Xtifjua,  Chemia,  by  an  easy  corruption  of  Chemia,  and  \hit  ht 
Cham  or  Ham. 

•  }  Herod  V  ii.  p.  99.    Diod.  1.  i.  p.  41.  f|  Dlod.  1.  i.  p.  44.  45. 

^  Three  thousand  two  hundred  mrrian?  of  mina. 

Vou  I. 


130 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


His  Riausoleum  discovered  uncommon  magnificence ;  it  was  eficompassed 

with  a  circle  of  gold,  a  cubit  in  breadth,  and  365  cubits  in  circumference  ;  each 
of  which  showed  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  the  rest  of  the 
planets.  Fit  so  early  as  this  king's  reign,  the  Egyptians  divided  the  year 
mto  twelve  months,  each  consisting  of  thirty  days  ;  to  which  thev  added  every 
year  five  days  and  six  hours.*  The  spectator  did  not  know  which  to  admire 
most  in  this  stately  monument,  the  richness  of  its  materials,  or  the  genius  and 
industry  of  the  artists  and  workmen. 

UcHOREus,  one  of  the  successors  of  Osymandyas,  built  the  city  of  Mem 
phis.t  This  city  was  150  furlongs,  or  more  than  seven  leagues  in  circumfer- 
ence,  and  stood  at  the  point  of  the  Delta,  in  that  part  where  the  Nile  divides 
ttself  into  several  branches  or  streams.  Southward  from  the  city,  he  raised  a 
lofty  mole.  On  the  right  and  left  he  dug  very  deep  moats  to  receive  the  river. 
These  were  faced  with  stone  ;  and  raised,  near  the  city,  by  strong  causeys ; 
the  whole  designed  to  secure  the  city  from  the  inundations  of  the  Nile,  and  the 
incursions  of  the  enemy.  A  city  so  advantageously  situated,  and  so  strongly 
fortified,  that  it  was  almost  the  key  of  the  Nile,  and  by  this  means  commanded 
the  whole  country,  became  soon  the  usual  residence  of  the  Egyptian  kings 
It  kept  possession  of  this  honour,  till  it  was  forced  to  resign  it  to  Alexandria, 
built  by  Alexander  the  Great. 

McERis.  This  king  made  the  famous  lake,  which  went  by  his  name,  and 
whereof  mention  has  been  already  made. 

Egypt  had  long  been  governed  by  its  native  princes,  when  strangers,  callec 
Shepherd-kings,  (Hycsos  in  the  Egyptian  language,)  from  Arabia  or  Phceni- 
cia,  invaded  and  seized  a  great  part  of  lower  E^pt,  and  Memphis  itself ;  but 
Upper  Egypt  remained  unconquered.  and  the  kingdom  of  Thebes  existed  till 
the  reign  of  Sesostris.J  These  foreign  princes  governed  about  tw^o  hundred 
and  sixty  years. 

Under  one  of  these  princes  called  Pharaoh  in  Scripture,  (a  name  common 
to  all  the  kings  of  Egypt,)  Abraham  arrived  there  with  his  wife  Sarah,  who 
was  exposed  to  great  hazard,  on  account  of  her  <jxquisite  beauty,  which 
reaching  the  prince's  ear,  she  was  Dy  him  taken  from  Abraham,  upon  the 
supposition  that  she  was  not  a  wife,  but  only  his  sister.§ 

Thetiimosis,  or  Amosis,  having  expelled  the  Shepherd  kings,  reigned  In 
Lower  Egypt.H 

Long  after  his  reign,  Joseph  was  brought  a  slave  into  Egypt,  by  some  Ish- 
maelitish  merchants ;  sold  to  Potiphar,  and,  by  a  series  of  wonderful  events, 
enjoyed  the  supreme  authority,  by  his  being  raised  to  the  chief  employment 
of  the  kingdom. IT  I  shall  pass  over  his  history,  as  it  is  so  universally  known ; 
but  must  take  notice  of  a  remark  of  Justin,  the  epitomiser  of  Trogus  Pom- 
peius,**  an  excellent  historian  of  the  Augustan  age,  viz,  that  Joseph  the  young- 
est of  Jacob's  children,  whom  his  brethren,  through  envy,  had  sold  to  foreign 
merchants,  being  endowed  from  heavenjt  with  the  interpretation  of  dreams, 
and  a  knowledge  of  futurity,  preserved  by  his  uncommon  prudence,  Egypt 
from  the  famine  with  which  it  was  menaced,  and  was  extremely  caressed  by 
the  king.  , 

Jacob  also  went  into  E^pt  with  his  whole  family,  which  met  with  the 
kindest  treatment  from  the  Egyptians,  w^hilst  Joseph's  important  services  were 
fresh  in  their  memories.JJ  But  after  his  death,  say  the  Scriptues,  there  arose 
up  a  new  kmg,  which  knew  not  Joseph,^^ 

Rameses-miamun,  according  to  Archbishop  Usher,  was  the  name  of  this 
king,  who  is  called  Pharaoh  in  Scripture.il ||    He  reigned  sixty-six  years,  and 


*  See  Sir  Isaac  Newlon^s  Cronology,  p.  30.  I  Diod.  p.  46. 

X  A,  M.  1920.    Ant.  J.  C.  2084.  fi  A.  M.  2084.    Ant.  J.  C.  1920.    Gen.  xii.  10—20. 

11  A.  M.  2179.    Ant.  J.  C.  1825.       IT  A.  M.  2276.    Ant.  J.  C.  1728.       *♦  Lib.  xxxvi.  c.  % 
\^  Juttin  ascribes  this  gift  of  heaven  to  Joseph's  ikill  in  magical  arts. — Cum  magicas  ibi  art«t  (SgypW 
•cil.)  folerti  inerenio  perccpisset,  &c. 

II  A.  M.  2208.    Ant.  J.  C.  1706.      ^  £so4.  i.  t.       )|||  A.  M  9437.    Aat.  J.  C  ti»77 


KINGS  OF  EGYPT. 


131 


oppressed  the  Israelites  in  a  most  grievous  manner.  He  set  over  thern  taA 
nutsters*  to  afflict  them  with  their  burdens^  and  they  built  for  Pharaoh  treamre 
cities Pithon  and  Raarmts — and  the  Egyptians  made  the  children  of  Israel 
serve  with  rigour^  and  they  made  their  lives  bitter  with  hard  bondage^  in  mortar 
and  in  brick^  and  in  all  manner  of  service  in  the  field ;  all  their  service  wherein 
thei  made  them  serve^  was  with  rigour.  This  king  had  two  sons,  Amenophia 
and  Busiris. 

Amenophis,  the  eldest,  succeeded  him.J  He  was  the  Pharaoh  under  whoee 
reign  the  Israelites  departed  out  of  Egypt,  and  who  was  drowned  in  his  pas- 
•age  through  the  Red  Sea. 

Father  Tournemine  makes  Sesostris,  of  whom  we  shall  speak  immediately, 
the  Pharaoh  who  raised  the  persecution  against  the  Israelites,  and  oppressed 
them  with  the  most  painful  toils. §  This  is  exactly  agreeable  to  the  account 
given  by  Diodorus  of  this  prince,  who  employed  in  his  Egyptian  works  only 
foreigners ;  so  that  we  may  place  the  memorable  event  of  the  passage  of  the 
Red  Sea,  under  his  son  Pheron  ;||  and  the  characteristic  of  impiety  ascribed 
to  him  by  Herodotus,  greatly  strengthens  the  probability  of  this  conjecture. 
The  plan  I  have  proposed  to  follow  in  this  history,  excuses  me  from  entering 
into  chronological  discussions. 

Diodorus, If  speaking  of  the  Red  Sea,  has  made  one  remark  very  worthy  our 
observation  :  a  tradition,  says  that  historian,  has  been  transmitted  through  the 
whole  nation  from  father  to  son,  for  many  ages,  that  once  an  extraordinary 
ebb  dried  the  sea,  so  that  its  bottom  was  seen  ;  and  that  a  violent  flow  imme- 
diately after  brought  back  the  waters  to  their  former  channel.  It  is  evident 
that  the  miraculous  passage  of  Moses  over  the  Red  Sea  is  here  hinted  at  ; 
and  I  make  this  remark,  purposely  to  admonish  young  students,  not  to  slip 
over,  in  their  perusal  of  authors,  these  precious  remains  of  antiquity ;  espe- 
cially when  they  bear,  like  this  pa^^sage,  any  relation  to  religion. 

Archbishop  Usher  says,  that  Amenophis  left  two  sons,  one  called  Sesothis, 
or  Sesostris,  and  the  other  Armais.  The  Greeks  call  him  Belus,  and  his  two 
sons,  Egyptus  and  Danaus. 

Sesostris  was  not  only  one  of  the  most  p^/Werful  kings  of  Egypt,  but  one 
of  the  greatest  conquerors  that  antiquity  boasts  of.** 

His  father,  whether  by  inspiration,  caprice,  or,  as  the  Egyptians  say,  by  /■ 
the  authority  of  an  oracle,  formed  a  design  of  making  his  son  a  conqueror. 
This  he  set  about  after  the  Egyptian  manner,  that  is,  in  a  great  and  noble 
way.  All  the  male  children  born  in  the  sam.e  day  with  Sesostris,  were,  by 
the  king's  order,  brought  to  court.  Here  they  were  educated  as  if  they  had 
been  his  own  children,  with  the  same  care  bestowed  on  Sesostris,  with  whom 
they  were  brought  up.  He  could  not  possibly  have  given  him  more  faithful 
ministers,  -nor  officers  who  more  zealously  desired  the  success  of  his  arms. 
The  chief  part  of  their  education  was,  the  inuring  them  from  their  infancy  to 
a  hard  and  laborious  life,  ic  order  that  they  might  one  day  be  capable  of  sus- 
taining with  ease  the  toils  oi  war.  They  were  never  suffered  to  eat,  till  tliey 
had  run,  on  foot  or  horseback,  a  considerable  race.  Hunting  was  their  mosK 
common  exercise. 

jElian  remarks  that  Sesostris  was  taught  by  Mercury,  who  instructed  him 
tn  politics,  and  arts  of  government.!!  This  Mercury  is  he  whom  the  Greeks 
called  Trismegistus,  i.  e,  thrice  great.  Egypt,  his  native  country,  owes  to 
him  the  invention  of  almost  every  art.  The  two  books,  which  go  under  his 
name,  bear  such  evident  characters  of  novelty,  that  the  forgery  is  no  longer 
doubted.    There  was  another  Mercury,  who  also  was  very  famous  among  the 

*  Eiod.  i.  11,  13,  14.  ' 
f  Heb.  urbes  thesaurorum.  LXX.  urbes  munitas.    These  cities  were  appointed  to  preserve,  as  lo  astern 
llpBte,  the  corn,  oil,  and  other  products  of  Egypt. — Vatab. 

X  A.  M.  2494.    Ant.  J.  C.  1510.  \  A.  M.  2513.    Ant.  J.  C.  1491. 

I  This  name  bear*  a  g^eat  resemblance  to  Pharaoh,  so  common  to  the  Eg-yptian  ki  i^i. 
f  Lib.  iii.  p.  14.  **  Herod.  I.  ii.  cap.  102,  110.    Diod  1.  i.  p.  48,  44. 

tt  Ti  ¥ffmara  luiiovaii  di^vai  -  Lib.  xii.  c.  4 


132 


miTORV  OF  THE 


Egyptians,  for  his  rare  knowledge  ;  and  of  much  greater  antiquity  than  tk* 
former.  Jamblicus,  a  priest  of  Egypt,  affirms,  that  it  was  customaiy  with  ine 
Egyptians,  to  publish  all  new  books  or  inventions  under  the  name  of  Hermes, 
or  Mercury. 

When  Sesostris  was  more  advanced  in  years,  his  father  sent  him  against  the 
Arabians,  in  order  that,  by  fighting  with  them,  he  might  acquire  military 
knowledge.  Here  the  young  prhice  learned  to  bear  hunger  and  thirst,  and 
subdued  a  nation  whicti  till  then  had  never  been  conquered.  The  youth  edu- 
cated with  him,  attended  him  in  all  his  campaigns. 

Accustomed  by  this  conquest  to  martial  toils,  he  was  next  sent  by  his  father 
to  tiy  his  fortune  westward.  He  invaded  Libya,  and  subdued  the  greatest 
part  of  that  vast  continent. 

Sesostris.^  In  the  course  of  this  expedition,  his  father  died,  and  left  him 
capable  of  attempting  the  greatest  enterprises.  He  form^ed  no  less  a  design 
than  that  of  the  conquest  of  the  world.  But  before  he  left  his  kingdom,  he 
had  provided  for  his  domestic  security,  in  winning  the  hearts  of  his  subjects 
by  his  generosity,  justice,  and  a  popular  obliging  behaviour.  He  was  no  less 
studious  to  gain  the  affection  of  his  officers  and  soldiers,  who  were  ever  ready 
to  shed  the  last  drop  of  their  blood  in  his  service  ;  persuaded  that  his  enter* 
prises  would  all  be  unsuccessful,  unless  his  army  should  be  attached  to  his 
person,  by  all  the  ties  of  esteem,  affection,  anci  interest.  He  divided  the 
country  into  thirty-six  governments,  called  Nomi,  and  bestowed  them  on  per- 
sons of  merit,  and  the  most  approved  fidelity. 

In  the  mean  time  l>e  made  fke  requisite  preparations,  levied  forces,  and 
headed  them  with  officers  of  the  greatest  bravery  and  reputation,  and  these 
were  taken  chiefly  from  among  the  j^ouths  who  had  been  educated  with  him 
He  had  seventeen  hundred  of  these  officers,  who  were  all  capable  of  inspiring 
his  troops  with  resolution,  a  love  of  discipline,  and  a  zeal  lor  the  service  of 
their  prince.  His  army  consisted  of  six  hundred  thousand  foot,  and  twenty- 
four  thousand  horse,  besides  twenty-seven  thousand  armed  chariots. 

He  began  his  expedition  by  invading  Ethiopia,  situated  to  the  south  of 
Egypt.  He  made  it  tributary,  and  obliged  the  nations  of  it  to  furnish  him 
annually  with  a  certain  quantity  of  ebony,  ivory,  and  gold. 

He  had  fitted  out  a  fleet  of  four  hundred  sail,  and  ordering  it  to  sail  to  the 
Red  Sea,  made  himself  master  of  the  isles  and  cities  tying  on  the  coasts  of 
that  sea.  He  himself  heading  his  land-army,  over-ran  and  subdued  Asia  with 
amazing  rapidity,  and  advanced  farther  into  India  than  Hercules,  Bacchus, 
and,  in  after  times,  Alexander  himself  had  ever  done  ;  for  he  subdued  the 
countries  beyond  the  Ganges,  and  advanced  as  far  as  the  Ocean.  One  may 
I'udge  from  hence,  how  unable  the  more  neighbouring  countries  were  to  resist 
him.  The  Scythians,  as  far  as  the  river  Tanais,  Armenia,  and  Cappadocia, 
were  conquered.  He  left  a  colony  in  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Colchos,  situa- 
ted to  the  east  of  the  Black  Sea,  where  the  Egyptian  customs  and  nianners 
have  been  ever  since  retained.  Herodotus  saw  in  Asia  Minor,  from  one  sea 
to  the  other,  monuments  of  his  victories.  In  several  countries  was  read  the 
following  inscription,  engraven  on  pillars  :  Sesostris,  king  of  kings,  and  lord  of 
lords ^  subdued  this  country  by  the  power  of  his  arms.  Such  pillars  are  found 
even  in  Thrace,  and  his  empire  extended  from  the  Ganges  to  the  Danube. 
In  his  expeditions,  some  nations  bravely  defended  their  liberties,  and  others 
yielded  them  up  without  making  the  least  resistance.  This  disparity  was 
denoted  by  him  in  hieroglyphical  figures,  on  the  monuments  erected  to  per- 
petuate the  remembrance  of  his  victories,  agreeably  to  the  Egyptian  practice- 

The^carcity  of  provisions  in  Thrace  stopped  the  progress  of  his  conquests 
and  prevented  his  advancing  farther  in  Europe.    One  remarkable  circum 
stance  is  observed  in  this  conqueror,  who  never  once  thought,  as  others  had 
done,  of  preserving  his  acquisitions  ;  but  contenting  himself  with  the  gloiy  ol 


•  A.       ?5)».    Airt.  J.  r.  1491. 


KINGS  OF  EGYPT. 


133 


having  subdued  and  despoiled  so  many  nations,  after  having  spread  desola- 
tion through  the  world  for  nine  years,  he  confined  himseii  almost  withir 
tJie  ancient  limits  of  Egypt,  a  few  neighbouring  provinces  excepted  ;  for  wt 
do  not  find  any  traces  or  footsteps  of  this  new  empire,  either  under  himself 
or  his  successors. 

He  returned,  therefore,  laden  with  the  spoils  of  the  vanquished  nations ; 
dragging  after  him  a  numberless  multitude  of  captives,  and  covered  with 
greater  glory  than  his  predecessors  ;  that  glory,  1  mean,  which  employs 
many  tongues  and  pens  in  its  praise,  which  consists  in  invading  a  great  num* 
ber  of  provinces  in  a  hostile  way,  and  is  often  productive  of  numberless  ca- 
lamities. He  rewarded  his  officers  and  soldiers  with  a  truly  royal  magnifi- 
cence, in  proportion  to  their  rank  and  merit.  He  made  it  both  his  pleasure 
ind  duty,  to  put  the  companions  of  his  victory  in  such  a  condition  as  n.ighl 
enal^le  them^  to  enjoy,  during  the  remainder  of  their  days,  a  calm  and  easy 
repose,  the  just  reward  of  their  past  toils. 

With  regard  to  himself,  for  ever  careful  of  his  own  reputation,  and  still  more 
of  making  his  power  advantageous  to  his  subjects,  he  employed  the  repose 
which  peace  allowed  him,  in  raising  works  that  might  contribute  more  to  the 
enriching  of  Egypt,  than  the  immortalizing  of  his  name  ;  works  in  which  the 
art  and  industry  of  the  workmen  were  more  admired,  than  the  immense  sums 
which  had  been  expended  on  them. 

A  hundred  famous  temples,  raised  as  so  many  monuments  of  gratitude  tc 
the  tutelar  gods  of  all  the  cities,  were  the  first,  as  well  as  the  most  illustrious 
testimonies  of  his  victories  ;  and  he  took  care  to  publish  in  the  inscriptions 
on  them,  that  these  mighty  works  had  been  completed  without  burdening  any 
of  his  subjects.  He  made  it  his  glory  to  be  tender  of  them,  and  to  employ 
only  captives  in  these  monuments  of  his  conquests.  The  Scriptures  take  no- 
tice of  something  like  this,  where  thev*  speak  of  fne  buildings  of  Solomon.* 
But  he  was  especially  studious  of  adorning  and  enrichirg  the  temple  of  Vul- 
can at  Pelusium,  in  acknowledgm.ent  of  that  god's  imaginary  protection  of 
him,  when,  on  his  return  from  his  expeditions,  his  brother  had  a  design  of  de- 
stroying him  in  that  city,  with  his  wife  and  children,  by  setting  fire  to  the 
apartment  where  he  then  lay. 

His  great  work  was,  the  raising,  in  every  part  of  Egypt,  a  considerable 
number  of  high  banks  or  moles,  on  which  new  cities  weie  built,  in  order  that 
these  might  be  a  security  for  men  and  beasts,  during  the  inundations  of  the  Nile. 

From  Memphis,  as  far  as  the  sea,  he  cut,  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  a  great 
number  of  canals,  for  the  conveniency  of  trade,  and  the  conveying  of  provi- 
sions, for  the  settling  an  easy  correspondence  between  such  cities  as  were  most 
distant  from  one  another.  Besides  the  advantages  of  traffic,  Egypt  was,  by 
these  canals,  made  inaccessible  to  the  cavalry  of  its  enemies,  which  before 
had  so  often  harassed  it  by  repeated  incursions. 

He  did  still  more  :  to  secure  Egypt  from  the  inroads  of  its  nearer  neigh- 
bours, the  Syrians  and  Arabians,  he  fortified  all  the  eastern  coast  from  Pelu- 
sium to  Heliopolis,  that  is,  for  upwards  of  seven  leagues.! 

Sesostris  might  have  been  considered  as  one  of  the  most  illustrious  and  most 
boasted  heroes  of  antiquity  had  not  the  lustre  of  his  warlike  actions,  as  well 
as  his  pacific  virtues,  been  tarnished  by  a  thirst  of  glory,  and  a  blind  fondness 
for  his  own  grandeur,  which  made  him  forget  that  he  was  a  man.  The  kings 
and  chiefs  of  the  conquered  nations  came,  at  stated  times,  to  do  homage  to 
their  victor,  and  pay  him  the  appointed  tribute.  On  every  other  occasion,  he 
treated  them  with  some  humanity  and  generosity.  But  when  he  went  to  the 
temple,  or  entered  his  capital,  he  caused  these  princes,  four  abreast,  to  be 
harnessed  to  his  car,  instead  of  horses  ;  and  valued  himself  upon  his  being 
thus  drawn  by  the  lords  and  sovereigns  of  other  nations.    What  I  am  most  sur- 


•  2  Chrott.  viii.  9     "But  of  tbe  chilclren  of  Israel  did  Solomon  mal:e  no  servants  for  his  work.'* 

t  150  stadia,  ahout  18  railes  English. 


134 


HISTORY  OF  TnE 


prised  at  is,  (hat  Diodorus  should  rank  this  foolish  and  inhur.aan  vanity  amon| 

the  most  shining  actions  of  this  prince. 

Becoming  blind  in  his  old  age,  he  despatched  himself,  after  having  reigned 
thirty-three  years,  and  left  his  kingdom  immensely  rich.*  His  empire  never- 
theless did  not  reach  beyond  the  fourth  generation.  But  there  still  remained,  ?o 
jateas  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  magnificent  monuments,  which  showed  the  extent 
of  Egypt  under  Sesostris,!  and  the  immense  tributes  which  were  paid  to  it.J 

I  now  return  to  some  facts  which  should  have  been  mentioned  before,  'as 
they  occurred  in  this  period,  but  were  omitted,  in  order  that  I  might  not  break 
the  thread  of  the  history,  and  therefore  will  now  barely  mention  them. 

About  the  era  in  question,  the  Egyptians  settled  themselves  in  divers  parts 

the  earth.  The  colony  which  Cecrops  led  out  of  Egypt,  built  twelve  cities^ 
or  rather  so  many  towns,  of  which  he  composed  the  kingdom  of  Athens. § 

We  observed,  that  the  brother  of  Sesostris,  called  by  the  Greeks  Da'naus, 
had  formed  a  design  to  murder  him  on  his  return  to  Egypt  after  his  conquests. 
But  being  defeated  in  his  horrid  project,  he  was  obliged  to  fly.ll  He  there- 
upon retired  to  Peloponnesus,  where  he  seized  upon  the  k  ingdom  of  Argos, 
which  had  been  founded  about  four  hundred  years  before  by  Inachus. 

BusiRis,  brother  of  Amenophis,  so  infamous  among  the  ancients  for  his  cru- 
elties, exercised  his  tyranny  at  diat  time  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  and  barba- 
rously cut  the  throats  of  all  foreigners  who  landed  in  his  country  :  this  wa* 
probably  during  the  absence  of  Sesostris.^ 

About  the  same  t'me  Cadmus  brought  from  Syria,  into  Greece,  the  inven- 
tion of  letters."^*  Some  pretend,  that  these  characters,  or  letters,  were  Egyp- 
tian, and  that  Cadmus  himself  was  a  native  of  Egypt,  and  not  of  Phcenicia  ; 
and  the  Egyptians,  who  ascribe  to  themselves  the  invention  of  every  art,  and 
boast  a  greater  antiquity  than  any  other  nation,  asciibed  to  their  Mercury  the 
honour  of  inventing  letters.  Most  of*- the  learned  agree,  that  Cadmus  carried 
the  Phoenician,  or  Syrian  letters  into  Greece,  and  that  those  letters  were  the 
same  as  the  Hebraic ;  the  Hebrews  who  formed  but  a  small  nation,  being 
comprehended  under  the  general  name  of  Syrians. tt  Joseph  Scaliger,  in  his 
notes  on  the  Chronicon  of  Eusebius,  proves  that  the  Greek  letterS3  and  those 
of  the  Latin  alphabet  formed  from  them,  derive  theiroriginal  frcm  the  ancient 
Phoenician  letters,  which  are  the  same  with  the  Samaritan,  anc^  were  used  by 
the  Jews  before  the  Babylonish  captivity.  Cadmus  carried  on^  sixteen  let- 
ters into'Greece,  eight  others  being  added  afterwards.JJ 

I  return  to  the  history  of  the  Egyptian  kings,  whom  1  shall  hereafter  rank  in 
the  same  order  with  Herodotus. 

Pheron  succeeded  Sesostris  in  his  kingdom,  but  not  in  his  glory. §§  Hero- 
dotus relates  but  one  action  of  his,  which  shows  how  greatly  he  had  degene- 
rated from  the  religious  sentiments  of  his  father.il ||  In  an  extraordinary  inun- 
dation of  the  Nile,  which  exceeded  eighteen  cubits,  this  prince,  e^-jraged  at 
the  devastation  which  was  made  by  it,  threw  a  javelin  at  the  river,  as  if  he 
intended  thereby  to  chastise  its  insolence  ;  but  was  himself  immediately  pun- 
ished for  his  impiety,  if  the  historian  may  be  credited,  with  the  loss  oi  sight. 

Proteus. ITU  He  was  the  son  of  Memphis,  where,  in  Herodotus'  time,  hia 
temple  was  still  standing,  in  which  was  a  chapel  dedicated  to  Venus  the  Stran- 


*  Tacit.  Ann.  1.  ii.  c.  60.  j  Tacit.  Ann.  1.  ii. 

{  Legebantur  indicta  gentibus  tributa — baud  minus  magnifica  quam  nunc  vi  Parthorum  aut  potentla  Ro- 

■Mna  jubentur.  Inscribed  on  pillars,  were  read  the  tributes  imposed  on  ranquished  nations,  which 

were  not  inferior  to  those  now  paid  to  the  Parthian  and  Roman  powers. 

j  A.  M.  2448.  II  A.  M.  2530.  IF  A.  M.  2533.  **  A.  M.  2549. 

fl  The  reader  may  consult  on  this  subject  tw©  learned  dissertations  of  Abbd  Renaudot.  inserted  in  the 
•econd  volume  of  Tne  History  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions. 

XX  The  sixteen  letters,  brought  by  Cadmus  into  Greece,  are,  a,      7,  5i  f,  i»  x,  A»  IL,  v,  o»  ir,     (Ti  T.  «b 
PoJamedss,  at  the  siege  ©f  Troy,  t.  e.  upwards  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  lower  than  Cadmus,  added  th« 
f»«tr  folio  wioff,  r<  6,  Z)i  Xi         Simonides,  a  long  time  after,  invented  the  four  others,  namely,  Dt  (>)•  >|r 
(2  A.  M.  2547.     Ant.  J.  C.  1457.  ||||  Herod  1.  ii.  c.  111.    Diod.  1.  i.  p.  54. 

TIT  A.  M  2800    Ant.  J  C.  1204    Herod.  1.  ii.  c.  112.  120. 


Ku-^aS  OF  EGYPT. 


135 


•xer.*  It  is  conject  jred  tViat  this  Venus  was  Helen.  For,  hi  the  reign  of  thia 
a.oririrch,  Paris  the  Trojan,  returning  home  with  Helen,  whom  he  had  stolen, 
was  driven  by  a  storm  into  one  of  the  mouths  of  the  Nile,  called  the  Canopic; 
and  from  thence  was  conducted  to  Proteus  at  Memphis,  who  reproached  him 
in  the  strongest  terms  for  his  base  perfidy  and  guilt,  in  stealing  the  wife  of  his 
host,  and  with  her  all  the  effects  in  his  house.  He  added,  that  the  only  rea- 
•on  why  he  did  not  punish  him  with  death  (as  his  crime  deserved)  was,  be- 
cause the  Egyptians  were  careful  not  to  imbrue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of 
strangers :  that  he  would  keep  Helen,  with  all  the  riches  that  were  brought 
with  her,  in  order  to  restore  them  to  their  lawful  owner:  that  as  for  himself 
(Paris,)  he  must  either  quit  his  dominions  in  three  days,  or  expect  to  be 
treated  as  an  enemy.  The  king's  order  was  obeyed.  Paris  continued  his 
voyage,  and  arrived  at  Troy,  whither  he  was  closely  pursued  by  the  Grecian 
fermj.  The  Greeks  summoned  the  Trojans  to  surrender  Helen,  and  with  her 
all  the  treasures  of  which  her  husband  had  been  plundered.  The  Trojans  an- 
swered, that  neither  Helen  nor  her  treasures  were  in  their  city.  And  indeed, 
ivas  it  at  all  likely,  says  Herodotus,  that  Priam,  who  was  so  wise  an  old  prince, 
should  choose  to  see  his  children  and  country  destroyed  before  his  eyes,  rather 
than  give  the  Greeks  the  just  and  reasonable  satisfaction  they  desired?  But 
it  was  to  no  purpose  for  them  to  affirm  with  an  oath,  that  Helen  was  not  in  their 
city  ;  the  Greeks,  being  firmly  persuaded  that  they  were  trifled  with,  persist- 
ed obstinately  in  their  unbelief.  The  Deity,  continues  the  same  historian, 
being  resolved  that  the  Trojans,  by  the  total  destruction  of  their  city  and  em- 
pire, should  teach  the  affrighted  world  this  lesson.  That  great  crimes  are 

ATTENDED  WITH  EQUALLY  GREAT  AND  SIGNAL  PUNISHMENTS  FROM  THE  OF- 
FENDED GODS.t  Menelaus,  in  his  return  from  Troy,  called  at  the  court  of 
king  Proteus,  who  restored  him  Helen  with  all  her  treasure.  Herodotus  proves 
from  some  passages  in  Homer,  that  the  voyage  of  Paris  to  Egypt  was  not  uii- 
knov/n  to  this  poet. 

Rhampsinitus.  The  treasury  built  by  this  king,  who  was  richer  than  any 
of  his  predecessors,  and  his  descent  into  hell,  as  they  are  related  by  Herodo- 
tus,I  have  so  much  tne  air  of  romance  and  fiction,  that  they  deserve  no  men- 
tion here. 

Till  the  reign  of  this  king,  there  had  been  some  shadow  at  least  of  justice 
and  moderation  in  Egypt ;  but,  in  the  two  following  reigns,  violence  and  cru- 
elty usurped  their  place. 

Cheops  and  Cephrenus.§  These  two  princes,  who  were  truly  brothers  by 
the  similitude  of  their  manners,  seem  to  have  strove  which  of  them  should  dis- 
tinguish himself  most,  by  a  barefaced  impiety  towards  the  gods,  and  a  barba- 
rous inhumanity  to  men.  Cheops  reigned  fifty  years,  and  his  brother  Cephrenus 
fifty-six  years  after  him.  They  kept  the  temples  shut  during  the  whole  time 
of  their  long  reigns ;  and  forbid  the  offerings  of  sacrifice  under  the  severest 
penalties.  On  the  other  hand,  they  oppressed  their  subjects,  by  employing 
them  in  the  most  grievous  and  useless  works  ;  and  sacrificed  the  lives  of  num- 
berless multitudes  of  men,  merely  to  gratify  a  senseless  ambition,  of  immor- 
talizing their  names  by  edifices  of  an  enormous  magnitude  and  a  boundless 


*  I  do  not  think  myselr  obliged  to  enter  here  into  a  discussion,  which  would  be  attended  with  very  per- 
plexing difficulties,  should  I  pretend  to  reconcile  the  series,  or  succession  of  the  kings,  as  given  by  Hero- 
dotu«,  with  the  opinion  of  archbishop  Usher.  This  last  supposes,  with  a  great  many  other  learned  mea, 
that  Sssostris  is  the  son  of  that  Egyptian  king  who  was  drowned  in  the  Red  Sea,  whose  reign  must  conse- 
quently have  begun  in  the  year  of  the  world  2513,  and  continued  till  the  year  2547»  since  it  lasted  thirty 
three  years.  Should  we  allow  fifty  years  to  the  reign  of  Pheron  his  son,  there  would  still  be  an  interval 
of  above  two  hundred  years  between  Pheron  and  Proteus,  who,  according  to  Herodotus,  succeeded  imme 
diately  the  first :  since  Proteus  lived  at  the  time  of  the  siege  of  Troy,  which,  according  to  Usher,  was  taken 
A«.  Mun.  5820.  I  know  not  whether  his  almost  total  silence  on  the  Egyptian  kings  after  Sesoitrii,  WM 
owing  to  his  sense  of  this  difficulty.  I  suppose  a  long  interval  to  have  occured  between  Pheron  and  PfO' 
fedi;  acccrJingly  Diodorus  (lib.  liv.)  fills  it  up  with  a  great  many  kings:  and  the  same  must  be  said  U 
•omc  of  the  following  kings.  J       o  ^ 

t  'Cii  Tu)v  ji£7cLA.a3v  d5»XT)/iaLTC0v  \Ltya,\a\  cfcrl  xal  a'  ri^iwp.'aj  trapi  tiLt  ^efiv. 
X  l*ib.  ii.  a.  121,  123  \  Herod.  1.  ii.  c.  124.  128.    Diod.  1.  i.  p  67- 


136 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


expense.  It  is  remarkable,  that  those  stately  pyramids,  which  have  so  ions 
been  the  admiration  of  the  whole  world,  were  the  effect)  of  the  irrengion  ana 
merciless  crueHy  of  those  princes. 

Mycerinus.*  He  was  the  son  of  Cheops,  but  of  a  character  opposite  tc  that 
of  his  father.  So  far  from  walking  in  his  steps,  he  detested  his  conduct,  and 
pursued  quite  different  measures.  He  again  opened  the  temples  of  the  gods, 
restored  the  sacrifices,  did  all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  comfort  his  subjects, 
and  make  them  forget  their  past  miseries  ;  and  believed  himself  set  over  them 
for  no  other  purpose  than  to  exercise  justice,  and  to  make  them  taste  all  the 
blessings  of  an  equitable  and  peaceful  administration.  He  heard  their  com- 
"  plair.':3,  dried  their  tears,  eased  their  misery,  and  thought  himself  not  so  much 
the  master,  as  the  father  of  his  people.  This  procured  him  the  love  of  them 
all.  Egypt  resounded  with  his  praises,  and  his  name  commanded  veneration 
in  al!  places. 

One  would  naturally  conclude,  that  so  prudent  and  humane  a  conduct  must 
have  drawn  down  on  Mycerinus  the  protection  of  the  gods.  But  it  happened 
far  otherwise.  His  misfortunes  began  from  the  death  of  a  darling  and  only  daugh- 
ter, in  whom  his  whole  felicity  consisted.  He  ordered  extraordinary  honours 
to  be  paid  to  her  memory,  which  were  still  continued  in  Herodotus's  time. 
This  historian  informs  us,  that  in  the  city  of  Sais,  exquisite  odours  were  burnt, 
in  the  day-time,  at  the  tomb  of  this  princess,  and  that  it  was  illuminated  with 
a  lamp  by  night. 

He  was  told  by  an  oracle,  that  his  reign  would  continue  but  seven  years.  And 
as  he  complained  of  this  to  the  gods,  and  inquired  the  reason  why  so  long  and 
prosperous  a  reign  had  been  granted  to  his  father  and  uncle,  who  were  equally 
cruel  and  impious,  while  his  own,  which  he  had  endeavoured  so  carefully  to 
render  as  equitable  and  mild  as  it  was  possible  for  him  to  do,  should  be  so 
short  and  unhappy  ;  he  was  answered,  that  these  were  the  very  causes  of  it,  it 
being  the  will  of^the  gods  to  oppress  and  afflict  Egypt,  during  the  space  of  150 
years,  as  a  punishment  for  its  crimes  ;  and  that  his  reign,  which  was  appoint- 
ed, like  those  of  the  preceding  monarchs,  to  be  of  fifty  years  continuance,  was 
shortened  on  account  of  his  too  great  lenity.  Mycerinus  likewise  built  a  pyra- 
mid, but  much  inferior  in  dimensions  to  that  of  his  father. 

AsYCHis.j  He  enacted  the  law  relating  to  loans,  which  forbids  a  son  to 
borrow  money,  without  giving  the  dead  body  of  his  father  by  way  of  security 
for  it.  The  law  added,  that  in  case  the  son  took  no  care  to  redeem  his  father  ? 
body  by  restoring  the  loan,  both  himself  and  his  children  should  be  deprived 
for  ever  of  the  rights  of  sepulture. 

He  valued  himself  for  having  surpassed  all  his  predecessors,  by  building  s 
pyramid  of  brick,  more  magnificent,  if  this  king  was  to  be  credited,  than  any 
Iiitherto  seen.  The  following  inscription  by  its  founder's  order,  was  engraved 
upon  it :  Compare  me  not  with  pyramids  built  of  stone,  which  I  as 

MUCH  EXCEL  AS  JuPITER  DOES  ALL  THE  OTHER  GODS.J 

If  we  suppose  the  six  preceding  reigns  (the  exact  duration  of  some  of  which 
m  not  fixed  by  Herodotus)  to  have  continued  one  hundred  and  seventy  years, 
there  will  remain  an  interval  of  near  three  liundred  years  to  the  reign  of  Sa  • 
bachus  the  Ethiopian.    In  this  interval  I  shall  place  a  few  circumstances  re 
lated  in  Holy  Scripture. 

Pharaoh,  king  of  Egypt,  gave  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  Solomon,  kinr 
of  Israel ;  who  received  her  in  that  part  of  Jerusalem  called  the  ,city  of  Davil 
till  he  had  built  her  a  palace.§ 

Sesach,  or  Shishak,  otherwise  called  Sesonchis. 

It  was  to  him  that  Jeroboam  fled,  to  avoid  the  wrath  of  Solomon,  who  ii> 


*  Herod.  L  ii.  p.  139,  140.  f  Herod.  1.  ii.  c.  136. 

^  The  remainder  of  the  inscription,  as  we  find  it  in  Herodotus,  is,  "  For  men,  plunging  long-  polei  dowt 
to  tlie  botteti  of  the  lake,  drew  bricks  {rrKlv^ous  t'Qvaav)  out  of  the  mud  whicb  stuck  to  them,  and  gaTt 
M«thiifom.V' 

I  A.  M.  9091.    Ant  J.  C.  1013.    1  Kinp.  Ul  1. 


KINGS  OF  EGYPT. 


137 


tended  to  kill  him.*  He  abode  in  Egypt  till  Solomon's  death,  and  then  return- 
ed to  Jerusalem,  when  putting  himselfat  the  head  of  the  rebels,  he  won  from 
Rehoboam  the  son  of  Solomon,  ten  tribes,  over  whom  he  declared  himself  king. 

This  Sesach,  in  the  fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  Rehoboam,  marched  against 
Jerusalem,  because  the  Jews  had  transgressed  against  the  Lord.  He  came 
with  twelve  hundred  chariots  of  war  and  sixty  thousand  horse.j  He  had 
brought  numberless  multitudes  of  people,  who  were  all  Libyans,  Troglodytes, 
and  Ethiopians. J  He  seized  upon  all  the  strongest  cities  of  Judah,  and  ad- 
vanced as  far  as  Jerusalem.  Then  the  king  and  the  princes  of  Israel,  having 
humbled  themselves,  and  implored  the  protection  of  the  God  of  Israel,  he  told 
them,  by  his  prophet  Shemaiah,  that,  because  they  humbled  themselves,  he 
would  not  utterly  destroy  them,  as  they  had  deserved  ;  but  that  they  should 
be  the  servants  of  Sesach  ;  in  order  that  they  might  know  the  difference  of  his 
service,  and  the  service  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  country.^  Sesach  retired  from 
Jerusalem,  after  having  plundered  the  treasures  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and 
of  the  king's  house  ;  he  carried  off  every  thing  with  him,  a7id  even  also  the 
three  h  undred  shields  of  gold  which  Solomon  had  made. 

Zerah,  king  of  Ethiopia,  and  doubtless  of  Egypt  at  the  same  time,  made 
war  upon  Asa  king  of  Judah. |1  His  army  consisted  of  a  million  of  men,  and 
three  hundred  chariots  of  war.  Asa  marched  against  him,  and  drawing  up 
his  army  in  order  of  battle,  in  full  reliance  on  the  God  whom  he  served, 
"  Lord,  says  he,  "  it  is  nothing  for  thee  to  help,  whether  with  many,  or  with 
them  that  have  no  power.  Help  us,  O  Lord  our  God,  for  we  rest  on  thee,  and 
in  thy  name  we  go  against  this  multitude  ;  O  Lord  thou  art  our  God,  let  not 
man  prevail  against  thee."  A  prayer  offered  up  with  such  strong  faith  was 
heard.  God  struck  the  Ethiopians  with  terror ;  they  fled,  and  all  were  irre« 
coverably  defeated,  being  destroyed  before  the  Lord,  and  before  his  host, 

Anysis.^    He  was  blind,  and  under  his  reign 

Sabachus,  king  of  Ethiopia,  being  encouraged  by  an  oracle,  entered  Egypt 
with  a  numerous  army,  and  possessed  himself  of  it.  He  reigned  with  great 
clemency  and  justice.  Instead  of  putting  to  death  such  criminals  as  had  been 
sentenced  to  die  by  the  judges,  he  made  them  repair  the  cause3^s,  on  which 
the  respective  cities  to  which  they  belonged  were  situated.  He  built  several 
magnificent  temples,  and  among  the  rest,  one  in  the  city  of  Bubastus,  of  which 
Herodotus  gives  a  long  and  elegant  description.  After  a  reign  of  fifty  years, 
which  was  the  time  appointed  by  the  oracle,  he  retired  voluntarily  to  his  old 
kingdom  of  Ethiopia,  and  left  the  throne  of  Egypt  to  Anysis,  who  during  this 
time  had  concealed  himLelf  in  the  fens.  It  is  believed  that  this  Sabachus  was 
the  same  with  So,  whose  aid  was  implored  by  Hosea  king  of  Israel,  against 
Salmanaser  king  of  Assyria.** 

Sethon.    He  reigned  fourteen  years. 

He  is  the  same  with  Sevechus,  the  son  of  Sabacon  or  Sual  the  Ethiopian, 
who  reigned  so  long  over  Egypt. tt  This  prince,  so  far  from  discharging  the 
functions  of  a  king,  was  ambitious  of  those  of  a  priest ;  causing  himself  to  be 
consecrated  high-priest  of  Vulcan.  Abandoning  himself  entirely  to  supersti- 
tion, he  neglected  to  defend  his  kingdom  by  force  of  arms  ;  paying  no  regard 
to  military  men,  from  a  firm  persuasion  that  he  should  never  have  occasion 
for  their  assistance  ;  he  therefore  was  so  far  from  endeavouring  to  gain  their 
affections,  that  he  deprived  them  of  their  privileges,  and  even  dispossessed 
tliem  of  such  lands  as  his  predecessors  had  given  them. 

He  was  soon  made  sensible  of  their  resentment  in  a  war  that  broke  out  sud- 
denly, and  frf  Ji  which  he  delivered  himself  solely  by  a  miraculous  protection, 


♦  A.  M.  30-26.    Ant.  J.  C.  978.    1  Kins:,  sxl.  40.  and  chap.  xii. 
t  A.  M.  3033.    Ant.  .1.  C.  971.    2  Chron.  xll.  1—9. 
i  The  Koglish  version  of  the  Bible  says,  the  Lubims,  the  Sakkims,  and  the  Ethiopians. 
^  Or,  of  the  kins^doins  of  the  enrth. 
<  A.  M.  Ant.  J  C.  741.    2  Chron.  xiv.  9—13-  IT  Herod.  1.  ii.  c.  157.    Died.  1.     p.  S% 

A.  M.  3i7S     Ant.  J.  C.  725.    2  Klog^.  x*u.  4        tt  A.  M.  22C5.    Ant.  .J.  C.  719 


.38 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


if  Herodot'js  mav  be  credited,  who  intermixes  his  account  of  this  war  with  a 

freat  many  fabulous  particulars.  Sennacherib,  (so  Herodotus  calls  this  prince,) 
ing  of  the  Arabians  and  Assyrians,  having  entered  Egypt  with  a  numerous 
army,  the  Egyptian  officers  and  soldiers  refused  to  march  against  him.  The 
high-priest  of  Vulcan,  being  thus  reduced  to  the  greatest  extremity,  had  re- 
course to  his  god,  who  bid  him  not  despond,  but  march  courageously  agains* 
the  enemy  with  the  few  soldiers  he  could  raise.  Sethon  obeyed  A  small 
number  of  merchants,  artificers,  and  others,  who  were  the  dregs  of  the  popu- 
lace, joined  him ;  and  with  this  handful  of  men  he  marched  to  Pelnsiumj 
where  Sennacherib  had  pitched  his  camp.  The  night  following  a  prodigious 
number  of  rats  entered  the  enemy's  camp,  and  gnawing  to  pieces  all  their 
bow-strings  and  the  thongs  of  their  shields,  rendered  them  incapable  of  making 
the  least  defence.  Being  disarmed  in  thii-'  manner,  they  were  obliged  to  fly ; 
and  they  retreated  with  the  loss  of  a  great  part  of  their  forces.  Sethon,  when 
he  returned  home,  ordered  a  statue  of  himself  to  be  set  up  in  the  temple  of 
Vulcan,  holding  in  his  right  hand  a  rat,  and  these  words  inscribed  thereon : 
Let  the  man  w^ho  beholds  me  learn  to  reverence  the  gods.* 

It  is  very  obvious  that  this  story,  as  related  here  from  Herodotus,  is  an  alter- 
ation of  that  w^hich  is  told  in  the  second  book  of  Kings.j  We  there  see,  that 
Sennacherib,  king  of  the  Assyrians,  having  subdued  all  the  neighbouring  na- 
tions, and  seized  upon  all  the  cities  of  Judah,  resolved  to  besiege  Hezekiah 
in  Jerusalem,  his  capital  city.  The  ministers  of  this  holy  king,  in  spite  of  this 
opposition  and  the  remonstrances  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  who  promised  them, 
in  God's  name,  a  sure  and  certain  protection,  provided  they  would  trust  in 
him  only,  sent  secretly  to  the  Egyptians  and  Ethiopians  for  succour.  Their 
armies,  being  united,  marched  to  the  relief  of  Jerusalem  at  the  time  appoint- 
ed, and  were  met  and  vanquished  by  the  Assyrians  in  a  pitched  battle.  He 
pursued  them  into  Egypt,  and  entirely  laid  waste  the  country.  At  his  return 
from  thence,  the  veiy  night  before  he  was  to  have  given  a  general  assault  to 
Jerusalem,  which  then  seemed  lost  to  all  hopes,  the  destroying  angel  made 
dreadful  havoc  in  the  camp  of  the  Assyrians,  destroyed  a  hundred  fourscore 
and  f  thousand  men  by  fire  and  sword,  and  proved  evidently,  that  they  had 
great  reasoii  to  rely,  as  Hezekiah  had  done,  on  the  promise  of  the  God  of  Israel. 

This  is  the  real  fact.  But  as  it  was  no  ways  honourable  to  the  Egyptians, 
they  endeavoured  to  turn  it  to  their  own  advantage,  by  disguising  and  corrupt- 
ing the  circumstances  of  it.  Nevertheless,  the  account  of  this  history,  though 
so  much  defaced,  ought  yet  to  be  highly  valued,  as  coming  from  a  historian 
of  so  great  antiquity  and  authority  as  Herodotus. 

The  prophet  Isaiah  had  foretold,  at  several  times,  that  this  expedition  of  the 
Egyptians,  v/hich  had  been  concerted  seemingly  with  much  prudence,  con- 
ducted with  the  greatest  skill,  and  in  which  the  forces  of  two  powerful  empires 
were  united,  in  order  to  relieve  the  Jews,  would  not  only  be  of  no  service  to 
Jerusalem,  but  even  destructive  to  Egypt  itself,  whose  strongest  cities  would 
be  taken,  its  territories  plundered,  and  its  inhabitants  of  all  ages  and  sexes  led 
into  cai)tivity.  See  the  18th,  19th,  20th,  30th,  31st,  &c.  chapters  of  the  second 
book  of^  Kings.  Archbishop  Usher  and  dean  Prideaux  suppose  that  it  was  at 
this  period  that  the  ruin  of  the  famous  city  No-Amon,J  spoken  of  by  the  pro- 
phet Nahum,  happened.  That  proj)het  says,  that  she  was  carried  away — that 
her  young  children  were  dashed  in  pieces  at  the  top  of  all  the  streets — that  the 
enemy  cast  lots  for  her  honourable  men,  and  that  all  her  great  men  were  hr^und 
in  chains,^   He  observes,  that  all  these  misfortunes  befel  that  city,  when 


*  *E$  ijil  Til  of  ITDV,  COCTE^riJ  "(TTW.    .  j  Chap.  Xvii. 

X  The  Vulgate  calls  that  city  Alexandria,  to  which  the  Hebrew  gives  the  namf  of  No-Ainon  ;  because 
Alexandria  was  afterwards  built  in  the  place  were  this  stood.  Dean  Prideaux,  after  Bochart,  thinks  thai 
it  was  Thebes,  sumamed  Diospolis.  Indeed,  the  Ej^tian  Amon  is  the  same  Avlth  Jupiter.  But  Thebst 
a  not  the  place  where  AlexaDdria  ^ai  since  built.  Perhaps  Jhere  was  another  city  there,  t^nich  alw 
war  '•alla4  >  Hiaoo 

(  Cbap.  m.  8,  la 


KINGS  OF  EGrrr. 


139 


Egypt  and  Ethiopia  were  her  strength ;  which  seems  to  refer  clearly  ekiough 

to  the  time  of  which  we  are  here  speaking,  when  Tharaca  and  Sethon  had 
(mited  ttieir  forces.  However,  this  opinion  is  not  without  some  diiBculties,  and 
rs  contradicted  by  some  learned  men.  It  is  sufficient  for  me  to  have  hinted 
it  to  the  reader. 

Till  the  reign  of  Sethon,  the  Egyptian  priests  computed  three  hundred 
and  forty-one  generations  of  men ;  which  make  eleven  thousand  three  hun- 
dred and  forty  years,  allowing  three  generations  to  a  hundred  years.*  They 
counted  the  like  number  of  priests  and  kings.  The  latter,  whether  gods  or 
men,  had  succeeded  one  another  without  interruption,  under  the  name  of  pi* 
romis,  an  Egyptian  word  signifying  good  and  virtuous.  The  Egyptian 
priests  showed  Herodotus  three  hundred  and  forty-one  wooden  colossal  statues 
of  these  piromis,  all  ranged  in  order  in  a  great  hall.  Such  was  the  folly  of 
the  Egyptians,  to  lose  themselves,  as  it  were,  in  a  remote  antiquity,  to  which 
no  other  people  pretended. 

Tharaca. t  He  it  was  who  joined  Sethon,  with  an  Ethiopian  army,  to  re- 
lieve Jerusalem.  After  the  death  of  Sethon,  who  had  sat  fourteen  years  on  the 
Ihi'one,  Tharaca  ascended  it,  and  reigned  eighteen  years.  He  was  the  last 
Flthiopian  king  who  reigned  in  Egypt. 

After  his  death,  the  Egyptians,  not  being  able  to  agree  about  the  succession, 
were  two  years  in  a  state  of  anarchy,  during  which  there  were  great  disorders 
;ind  confusions  among  them. 

TWELVE  KINGS. 

At  last,  twelve  of  the  principal  noblemen,  conspiring  together,  seized  upon 
his  kingdom,  and  divided  it  among  themselves  into  so  many  parts.J  It  was 
agreed  by  them,  that  each  should  govern  his  own  district  with  equal  power 
and  authority,  and  that  no  one  should  attempt  to  invade  or  seize  the  dominions 
of  aiiother.  They  thought  it  necessary  to  make  this  agreement,  and  to  bind 
it  with  the  most  dreadful  oaths,  to  elude  the  prediction  of  an  oracle,  which 
had  foretold,  that  he  among  them  w^ho  should  offer  his  libation  to  Vulcan  out 
of  a  brazen  bowl,  should  gain  the  sovereignty  of  Egypt.  They  reigned  to- 
gether fifteen  years  in  the  utmost  harmony  :  and  to  leave  a  famous  monument 
of  their  concord  to  posterity,  they  jointly,  and  at  a  common  expense,  built 
the  famous  labyrinth,  which  was  a  pile  oi  building  consisting  of  twelve  large 
palaces,  wnth  as  many  edifices  under  ground  as  appeared  above  H.  I  have 
spoken  elsewhere  of  this  labyrinth. 

^  One  day,  as  the  twelve  kings  v^ere  assisting  at  a  solemn  and  periodical  sac- 
rifice offered  in  the  temple  of  Vulcan,  the  priests,  having  presented  each  of 
them  a  golden  bowl  for  the  libation,  one  was  wanting ;  wnen  Psammetichps,§ 
without  any  design,  supplied  the  want  of  this  bowl  with  his  brazen  heiaiet, 
5br  each  wore  one,  and  with  it  performed  the  ceremony  of  the  libation.  This 
accident  struck  the  rest  of  the  kings,  and  recalled  to  their  memoiy  the  predic- 
tion of  the  oracle  above  mentioned.  They  thought  it  therefore  necessary  to 
f*cure  themselves  from  his  attempts,  and  therefore  with  one  consent  banished 
b'nri  into  the  fenny  parts  of  Egypt. 

After  Psammetichus  had  passed  some  years  there,  waiting  a  favourable  op- 
portunity to  revenge  himself  for  the  affront  which  had  been  put  upon  him,  a 
courier  brought  him  advice,  that  brazen  men  were  landed  in  Egypt.  These 
frere  Grecian  soldiers,  Carians  and  lonians,  who  had  been  cast  upon  the  coasis 
of  Egypt  by  a  storm,  and  were  completely  covered  with  helmets,  cuirasses, 
and  other  arms  of  brass.  Psammetichus  immediately  called  to  mind  the  ora- 
cle, which  had  answered  him,  that  he  should  be  succoured  by  brazen  men 
from  the  sea-coast.  He  did  not  doubt  that  the  prediction  was  now  fulfilled. 
He  therefore  made  a  league  with  these  strangers  ;  engaged  them  with  great 

*  H«rod.  1.  ii.  cap.  142.  f  A.  M.  3299.    Ant.  J.  C.  795.    Afric.  apud  SynceL  p.  74. 

t  -A.  M.  3319.    Ant.  J.  C.  (585.    Herod.  1.  ii.  cap.  147,  152.    Diod.  I.  i.  p.  b9 
J  He  WM  OB«  ef  the  iwtlve 


140 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


promises  to  stay  with  him  ;  prWqtely  levied  other  forces,  and  put  these  Grecki 
at  their  head  ;  when,  giving  battle  to  the  eleven  kings,  he  defeated  them,  and 
remained  sole  possessor  of  Egypt. 

PsArriMEncHUS.  As  this  prince  owed  his  preservation  to  the  lonians  and 
Carians,  he  settled  them  in  Egypt,  from  which  all  foreigners  hitherto  had  been 
excluded  ;  and,  by  assigning  them  sufficient  lands  and  fixed  revenues,  he  mad^ 
them  forget  their  native  country.*  By  his  order,  Egyptian  children  were  put 
under  their  care  to  learn  the  Greek  tongue  ;  and  on  this  occasion,  and  by  thir? 
means,  the  Egyptians  began  to  have  a  correspondence  with  the  Greeks',  and 
from  that  era,  the  Egyptian  history,  which  till  then  had  been  intermixed  with 
pompous  fables,  by  the  artifice  of  the  priests,  begins,  according  tc  Herodotu*, 
to  speak  w  ith  greater  truth  and  certainty. 

As  soon  as  Psammetichus  was  settled  on  the  throne,  he  engaged  in  a  w  a 
against  the  king  of  Assyria,  on  account  of  the  limits  of  the  two  empires.  Th 
war  was  of  long  continuance.  Ever  since  Syria  had  been  conquered  by  tl  e 
Assyrians,  Palestine,  being  the  only  country  that  separated  the  two  kingdoms, 
was  the  subject  of  continual  discord  :  as  afterwards  it  was  between  the  Ptole* 
mies  and  the  Seleucidae.  They  w^ere  perpetually  contending  for  it,  and  it  was 
alternately  won  by  the  stronger.  Psammetichus,  seeing  himself  the  peaceable 
possessor  of  all  Egypt,  and  having  restored  the  ancient  form  of  government,! 
thought  it  high  time  for  him  to  look  to  his  frontiers,  and  to  secure  them  against 
the  Assyrian,  his  neighbour,  whose  power  increased  daily.  For  this  purpose 
he  entered  Palestine  at  the  head  of  an  army. 

Perhaps  we  are  to  refer  to  the  beginning  of  this  war,  an  incident  related  by 
Diodorus  ;l  that  the  Egyptians,  provoked  to  see  the  Greeks  posted  on  the  right 
wing  by  the  king  himself  in  preference  to  them,  quitted  the  service,  being  up- 
wards of  two  hundred  thousand  men,  and  retirea  into  Ethiopia,  where  they 
met  with  an  advantageous  settlement. 

Be  this  as  it  will,  Psammetichus  entered  Palestine,  where  his  career  was 
stopped  by  Azotus,  one  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  country,  which  gave  hin) 
so  much  trouble,  that  he  was  forced  to  besiege  it  twenty-nine  years  before  be 
could  take  it.§    This  is  the  longest  siege  mentioned  in  ancient  history. 

This  was  anciently  one  of  the  five  capital  cities  of  the  Philistines.  The 
Egyptians,  having  seized  it  some  time  before,  had  fortified  it  with  such  care, 
[hat  it  was  their  strongest  bulwark  on  that  side.  Nor  could  Sennacherib  entei 
Egypt,  till  he  had  first  made  himself  master  of  this  city,  which  was  taken  by 
Tartan,  one  of  his  generals.  The  Assyrians  had  possessed  it  hitherto  ;  and  ij 
was  not  till  after  the  long  siege  just  now  mentioned,  that  Egypt  recovered  it. II 

In  this  period  the  Scythians,  leaving  the  banks  of  the  Palus  Maeotis,  made 
an  inroad  into  Media,  defeated  Cyaxares,  the  king  of  that  country,  and  laid 
waste  all  Upper  Asia,  of  which  they  kept  possession  during  twenty-eighl 
years. H  They  pushed  their  conquests  in  Syria,  even  to  the  frontiers  of 
E^ypt ;  but  Psammetichus  marching  out  to  meet  them,  prevailed  so  far,  by 
his  presents  and  entreaties,  that  they  advanced  no  farther ;  and  by  that  means 
delivered  his  kingdom  from  these  dangerous  enemies. 

Till  his  reign  the  Egyptians  had  imagined  themselves  to  be  the  mo^st  ancient 
nation  upon  earth.**  Psammetichus  was  desirous  to  prove  this  himself,  and 
he  employed  a  very  extraordinary  experiment  for  this  purpose.  He  command- 
ed, if  we  may  creait  the  relation,  two  children,  newly  born  of  poor  parents, 
to  l)e  brought  up  in  the  country,  in  a  hovel,  that  was  to  be  kept  continually  shut. 
They  were  committed  to  the  care  of  a  shepherd,  others  say  of  nurses  whose 
tongues  were  cut  iiut,  who  was  to  feed  them  with  the  milk  of  goats,  and  w^as 
commanded  not  suffer  any  person  to  enter  this  hut,  nor  himself  to  speak  even 
a  single  word  in  the  hearing  of  these  children.  At  the  expiration  of  two  years, 


*  A.M.  3331.    Am  J.  C.  670.    Herod.  1.  ii.  c.  153,  154. 
t  Thip  revolution  happcnetl  about  seven  years  after  the  captivity  of  Manasseh,  kins:  of  Ju<l»^ 
t  Lib.     p.  61.       ^  Diod.  c   ',57        li  Isa.  %z.  h       IT  Herod.  1.  i.     105.       **  ^ImroA  i.     e.  9.t 


KINGS  OF  EGYrT. 


141 


as  the  shepherd  was  one  day  coming  into  the  hut,  to  feed  these  children,  they 
both  cried  out,  with  hands  extended  towards  their  foster-father,  bcckos,  beckoa, 
The  shepherd,  surprised  to  hear  a  language  that  was  quite  new  to  him,  but 
which  they  repeated  frequently  afterwards,  sent  advice  of  this  to  the  king, 
who  ordered  the  children  to  be  brought  before  him,  in  order  that  he  might  be 
witness  to  the  truth  of  what  was  told  him  ;  and  accordingly  both  of  them  began 
in  his  presence  to  stammer  out  the  sounds  above  mentioned.  Nothing  now 
was  wanting  but  to  inquire  what  nation  it  was  that  used  this  word,  and  it  was 
lound  that  the  Phrygians  called  bread  by  this  name.  From  this  time  they 
were  allowed  the  honour  of  antiquity,  or  rather  of  priority,  which  the  Egyp- 
tians themselves,  notwithstanding  their  jealousy  of  it,  and  the  many  ages  they 
had  possessed  this  glory,  were  obliged  to  resign  to  them.  As  goats  were 
brought  to  these  children,  in  order  that  they  might  feed  upon  their  milk,  and 
historians  do  not  say  that  they  were  deaf,  some  are  of  opinion,  that  they  might 
have  learned  the  word  bek  or  bekkos^  hj  mimicking  the  cry  of  those  creatures. 

Psammetichus  died  in  the  24th  year  of  Josias  king  of  Judah,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Nechao. 

Nechao.*    This  prince  is  often  called  in  Scripture,  Pharaoh-Necho.t 

He  actempted  to  join  the  Nile  to  the  Red  Sea,  by  cutting  a  canal  from  one 
to  the  other.  They  are  separated  at  the  distance  of  at  least  a  thousand  sta- 
dia.J  After  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  workmen  had  lost  their  lives  in 
this  attempt,  Necho  was  obliged  to  desist, — the  oracle,  which  had  been  con- 
sulted by  him,  having  answered,  that  this  new  canal  would  open  a  passage  U; 
the  barbarians,  (for  so  the  Egyptians  ca  led  all  other  nations,)  to  invade  Egypt. 

Nechao  was  more  successful  in  another  enterprise. §  Skilful  Phoenician  ma- 
riners, whom  he  had  taken  into  his  service ^  having  sailed  from  the  Red  Sea  irj 
order  to  discover  the  coast  of  Africa,  went  successfully  round  it :  and  the  third 
vear  after  their  setting  out,  returned  to  Egypt  through  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar. 
This  was  a  veiy  extraordinary  voyage,  in  an  age  when  the  compass  was  noi 
known.  It  was  made  twenty-one  centuries  before  Vasco  de  Gama,  a  Portu- 
guese, by  discovering  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  the  year  1497,  found  out  the 
very  same  way  to  sail  to  the  Indies,  by  which  these  Phoenicians  had  come  from 
thence  to  the  Mediterranean. 

The  Babylonians  and  Medes  having  destroyed  Nineveh,  and  with  it  the 
empire  of  fhe  Assyrians,  were  thereby  become  so  formidable,  that  they  drew 
upon  themselves  the  jealousy  of  all  their  neighbours.il  Nechao,  alarmed  at  the 
danger,  advanced  to  the  Euphrates,  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  in  order 
to  check  their  progress.  Josiah,  king  of  Judah,  so  famous  for  his*^uncommon 
piety,  observing  that  he  took  his  route  through  Judea,  resolved  to  oppose  his 
assage.  With  this  view  he  raised  all  the  forces  of  his  kingdom,  and  posted 
imself  in  the  valley  ^f  Megiddo  (a  city  on  this  side  of  Jordan,  belonging  to 
the  tribe  of  Manasseh,  and  called  Magdolus  by  Herodotus.)  Nechao  inform- 
ed him  by  a  herald,  that  his  enterprise  was  not  designed  against  him  ;  that 
he  had  other  enemies  in  view,  and  that  he  had  undertaken  this  war  in  the  name 
of  God,  who  was  with  him  ;  that  for  this  reason  he  advised  Josiah  not  to  con- 
cern himself  with  this  war  for  fear  it  otherwise  should  turn  to  his  disad- 
vantage.  However,  Josiah  \YdiS  not  moved  by  these  reasons  ;  he  was  sen- 
sible that  the  bare  march  of  so  powerful  an  army  through  Judea  would  en- 
tirely ruin  it.  And  besides,  he  feared  that  the  victor,  after  the  defeat  of  the 
Babylonians,  would  fall  upon  him  and  dispossess  him  of  part  of  his  dominions. 
He  therefore  marched  to  engage  Nechao ;  and  was  not  only  overthrown  by 
him,  but  unfortunately  received  a  wound  of  w^hich  he  died  at  Jerusalem, 
whither  he  had  ordered  himself  to  be  carried. 

*  He  is  called  Necho  in  the  EDglish  version  of  the  Scriptures, 
t  A.  M.  3388.    Ant.  J.  C.  616.    Herod.  1.  ii.  c.  15A. 
1  AUowiD^  625  feet,  or  125  geometrical  paces,  to  each  stadium,  the  distance  vrill  be  118  English  milei, 
mni  a  little  above  one-third  of  a  mile.    Herodotus  says,  that  this  design  was  afterwards  put  in  executiwi 
bj  Darius  the  Persian,  I.  ii.  c.  158. 

}  HcroJ  1.  IT.  c.  42.         1|  Joseph.  Antiq.  1.  x.  c  <>.    3  Kinfx,  xxiii.  S9,  SC    2  Chros.  tur.  9^ ft. 


143 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


Nechao,  animated  by  this  victoiy,  continued  his  march,  and  advanced  lo 
wards  the  Euphrates.    He  defeated  the  Babylonians;  took  Carchemish,  2 
large  city  in  that  country  ;  and  securinji^  to  himself  the  possession  of  it  by  a 
strong  garrison,  returned  to  his  own  kingdom,  after  having  been  absent  thre<j 
months. 

Being  informed  in  his  maich  homeward,  that  Jehoaz  had  caused  himself  to 
be  proclaimed  king  at  Jerusalem,  without  first  asking  his  consent,  he  com- 
manded him  to  meet  him  at  Riblah  in  Syria.*  The  unhappy  prince  was  110 
sooner  arrived  there  than  he  was  put  in  chains  by  Nechao  s  order,  and  sent 
prisoner  to  Egypt,  where  he  died.  From  thence,  pursuing  his  march,  he 
came  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  gave  the  sceptre  to  Eliakim  (called  by  him  Je- 
hoiakim,)  another  of  Josiah's  sons,  in  the  room  of  his  brother;  and  im- 
posed an  annual  tribute  on  the  land,  of  a  hundred  talents  of  silver,  and  one 
talent  of  gold.j    This  being  done,  he  returned  in  triumph  to  Egypt. 

Herodotus,!  mentionihg  this  king's  expedition,  and  the  victory  gained  by 
him  at  Magdolus,§  (as  he  calls  it,)  says  that  he  afterwards  took  the  city  Catly- 
tis,  which  he  represents  as  situated  in  the  mountains  of  Palestine,  and  equal 
in  extent  to  Sardis,  the  capital  at  that  time  not  only  of  Lydia,  but  of  all  Asi:\ 
Minor.  This  description  can  suit  only  Jerusalem,  which  was  situated  in  the 
manner  above  described,  and  was  then  the  only  city  in  those  parts  that  could 
be  compared  to  Sardis.  It  appears  besides,  from  Scripture,  that  Nechao,  af- 
ter his  victory,  made  himself  master  of  this  capital  of  Judea ;  for  he  wa? 
there  in  person,  when  he  gave  the  crown  to  Jehoiakim.  The  very  name  Ca- 
dytis,  which,  in  Hebrew,  signi.fies  the  holy,  points  clearly  to  the  city  of  Je- 
rusalem, as  is  proved  by  the  learned  dean  rrideaux.il 

Nabopolassar,  king  of  Babylon,  observing,  that  since  the  taking  of  Carche 
mi^h  by  Nechao,  all  Syria  and  Palestine  had  shaken  off  their  allegiance  t( 
him,  and  that  his  years  and  infirmities  would  not  permit  him  to  march  against 
the  rebels  in  person,  associated  his  son  Nebuchodonosor,  or  Nebuchadnezzar 
with  him  in  the  empire,  and  sent  him  at  the  head  of  an  army  into  those  coun- 
tries. IF  This  young  prince  vanquished  the  army  oi  Nechao  near  the  river  Eu- 
phrates, recovered  Carchemish,  and  reduced  the  revolted  provinces  to  theii 
allegiance,  as  Jeremiah  had  foretold.**  Thus  he  dispossessed  the  Egyptiajjs  ol 
all  that  belonged  to  them,tt  from  the  little  riverfj  of  Egypt  to  the  Luphrales^ 
which  comprehended  all  Syria  and  Palestine. 

Nechao  dying,  after  he  had  reigned  sixteen  years,  left  the  kingdom  to  his  son. 

PsAMMrs.§§  His  reign  was  but  of  six  years'  duration,  and  history  has  left  us 
nothing  memorable  concerning  him,  except  that  he  made  an  expedition  into 
Ethiopia. 

It  was  to  this  prince  that  the  Eleans  sent  a  splendid  embassy,  after  having 
instituted  the  Olympic  games.  ^  They  had  established  the  whole  with  such 


♦  2  Kinf  8  xx'iVu  33,  35.    2  Chron.  xxxvi.  1.  4. 
t  The  Hebrew  silver  talent,  according;  to  Dr.  Cumberland,  is  equivalent  to  L.  353  »  11:  lOJ  so  that  100 

talents  English  money,  make  L.  35,359    7  6 

The  gold  talent,  according  to  the  same,  5,075  15  7^ 

The  amount  of  the  whole  tribut*,         -         -      -  L.  40,435   3    IJ        About  $  179,532. 

t  Lib.  ii.  c.  159.  J  Megiddo. 

|(  From  the  time  that  Solomon,  by  means  of  his  temple,  had  made  Jerusalejn  the  common  place  of  wor 
smip  to  all  Israel,  it  was  di^tingfiished  from  the  rest  of  the  cities  by  the  epithe*t  ho!y,  and  in  the  Old  Teg 
tament,  v/as  called  Air  Hakkodesh,  t.  e.  the  city  of  holiness,  or  the  holy  city.  It  bore  this  title  upon  th« 
coins,  and  the  shekel  was  inscribed  Jerusalem  Kedusha,  t.  e.  Jerusalem  the  holy.  At  length  Jerusa- 
'em,  for  brevity's  sake,  was  omitted,  and  only  Kedusha  reserved.  The  Syriac  being  thfe  prevailing  lan- 
guage in  Herodotus*s  time,  Kedusha,  by  a  change  in  that  dialect  of  sh  into  th,  was  made  Kedutha  ;  and 
Herodotus,  giving  it  a  Greek  termination,  it  was  written  KaiuTjJ,  or  Cadytis.  Prideaux's  Connexion  oi 
the  Old  and  New  Testament,  Vol.  I.  Part.  I.  p.  80,  81.  Bvo.  edit. 

IT  A.  M.  3397.    Ant.  J.  C.  607.  **  Jer.  xlvi.  2,  &c.  ft  2  Kings,  xxiv.  7. 

Xt  A  rivo  iEgypti.  This  little  river  of  Egypt,  so  often  mentioned  in  Scripture,  as  the  boundary  of  Palet 
tine  towards  Egypt,  was  not  the  Nile,  but  a  small  river,  which  running  through  the  desert  that  lay  betweet 
tkotc  natioBS,  was  anciently  the  common  boundary  of  both.  So  far  the  land,  which  had  bcrn  p^OMM^ 
H  the  potteritj  of  Abraham,  and  divided  among  them  by  lot,  extended. 

^  A  M  8404     Ant.  J.  C.  600.    Herod.  1.  ii.  e-  160. 


RinGS  OF  EGYPT.  -^^^ 

care,  and  made  such  excellent  regulations,  that  in  their  opinion,  nothing  seem- 
ed wanting  to  their  perfection,  and  envy  itself  coufd  not  find  any  fault  with 
them.  However,  they  did  not  desire  so  much  to  have  the  opinion  as  to  gair 
the  approbation  of  the  Egyptians,  who  were  looked  upon  as  the  wisest  and 
most  judicious  people  in  the  world.*  Accordingly  the  king  assembled  the 
sages  of  the  nation,  and  after  all  things  had  been  heard,  which  could  be  said 
in  favour  of  this  institution,  the  Eleans  were  asked,  if  the  citizens  and  foreign 
ers  were  admitted  indifferently  to  these  games ;  to  which  answer  was  made 
that  they  were  open  to  every  one.  To  this  the  Egyptians  replied,  that  thf 
rules  of  justice  would  have  been  most  strictly  observed,  had  foreigners  onlj 
been  admitted  to  these  combats  ;  because  it  was  very  difficult  for  the  judges 
in  their  award  of  the  victory  and  the  prize,  not  to  be  prejudiced  in  favour  of 
their  fellow-citizens. 

Apries.  In  Scripture  he  is  called  Pharaoh-Hophra  ;  and,  succeeding  hi* 
father  Psammis,  reigned  twenty-five  years.t 

During  the  first  years  of  his  reign,  he  was  as  happy  as  any  of  his  predeces 
sors.J   He  carried  his  arms  into  Cyprus ;  besieged  the  city  of  Gidon  by  sev 
and  land;  took  it,  and  made  himself  master  of  all  Phoenicia  and  Palestine. 

So  rapid  a  success  elated  his  heart  to  a  prodigious  degree,  and,  as  Herodo' 
tus  informs  us,  swelled  him  with  so  much  pride  and  infatuation,  that  he  boasten 
it  was  not  in  the  power  of  the  gods  themselves  to  dethrone  him  ;  so  great  war 
the  idea  he  had  formed  to  himself  of  the  firm  establishment  of  his  own  power 
It  was  with  a  view  to  these  arrogant  conceits,  that  Ezekiel  put  the  vain  ano 
impious  words  following  into  his  mouth:  My  river  is  mine  own,  and  I  hart 
made  it  for  myself,^  but  the  true  God  proved  to  him  afterwards  that  he  bn o 
a  master,  and  that  ne  was  a  mere  man  ;  and  he  had  threatened  him  long  befoi  '- 
by  his  prophets,  with  all  the  calamities  he  was  resolved  to  bring  upon  him, 
order  to  punish  him  for  his  pride. 

Shortly  after  Hophra  had  ascended  the  throne,  Zedekiah,||  king  of  Judali 
sent  an  embassy,  and  concluded  a  mutual  alliance  with  him;  and  the  jein 
following,  breaking  the  oath  of  fidelity  which  he  had  taken  to  the  king  of  Baby- 
lon, he  rebelled  openly  against  him. 

Notwithstanding  God  had  so  often  forbid  his  people  to  have  recourse  t.i 
Egypt,  or  to  put  any  confidence  in  the  people  of  it,  notwithstanding  the  re- 
peated calamities  in  which  they  had  been  involved  for  their  having  reiieJ 
on  the  Egyptians,  they  still  thought  this  nation  their  most  sure  refuge  in  dan- 
ger, and  accordingly  could  not  forbear  applying  to  it.    This  they  had  already 
done  in  the  reign  of  the  holy  king  Hezekian  ;  and  which  gave  occasion  to 
God's  message  to  his  people,  by  the  mouth  of  his  prophet  Isaiah  :M    "  Wo 
to  them  that  go  down  to  Egypt  for  help,  and  stay  on  horses  and  trust  in  chari 
ots,  because  they  are  many  ;  but  they  look  not  unto  the  Holy  One  of  Israel 
neither  seek  the  Lord.    The  Egyptians  are  men,  and  not  God ;  and  theii 
horses  flesh,  not  spirit :  when  the  Lord  shall  stretch  out  his  hand,  both  he  thai 
helpeth  shall  fall,  and  he  that  is  holpen  shall  fall  down,  and  they  shall  fall  to- 
gether."   But  neither  the  prophet  nor  the  king  were  heard  ;  and  nothing  bi^ 
the  most  fatal  experience  could  open  their  eyes,  and  make  them  see  evidently 
the  truth  of  God's  threaJtenings. 

The  Jews  behaved  in  the  very  same  manner  on  this  occasion.  Zedekiah 
■otwithstanding  all  the  remonstrances  of  Jeremiah  to  the  contrary,  resolveu 
to  conclude  an  alliance  with  the  Egyptian  monarch,  who,  puffed  up  with  the 
success  of  his  arms,  and  confident  that  nothing  could  resist  his  power,  de- 
clared himself  the  protector  of  Israel,  and  promised  to  deliver  it  from  the  ty- 
ranny of  Nebuchodonosor.  But  God,  offended  that  a  mortal  had  thus  dared 
to  intrude  himself  into  his  place,  expressed  his  mind  to  another  prophet,  as 
follows :  "  Son  of  man,  set  thy  face  against  Pharaoh  king  of  Egypt,  and 
prophesy  against  him,  and  against  all  Egypt.    Speak  and  say.  Thus  saith  the 


•  Herod.  1.  i.  c.  160.       f  A.  M.  3410.    Ant.  J.  C.  594.    Jer.  xl\r.  50. 
\  Hf9m   .  U.     161     I>iod.  1.  i.  p.  C2.       {  Ezek.  xxix.  3.       U  Ez'k  xvii.  1^       7  Chap  xsxi  i  3 


144 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


Lord  God,  BehoM,  1  am  against  thee,  Pharaoh  king  of  Egypt,  the  great  dragoB 
that  lieth  in  the  midst  of  his  rivers,  which  hath  said.  My  river  is  mine  own^ 
arid  I  have  made  it  for  myself.  But  I  will  put  hooks  in  thy  jaws,"  &c.*  God, 
after  comparing  him  to  a  reed,  which  breaks  under  the  man  who  leans  upon 
it,  and  wounds  his  hand,  adds,t  "  Behold,  I  will  bring  a  sword  upon  thee,  and 
cut  off  man  and  beast  out  of  thee  :  and  the  land  of  Egypt  shall  be  desolate, 
and  they  shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord  ;  because  he  hath  said,  The  river  is 
mine,  and  I  have  made  it."  The  same  prophet,  in  several  succeeding  chap- 
ters, continues  to  foretel  the  calamities  with  which  Egypt  was  going  to  b< 
oyerwhelraed.+ 

Zedekiah  was  far  from  giving  credit  to  these  predictions.  When  he  heard 
of  the  approach  of  the  Egyptian  array,  and  saw  Nebuchodonosor  raise  thfl 
siege  of  Jerusalem,  he  fancied  that  his  deliverance  was  completed,  and  anti- 
cipated a  triumph.  His  joy,  however,  was  but  of  short  duration,  for  theEgyp< 
tians,  seeing  the  Chaldeans  advancing,  did  not  dare  to  encounter  so  numerous 
and  well-disciplined  an  army.  They  therefore  marched  back  into  their  own 
country,  and  left  the  unfortunate  Zedekiah  exposed  to  all  the  dangers  of  a  wai 
in  which  they  themselves  had  involved  him.§  Nebuchodonosor  again  sai 
down  before  Jerusalem,  took  acd  burnt  it,  as  Jeremiah  had  prophesied. 

Many  years  after,  the  chastisements  with  which  God  had  threatened  Apries 
(Pharaoh-Hophra)  began  to  fall  upon  him  :||  for  the  Cyrenians,  a  Greek  co- 
lony which  had  settled  in  Africa  between  Libya  and  Egypt,  having  seized 
upon,  and  divided  among  themselves,  a  great  part  of  the  country  belonging  to 
the  Libyans,  forced  these  nations,  who  were  thus  dispossessed  by  violence,  to 
throw  themselves  into  the  arms  of  this  prince,  and  implore  his  protection. 
Immediately  Apries  sent  a  mighty  army  into  Libya,  to  oppose  the  Cyrenian 
Greeks  ;  but  this  army  being  entirely  defeated  and  almost  cut  to  pieces,  the 
Egyptians  imagined  that  Apries  had  sent  it  into  Libya  only  to  get  it  destroy- 
ed, and  by  that  means  to  attain  the  power  of  governing  his  subjects  without 
check  or  control.  This  reflection  prompted  the  Egyptians  to  throw  off  the 
yoke  which  had  been  laid  on  them  by  their  prince,  whom  they  now  consider- 
ed as  their  enemy.  Apries,  hearing  of  the  rebellion,  despatched  Amasis, 
one  of  his  officers,  to  suppress  it,  and  force  the  rebels  to  return  to  their  alle- 
giance; but  the  moment  Amasis  began  to  address  them,  they  fixed  a  helmet 
upon  his  head,  in  token  of  the  exalted  dignity  to  which  they  intended  to  raise 
him,  and  proclaimed  him  king.  Amasis,  having  accepted  the  crown,  staid 
with  the  mutineers,  and  confirmed  them  in  their  rebellion. 

Apries,  more  exasperated  than  ever  at  this  news,  sent  Paterberais,  anotlier 
of  his  great  officers,  and  one  of  the  principal  lords  of  his  court,  to  put  Amasis 
under  an  arrest,  and  bring  him  before  him  ;  but  Paterbemis,  not  being  able  to 
execute  his  commands,  and  bring  away  the  rebel,  as  he  was  surrounded  with 
the  instruments  of  his  treachery,  was  treated  by  Apries  at  his  return  in  the 
most  ignominious  and  inhuman  manner  ;  for  his  nose  and  ears  were  cut  off  by 
^he  command  of  that  prince,  who  never  considered,  that  only  his  want  of  pow- 
er had  prevented  his  executing  his  commission.  So  barbarous  an  outrage, 
committed  upon  a  person  of  such  high  distinction,  exasperated  the  Egyptiang 
«o  much,  that  the  greatest  part  of  them  joined  the  rebels,  and  the  insurrec- 
tion became  general.  Apries  was  now  forced  to  retire  into  Upper  Egypt, 
where  he  supported  himself  some  years,  during  which  Amasis  enjoyed  the 
rest  of  his  dominions. 

The  troubles  which  thus  distracted  Egypt,  affi^rded  Nebuchodonosor  a  fa- 
vourable opportunity  to  invade  that  kingilom  ;  and  it  was  God  himself  who 
mspired  him  with  the  rcsolutior  This  prince,  who  was  the  instrument  of 
God's  wrath,  (though  he  did  iiv  t  know  himself  to  be  so)  against  a  people 
whom  he  had  resolved  to  chastis(  ,  had  just  before  taken  Tyre,  where  himself 


♦  Ezelr.  ixIy.  2,  8, 4.       f  Ezc   ix'ix.  3,  9.       J  Chap,  xxix,  xxx,  xxxi,  xxiil 
}  A.  M.  3416.    Ant.  J.  C.  588.    Jcr.  xxxvii.  6,  7. 
II  A.  M.  3430.    A  vt.  J.  C.  574.    Herod.  1.  ii.  c  J6i.  it*.    DU.^  '  '  ^ 


KfNGS  or  EGYPT. 


and  his  army  had  laboured  under  incredible  difficulties.  To  recompense 
their  toils,  Gfod  abandoned  Egypt  to  their  arms.  It  is  wonderful  to  hear  the 
Creator  himself  revealing  his  designs  on  this  subiect.  There  are  few  passages 
in  Scripture  more  remarkable  than  this,  or  which  give  a  clearer  idea  of  the  su- 
preme authority  which  God  exercises  over  all  the  princes  and  kingdoms  of  the 
earth.  "  Son  ot  man,  (says  the  Almighty  to  his  prophet  Ezekiel,)  Nebuchadnez- 
zar, king  of  Babylon,  caused  his  army  to  serve  a  great  service  against  Tyrus  :* 
every  head  was  made  bald,  and  every  shoulder  was  peeled  :t  vet  hacl  he  no 
wages,  nor  his  army,  for  the  service  he  had  served  against  it. J  Therefore, 
thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  behold  I  will  give  the  land  of  Egypt  unto  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, king  of  Babylon,  and  he  shall  take  her  multitude,  and  take  her  spoil, 
and  take  her  prey,  and  it  shall  be  the  wages  for  his  army.  I  have  given  him 
the  land  of  Egypt  for  his  labour,  wherewith  he  served  against  it,  because  they 
wrought  for  me,  saith  the  Lord  God."  Says  another  prophet  :§  "  he  shall  ar- 
ray himself  with  the  land  of  Egypt,  as  a  shepherd  putteth  on  his  garment, 
and  he  shall  go  forth  from  thence  in  peace."  Thus  shall  he  load  himself  with 
booty,  and  thus  cover  his  own  shoulders,  and  those  of  his  fold,  with  all  the 
spoils  of  Egypt.  Noble  expressions  !  which  show  the  ease  with  which  all  the 
power  and  riches  of  a  kingdom  are  carried  away,  when  God  appoint?  the 
revolution ;  and  shift  like  a  garment  to  a  new  owner,  who  has  no  more  to  do 
but  to  take  it,  and  clothe  himself  with  it. 

The  king  of  Babylon,  taking  advantage  therefore  of  the  intestine  division.'? 
which  the  rebellion  of  Amasis  had  occasioned  in  that  kingdom,  marched  thithei 
at  the  head  of  his  army.  He  subdued  Egypt  from  Migdol  or  Magdol,  a  town  on 
the  frontiers  of  the  kingdom,  as  far  as  Syene,  in  the  opposite  extremity  where  it 
borders  on  Ethiopia.  He  made  a  horrible  devastation  wherever  he  came  ;  killed 
a  great  number  of  the  inhabitants,  and  made  such  dreadful  havoc  in  the  country, 
that  the  damage  could  not  be  repaired  in  forty  years.  Nebuchodonosor,  having 
loaded  his  army  with  spoils,  and  conquered  the  whole  kingdom,  came  to  an  ac- 
commodation with  Amasis  ;  and  leaving  him  as  his  viceroy  there,  returned  to 
Babylon. 

Apries  (Pharaoh-Hophra,)||  now  leaving  the  place  where  he  had  concealed 
himself,  advanced  towards  the  sea-coast,  probably  on  the  side  of  Libya  ;  and, 
hiring  an  army  of  Carians,  lonians,  and  other  foreigners,  he  marched  against 
Amasis,  whom  he  fought  near  Memphis  ;  but  being  overcome,  Apries  was  taken 
prisoner,  carried  to  the  city  of  Sais,  and  there  strangled  in  his  own  palace. 

The  Almighty  had  given,  by  the  mouth  of  his  prophets,  an  astonishing  rela- 
tion of  the  several  circumstances  of  this  mighty  event.  It  was  he  who  had  broken 
the  power  of  Apries,  which  was  once  so  formidable  ;  and  put  the  svrord  into  the 
hand  of  Nebuchodonosor,  in  order  that  he  might  chastise  and  humble  that  haugh- 
ty prince.  "  I  am  (said  he)  against  Pharaoh  king  of  Egypt,  and  will  break  liis 
arms  which  were  strong,  but  now  are  broken  ;  and  I  will  cause  the  sword  lo  fall 
out  of  his  hand.H — But  I  will  strengthen  the  arms  of  the  king  of  Babvlon,  and 
put  my  sword  into  his  hand.** — And  they  shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord/'tr 

He  enumerates  tjae  towns  which  were  to  fall  a  prey  to  the  victors  :  Pathros,!! 
Zoan,  No,  called  in  the  Vulgate,  Alexandria,  Sin,  Avon,  Phibeseth,  &c.§§ 


*  Ezek.  xxix.  IC,  19,  -20. 

I  The  balc^ness  of  the  hea<ls  of  the  Babylonians  wasowinj  to  the  pressure  of  their  helmets  ;  and  thrsf 
peeled  shoulders  to  their  carrying  baskets  of  earth,  and  large  pieces  of  tirnbe?-,  to  cin  Tyre  to  ihr  conw 
nent.    Baldugss  was  itself  a  badf^e  cf  slavery  :  and,  joined  to  the  peeled  shoulders,  shaws  that  ihc  con- 
queror's army  sustained  even  the  most  servile  labours  in  this  memorable  sieg^e. 

X  For  the  better  understanding  of  this  passage,  we  are  fo  know,  that  Nebuchodonosor  sustained  incredi 
ble  hardships  at  the  siege  of  Tyre  ;  and  that  when  the  Tyrians  saw  themselves  closely  attacked,  the  no 
Wes  conveyed  themselves,  and  their  richest  effects,  on  ship  board,  and  retired  into  other  islr.nds.  So  that 
when  Nebuchodonosor  took  the  city,  he  found  nothing  to  recompenae  his  losses,  and  the  troubles  Ke  had 
■ndcrsrone  in  this  siege. — S.  Hieron. 

J  Jerem.  xliii.  12.  ||  Herod.  1.  ii.  c.  103,  H9.    Diod.  1.  i.  p.  72.  Ezrk.  xxx.  22. 

**  Ezek.  xxx.  24.  ^'-zek.  xxx.  25.  Ezek.  xxx.  U.  17. 

I  hare  given  the  names  of  these  towns  as  they  stand  in  oi>r  English  version.  "In  the  inargin  are  print- 
«d  agDfinst  Zoan,  Tanis  ;  against  Sin,  Pelusium  ;  at,^ainst  Aven,  Heliopolis  ;  against  Phibfsetb,  Fubastuw 
(Bubaste,)  and  by  these  last  names  they  are  rnentioned  in  the  ori^^inal  French  of  M  R'^lliw. 

Vol  I. 


146 


HISTORY  OF  TWE 


He  lakes  notice  particularly  of  the  unhappy  end  to  rvhich  the  captive  king 
ihould  come.  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  behold  I  wiil  give  Pharaoh-Hophra, 
the  king  of  Egypt,  into  the  hand  of  his  enemies,  and  into  the  hand  of  them 
that  seek  his  life."* 

Lastly,  He  declares,  that  during  forty  years,  the  Egyptians  shall  be  op- 
pressed with  eveiy  species  of  calamity,  and  be  reduced  to  so  deplorable  a 
state,  "  that  there  shall  be  no  more  a  prince  of  the  land  of  Egypt."t  The 
event  verified  this  prophecy.  Soon  after  the  expiration  of  these  forty  years, 
t]gypt  was  made  a  province  of  the  Persian  empire,  and  has  been  governed 
ever  since  by  foreigners.  For,  since  the  ruin  of  the  Persian  monarchy,  it  has 
been  subject  successively  to  the  Macedonians,  the  Romans,  the  Saracens,  the 
Mamelukes,  and  lastly  to  the  Turks  who  possess  it  at  this  day. 

God  was  not  less  punctual  in  the  accom.plishment  of  his  prophecies,  with 
regard  to  such  of  his  own  people  as  had  retired,  contrary  to  his  prohibition, 
into  Egypt,  after  the  taking  of  Jerusalem,  and  forced  Jeremiah  along  with 
them. J  The  instant  they  had  reached  Egypt,  and  were  arrived  at  Taphnis, 
or  Tanis,  the  prophet,  after  having  hid,  in  their  presence,  by  God's  command, 
stones  in  a  grotto,  which  was  near  the  kind's  palace  ;  he  declared  to  thi  m, 
that  Nabuchodonosor  should  soon  arrive  in  Egypt,  and  that  God  would  estab- 
lish his  throne  in  that  very  place  ;  that  this  prince  would  lay  waste  the  whole 
kingdom,  and  carry  fire  and  sword  into  all  places  ;  that  themselves  should  fall 
into  the  hand  of  these  cruel  enemies,  when  one  part  of  them  would  be  mas- 
sacred, and  the  rest  led  captive  to  Babylon  ;  that  only  a  very  small  number 
should  escape  the  common  desolation,  and  be  at  last  restored  to  their  country. 
All  these  prophecies  had  their  accomplishment  in  the  appointed  time. 

AMASiri.§  After  the  death  of  Apries,  Amasis  became  peaceable  possessor 
of  Egypt,  and  reigned  over  it  forty  years.  He  was,  according  to  Plato,|l  a 
native  of  the  city  of  Sais. 

As  he  was  but  of  mean  extraction,  he  met  with  no  respect,  and  was  con- 
temned by  his  subjects  in  the  beginning  of  his  reigndl  He  was  not  insensible 
i}[  this  ;  but  nevertheless  thought  it  his  interest  to  subdue  their  tempers  by  bis 
artful  carriage,  and  to  win  their  affection  by  gentleness  and  reason.  He  had 
a  golden  cistern,  in  which  himself,  and  those  persons  who  were  admitted  to  his 
table,  used  to  wash  their  feet ;  he  melted  it  down,  and  had  it  cast  into  a 
statue,  and  then  exposed  the  new  god  to  public  worship.  The  people  hasten- 
ed in  crowds  to  pay  their  adoration  to  the  statue.  The  king,  having  assem- 
bled the  people,  informed  them  of  the  vile  uses  to  which  this  statue  had  once 
been  put,  which  nevertheless  was  now  the  object  of  their  religious  prostra- 
tions :  the  application  was  easy,  and  had  the  desired  success ;  the  people 
thenceforward  paid  the  king  all  the  respect  that  is  due  to  majesty. 

He  always  used  to  devote  the  whole  morning  to  public  affairs,  in  order  to 
receive  petitions,  give  audience,  pronounce  sentence,  and  hold  his  councils  :** 
the  rest  of  the  day  was  given  to  pleasure;  and  as  Amasis,  in  hours  of  diver- 
sion, was  extremely  gay,  and  seemed  to  carry  his  mirth  beyond  due  bounds, 
his  courtiers  took  the  liberty  to  represent  to  him  the  unsuitableness  of  such  a 
behaviour  ;  when  he  answered,  that  it  was  as  impossible  for  the  mind  to  be 
always  serious  and  intent  upon  business,  as  for  a  bow  to  continue  always  bent. 

It  was  this  king  who  obliged  the  inhabitants  of  every  town  to  erter  their 
names  in  a  book  kept  by  the  magistrates  for  that  purpose,  with  their  profes- 
sion, and  manner  of  living.    Solon  inserted  this  custom  among  his  laws. 

He  built  manjr  magnificent  temples,  especially  at  Sais,  the  place  of  his  birth. 
Herodotus  admired  especially  a  chapel  there,  formed  of  one  single  stone, 
and  which  was  twenty-one  cubitsjt  in  front,  fourteen  in  depth,  and  eight  in 
height;  its  dimensions  within  were  not  quite  so  large :  it  had  been  brought  from 


♦  Jertm.xliv.  30.         t  Ezek.  \xx.  13.         t  Jercm.  xliii.  xliv.         j  A.  M.  3435.    Ant.  J.  C  itfk 
t)  In  Tz..  IT  Hero<1.  1.  ii.  c.  172.  ♦*  Herod.  1.  ii.  p.  7?. 

ft  TL<  cubit  is  one  foot  and  almost  ten  iucbf  i  — ViJ«  siipra. 


KfN«»  BGTPT, 

Ettphantina,  and  two  thousand  men  were  employed  three  years  in  conreyini; 
It  along  thr  Nile. 

Amasis  had  a  great  esteem  for  the  Greeks.  He  granted  them  lai^e  privi 
leges ;  and  permitted  such  of  them  as  were  desirous  of  settling  in  Egypt  to 
live  in  the  city  of  Naucratis,  so  famous  for  its  harbour.  When  the  rebuildmg 
of  the  temple  of  Delphi,  which  had  been  burnt,  was  debated  on,  and  the  ex- 
pense was  computed  at  three  hundred  talents,*  Amasis  furnished  the  Delphi- 
ans  with  a  very  considerable  sum  towards  discharging  their  quota,  which  was 
the  fourth  part  of  the  whole  charge. 

He  made  an  alliance  with  the  Cyrenians,  and  married  a  wife  from  among  them. 

He  is  the  only  king  of  Egypt  who  conquered  the  island  of  Cyprus,  and  made 
it  tributary. 

Under  his  reign  Pythagoras  came  into  Egypt,  being  recommended  to  that 
monarch  by  the  famous  roly crates,  tyrant  of  Samos,  who  had  contracted  a 
friendship  with  Amasis,  and  will  be  mentioned  hereafter.  Pythagoras,  during 
his  stay  in  Egypt,  was  initiated  in  all  the  mysteries  of  the  country,  and  in- 
structed by  the  priests  in  whatever  was  most  abstruse  and  important  in  their 
religion.  It  was  here  he  imbibed  his  doctrine  of  the  metempsychosis,  or 
transmigration  of  souls. 

In  the  expedition  in  which  Cyrus  conquered  so  great  a  part  of  the  world, 
Egyj)t  doubtless  was  subdued,  like  the  rest  of  the  provinces  ;  and  Xenophon 
positively  declares  this  in  the  beginning  of  his  Cyropsedia,  or  institution  of 
that  prince.t  Probably,  after  that  the  forty  years  of  desolation,  which  had 
been  foretold  by  the  prophet,  were  expired,  Egypt  beginning  gradually  to 
recover  itself,  Amasis  shook  off  the  yoke,  and  recovered  nis  liberty. 

Accordingly  we  find,  that  one  of  the  first  cares  of  Cambyses,  the  son  of 
Cyrus,  after  he  had  ascended  the  throne,  was  to  carry  his  arms  into  Egypt. 
On  his  arrival  there,  Amasis  was  just  dead,  and  succeeded  by  his  son  Psam- 
menitus. 

PsAMMENiTus.t  Cambyses.  after  having  gained  a  battle,  pursued  the  ene- 
my to  Memphis  ;  besieged  the  city,  and  soon  took  it :  however,  he  treated 
the  king  with  clemency,  granted  him  his  life,  and  assigned  him  an  honourable 
pension  ;  but  being  informed  that  he  was  secretly  concerting  measures  to  re- 
ascend  his  throne,  he  put  him  to  death.  Psammenitus  reigned  but  six  months  • 
all  Egypt  submitted  immediately  to  the  victor.  The  particulars  of  the  his- 
tory will  be  related  more  at  large  when  I  come  to  that  of  Cambyses. 

Here  ends  the  succession  of  the  Egyptian  kings.  From  this  era  the  history 
of  this  nation,  as  was  before  observed,  will  be  blended  with  that  of  the  Per- 
sians and  Greeks,  till  the  death  of  Alexander.  At  that  period,  a  new  mon- 
archy will  arise  in  Egypt,  founded  by  Ptolemy  the  son  of  Lagus,which  will  con- 
tinue  to  Cleopatra,  that  is,  for  about  three  hundred  years.  I  shall  treat  cacb 
of  these  subjects  in  the  several  periods  to  which  they  beioi^. 


♦  Or  4258.075. 

y  k  KAkt,  HutokiMooi 

XA  U^Hn.  AatJ.C.IMk 


BOOK  SECOND, 


THB 

HISTORY 

OF  THE 

CARTHAGINIANS. 


PLAN. 

Hi*  following-  history  of  th«  Carthaginiaos  is  divided  into  two  parts.  Id  the  first  is  ^iven  a  reneral  idea  of 
the  manners  of  that  people,  their  character,  government,  religion,  power,  and  riches.  Tn  the  second, 
after  relating,  in  few  words,  by  what  steps  Carthage  established  and  enlarged  its  power,  there  is  ag 
account  of  the  wars  by  which  it  became  so  famous. 


PART  FIRST. 

CHARACTER  MANNERS,  RELIGION,  AND  GOVERNMENT,  OF  THE  CARTHAGINIANS. 


SECTION  I. 

CARTHAGE  FORMED  AFTER  THE  MODEL  OF  TYRE,  OF  WHICH  THAT 
CITT  WAS  A  COLONY. 

The  Carthaginians  were  indebted  to  the  Tyrians,  not  only  for  their  origin, 
but  their  manners,  language,  customs,  laws,  religion,  and  the  great  application 
to  commerce,  as  will  appear  from  every  part  of  the  sequel.  They  spoke  the 
same  language  with  the  Tyrians,  and  these  the  same  with  the  Canaanites  and 
Israelites,  that  is,  the  Hebrew  tongue,  or  at  least  a  language  which  was  en- 
tirely derived  from  it.  Their  names  had  commonly  some  particular  meaning  : 
.  thus  Hanno  signified  gracious^  hoimtiful ;  Dido  amiable^  or  well  beloved;  So- 
phonisba,  one  who  keeps  faithfully  her  husband^  s' secrets,*  From  a  spirU  of  reli- 
gion, they  likewise  joined  the  name  of  God  to  their  own,  conformably  to  the 
genius  of  the  Hebrews.  Hannibal,  which  answers  to  Ananias,  signifies  Baal 
(or  the  Lord)  has  been  gracious  to  me.  Asdrubal,  answering  to  Azarias,  implies 
the  Lord  will  be  our  succour.  It  the  same  with  other  names,  Adherbal,  Ma- 
harbal,  Mastanabal,  &c.  The  tvord  Poeni,  from  which  Punic  is  derived,  is  the 
same  with  Phoeni  or  Phoenicians,  because  they  came  originally  from  Phoenicia, 
fn  the  Poenulus  of  Plautus  is  a  scene  written  in  the  Punic  tongue,  which  has 
very  much  exercised  the  leamed.t 

I5ut  the  strict  union  which  always  subsisted  between  the  Phoenicians  and  Car- 
thaginians is  still  more  remarkable. 

When  Cambyses  had  resolved  to  make  war  upon  the  latter,  the  Phneniciant^ 
who  f-^rmed  the  chief  strength  of  his  fleet,  told  him  plainly,  that  they  could 
not  serve  him  against  their  countrymen ;  and  this  declaration  obliged  that  prince 
to  lay  aside  his  design.J  The  Carthaginians,  on  their  side,  were  never  forgetful 
of  the  country  from  whence  they  came,  and  to  which  they  owed  their  origin. 
They  sent  regularly  every  year  to  Tyre  a  ship  freighted  with  presents,  as  a 


*  Bocli.irt.  Part.  II.  I.  ii.  c.  ''G. 
f  Th«  first  scene  of  \hm  fifth  act  transluted  inlc  Latin  bv  Pctli,  in  the  secona  took  sf  his  MiscelUiuM 

i  Henul.  1.  iii.  c.  1*7—1^ 


I^Q  OF  THE 

quit-rent  or  acknowledgment  paid  to  their  ancient  country  ;  and  its  tutelar  godt 
had  an  annual  sacrifice  oflfered  to  them  by  the  Carthaginians,  who  considered 
them  as  their  protectors.*  They  never  failed  to  send  thither  the  first  fruits  of 
their  revenues,  nor  the  tithe  of  the  spoils  taken  from  their  enemies,  as  offerings 
to  Hercuies,  one  of  the  principal  gods  of  Tyre  and  Carthage.  The  Tyrians, 
lo  secure  from  Alexander,  who  was  then  besieging  their  city,  what  they  valued 
above  all  things,  I  mean  their  wives  and  children,  sent  them  to  Carthage,  where, 
at  a  time  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  latter  were  involved  in  a  furious  war,  they 
were  received  and  entertained  with  such  a  kindness  and  generosity  as  might 
be  expected  from  the  most  tender  and  opulent  parents.  Such  uninterrupted  tes- 
timonies of  a  warm  and  sincere  gratitude  do  a  nation  more  honour  than  th« 
greatest  conquests  and  the  most  glorious  victories. 


SECTION  II. 

THE  RELIGION  OF  IHE  CARTHAGINIANS, 

It  appears  from  several  passages  of  the  histoiy  of  Carthage,  that  its  generals 
looked  upon  it  as  an  indispensable  duty  to  begin  and  end  all  their  enterprises 
with  the  worship  of  the  gods.  Hamilcar,  father  of  the  great  Hannibal,  before 
he  entered  Spain  in  a  hostile  manner,  offered  up  a  sacrifice  to  the  gods  ;  and 
his  son,  treading  in  his  steps,  before  he  left  Spain,  and  marched  against  Home, 
went  to  Cadiz  in  order  to  pay  the  vows  he  made  to  Hercules,  and  to  offer  up 
new  ones,  in  case  that  god  should  be  propitious  to  him.f  After  the  battle  of 
Cannae,  when  he  acquainted  the  Carthaginians  with  the  joyful  news,  he  pecom- 
mended  to  them,  above  all  things,  the  offering  up  a  solemn  thanksgiving  to  the 
immortal  gods,  for  the  several  victories  he  had  obtained.  Pro  his  tantis  totqut 
victoriis  verum  esse  gratis  diis  immortalibus  agi  haberique.f 

Nor  was  this  religious  honouring  of  the  deity  on  all  occasions  the  ambition  of 
particular  persons  only,  but  it  was  flie  genius  and  disposition  of  the  whole  nation 

Polvbius§  has  transmitted  to  us  a  treaty  ofj)eace  concluded  between  Philip, 
son  01  Demetrius  king  of  Macedon,  and  the  Carthaginians,  in  which  the  great 
respect  and  veneration  of  the  latter  for  the  deity,  ind  their  inherent  persuasion 
that  the  gods  assist  and  preside  over  human  affdirs,  and  particularly  over  the 
solemn  treaties  made  in  their  name  and  presence,  are  strongly  displayed.  Men- 
tion is  therein  made  of  five  or  six  different  orders  of  deities  ;  and  this  enumera- 
tion appears  veiy  extraordinary  in  a  public  instrument,  such  as  a  treaty  of  peace 
concluded  between  two  nations.  I  will  here  present  my  readers  with  the  very 
words  of  the  historian,  as  it  will  give  some  idea  of  the  Carthaginian  theology. 
This  treatywas  concluded  in  the  presence  of  Jupiter,  Juno  ^  and  Apollo ;  in  the 
presence  of  the  demon  or  genius  (daiiiovos^  of  the  Carthaginians,  of  Hercules  and 
Tolaus ;  in  the  presence  of  Mars,  Triton,  and  Neptune;  in  the  presence  of  all  the 
confederate  gods  of  the  Carthaginians,  and  of  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  tKe  earth ; 
in  the  presence  of  the  rivers,  meads,  and  waters ;  in  the  presence  of  all  those  gods 
who  possess  Carthage,  What  would  we  now  say  to  an  instrument  of  this  kind, 
in  which  the  tutelar  angels  and  saints  of  a  kingdom  should  be  introduced ! 

The  Carthaginians  had  two  deities,  to  whom  they  paid  a  more  particular 
w<^rship,  and  who  desei-ve  to  have  some  mention  made  of  them  in  this  place. 

The  fiist  was  the  goddess  Coelestis,  called  likewise  Urania,  or  the  moon,  who 
was  invoked  in  great  calamities,  and  particularly  in  droughts,  in  order  to  obtain 
rain  :  that  very  virgin  Coelestis,  says  Tertullian,  the  promiser  of  rain, — Ista 
Ipsa  virgo  Coslestis,  pluviarum pollicitatrixM  Terlullian,  speaking  of  this  god- 
dess, and  of  iEscuIapius,  gives  the  heathens  of  that  age  a  challenge,  which  is 
bold  indeed,  but  at  the  same  time  very  glorious  to  the  cause  of  Christianity : 
and  declares,  that  any  Christian,  who  first  comes,  shall  oblige  these  false  gddf 


Polyb.  W4.    Q,.  Curt.  1  ir.  c.  2,  3.        t  Liv.  1.  xxi.  n.  1. 
4  liib.  vM.  9.  699.  edit.  Gronov. 


Ibid.  n.  21.       j  Liv.  1.  xxiii.  n.  II. 

H  Apology,  c.  xx'ui 


to  confess  publicly  that  they  are  but  devils;  and  consents  that  this  Cbristian 
ihall  be  immediately  ki)Ied,  if  he  does  not  extort  such  a  confession  from  the 
mouth  of  these  gods.  jVisi  se  dcpviones  confessifuerint  Christiano  mentiri  non 
audentes^  ibidem  illius  Chrisham  procacissimi  sanguinem  fundite;  St.  Austin 
likewise  makes  frequent  mention  of  this  deity.  What  is  now,  says  he,*  become 
of  Coslestis,  whose  empire  was  once  so  great  in  Carthage  ?  This  was  doubtless  the 
sam£  deity  whom  J eremiBh  calls  the  queen  of  heaven;]  and  who  was  held  in  so 
much  reverence  by  the  Jewish  women,  that  they  addressed  their  vows,  burnt  in- 
rense,  poured  out  drink-offerings,  and  made  cakes  for  her  with  their  own  hands, 
utfaciant placentas  regince  cceli :  and  from  whom  they  boasted  their  having  re- 
ceived all  manner  of  blessings,  w^hile  they  paid  her  a  regular  worshijp  ;  where- 
as, since  they  had  failed  in  it,  they  had  been  oppressed  with  misfortunes  of 
eveiy  kind. 

The  second  deity  particularly  adored  by  the  Carthaginians,  and  in  whose  hon- 
our human  sacrifices  were  offered,  was  Saturn,  known  in  Scripture  by  the  name 
of  Moloch  ;  and  this  w^orship  passed  from  Tyre  to  Carthage.  Philo  quotes  a 
passage  from  Sanchoniathon,  which  shows,  that  the  kings  of  Tyre,  in  great  dan- 
gers, used  to  sacrifice  their  sons  to  appease  the  anger  of  the  gods  ;  and  that  one 
of  them,  by  this  action,  procured  himself  divine  honours,  and  was  worshipped 
as  a  god,  under  the  name  of  the  planet  Saturn  :  to  this  doubtless  was  owing  the 
fable  of  Saturn  devouring  his  own  children.  Private  persons,  when  they 
were  desirous  of  averting  any  great  calamity,  took  the  same  method  ;  and,  in 
imitation  of  their  princes,  were  so  very  superstitious,  that  such  as  had  no  chil 
(Iren  purchased  those  of  the  poor,  in  order  that  they  might  not  be  deprived  of 
tlie  merit  of  such  a  sacrifice.  This  custom  prevailed  long  among  the  Phoeni- 
cians and  Canaanites,  from  whom  the  Israelites  borrowed  it,  though  forbidden 
expressly  by  Heaven.  At  first  children  were  inhumanly  burned,  either  in  a 
fiery  furnace,  like  those  in  the  valley  of  Hinnom,  so  often  mentioned  in  Scrip- 
ture, or  enclosed  in  a  flaming  statue  of  Saturn.  The  cries  of  these  unhapp}^  vic- 
tims were  drowned  by  the  uninterrupted  noise  of  drums  and  trumpets.J  Mothers 
made  it  a  merit,  and  a  part  of  their  religion,  to  view  this  barbarous  spectacle 
with  dry  eyes,  and  without  so  much  as  a  groan  ;  and  if  a  tear  or  a  sigh  stole 
from  them,  the  sacrifice  was  less  acceptable  to  the  deity,  and  all  the  effects 
of  it  were  entirely  lost.§  This  strength  of  mind,  or  rather  savage  barbarity 
was  carried  to  such  excess,  that  even  mothers  would  endeavour,  with  embraces 
and  kisses,  to  hush  the  cries  of  their  children  ;  lest,  had  the  victim  been  offered 
with  an  unbecoming  grace,  and  in  the  midst  of  tears,  it  should  anger  the  god  ill 
blanditiis  et  osculis  comprimebant  vagitum,  ne  Jiebilis  hostia  immolaretur,'^^ 
They  afterwards^  contented  themselves  wath  making  their  children  pass 
through  the  fire,  in  which  they  frequently  perished,  as  appears  from  several 
passages  of  Scripture.** 

The  Carthaginians  retained  the  barbarous  custom  of  offering  human  sac- 
rifices  to  their  gods,  till  the  ruin  of  their  city  :tt  an  action  which  ought  to  have 
been  called  a  sacrilege  rather  than  a  sacrifice,-— >Sam76^iMm  verius  quam  sa^ 


♦  In  Psalm  xcvlii.  f  Jer.  vii.  18.  xWv.  17—55.  \  Pint,  de  Superstit.  p.  l""!. 

}  riapf  icTT^itfl  5{  f  ^TiTup  (5TS7t|TOf  xai  dcTTtvanTOJ.  &c.  The  cruel  and  pitiless  mother  stood  ky  ks  an 
Mnconcerned  spectator ;  a  groan  or  a  tear  fallinj^  from  her,  would  nave  been  punished  by  a  fme  ;  and  stiU 
the  child  must  have  been  sacrificed. — Plut.  de  Superstitione. 

II  Tertul.  in  Apoiog.  IT  Minut.  Felix.  **  Q,.  Curt.  1.  iv.  c.  5. 

ft  It  appears  from  Tertullian's  Apology,  that  ihis  Darbarons  custom  prevailed  in  Africa,  long  after  th« 
ruin  of  Carthage.  Infantes  nenes  Africam  Saturno  immolabantur  ralim  usque  ad  proconsulatum  Tiberii, 
qui  eosdcm  sacerdotes  in  eisde.m  arboribus  templi  sui  obumhratriribus  scelerum  votivis  crucibus  exposuit, 
teste  militid  patria;  nostra,  qute  id  ipsum  muniisilli  proconsuli  functa  est.  i.  e.  Children  were  publicly  sa- 
crificed to  Saturn,  down  to  the  proconsulship  of  Tiberius,  who  hanged  the  sacrificing  priests  themselvrt 
on  the  trees  which  shaded  their  temple,  as  on  so  many  crosses  raised  to  expiate  their  crimes,  of  which  the 
militia  of  ourcoimtry  are  witnesses,  who  were  the  actors,  of  this  execution,  at  the  command  of  this  pro- 
consul.—Tertul.  Apolog.  c.  9.  Two  learned  men  arc  at  variance  about  the  proconsul,  and  time  of  his  gov 
•rnment.  Salmasius  confesses  his  ignorance  of  both.  But  rejects  the  autnority  of  Scal'ger,  who,  for  prucon- 
tulatum,  rc&<\s  prvconsvlem  Tiberii,  and  thinks  Tertullian,  when  he  wrote  his  Apology,  had  forrot  hit 
iam«.  However  this  be,  it  is  o^rtain  that  the  mrrnory  of  the  incident  here  Telalcd  by  Tertullian  wif  tll«* 
%i:cnt  *nd  probuS'y  the  witnesses  of  it  had  not  htfv  long-  deail. 


t51 


HISTORY  c*^  mis 


erum.  It  was  suspended  only  for  some  years,  from  the  fear  they  were  undi  i 
of  drawing  upon  themselves  the  indignation  and  a:  ms  of  Darius  I.  king  o  * 
Persia,  who  forbade  them  the  offering  up  of  human  sacrifices,  and  the  eatinjf 
the  flesh  of  dogs  ;  but  they  soon  resnmed  this  horrid  practice,  since,  in  th » 
reign  of  Xerxes,  the  successor  to  Darius,  Gelon,  the  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  )iavin|{ 
gained  a  considerable  victory  over  the  Carthaginians  in  Sicily,  ordered,  anionic 
other  conditions  of  peace.  That  no  more  human  sacrifices  should  be  offered  to  Sa- 
turn.^ And,  doubtless,  the  practice  of  the  Carthaginians,  on  this  vrry  occa 
sion,  made  Gelon  use  this  precaution.  For  during  the  whole  engagement 
which  lasted  from  morning  till  night,  Hamilcar,  the  son  of  Hanno  their  general, 
was  perpetually  offering  up  to  the  gods  sacrifices  of  living  men,  who  wer« 
thrown  in  great  numbers  on  a  flaming  pile  ;  and  seeing  his  troops  routed  and 
put  to  flight,  he  himself  rushed  into  it,  in  order  that  he  might  not  survive  hii 
own  disgrace  ;t  and  to  extinguish,  says  St.  Ambrose,  speaking  of  this  action, 
with  his  own  blood  this  sacrilegious  fire,  when  he  found  that  it  had  not  proved 
of  service  to  him.  J 

In  times  of  pestilence  they  used  to  sacrifice  a  great  number  of  children  to 
their  gods,  unmoved  with  pity  for  a  tender  age,  which  excites  compassion  in 
the  most  cruel  enemies  ;  thus  seeking  a  remedy  for  their  evils  in  guilt  itself,  and 
endeavouring  to  appease  the  gods  by  the  most  shocking  barbarity  § 

Diodorus'il  relates  an  instance  of  this  cruelty,  which  strikes  the  reader  with 
horror.  At  the  time  that  Agathocles  was  just  going  to  besiege  Carthage,  its 
inhabitants,  seeing  the  extremity  to  which  they  were  reduced,  imputed  all  their 
misfortunes  to  the  just  anger  of  Saturn,  because  that,  instead  of  oflering  up 
children  nobly  born,  who  were  usually  sacrificed  to  him,  he  had  been  fraudu- 
lently put  off  with  the  children  of  slaves  and  foreigners.  To  atone  for  this 
crime,  two  hundred  children  of  the  best  families  in  Carthage  were  sacrificed  Ic 
Saturn  ;  besides  which,  upwards  of  three  hundred  citizens,  from  a  sense  of 
their  guilt  of  this  pretended  crime,  voluntarily  sacrificed  themselves.  Diodo- 
rus  adds,  that  there  was  a  brazen  statue  of  Saturn,  the  hands  of  which  were 
turned  downwards,  so  that,  wlien  a  child  was  laid  on  them,  it  dropped  imme 
diately  into  a  hollow,  where  was  a  fiery  furnace. 

Can  this,  says  Plutarch,^  be  called  worshipping  the  gods  ?  Can  we  be  said 
to  entertain  an  honourable  idea  of  them,  if  we  suppose  that  they  are  pleased 
with  slaughter,  thirsty  of  human  blood,  and  capable  of  requiring  or  accepting 
such  offerings  ?  Religion,  says  this  judicious  autnor,  is  placed  between  two 
rocks,  that  are  equally  dangerous  to  man  and  injurious  to  the  Deity,  1  mean* 
impiety  and  superstition.  The  one,  from  an  affectation  of  free-thinking,  be- 
lieves nothing  ;  and  the  other,  from  a  blind  weakness,  believes  all  things.  Im- 
piety, to  rid  itself  of  a  terror  which  galls  it,  denies  the  very  existence  of  the 
gods  ;  while  superstition,  to  calm  its  fears,  capriciously  forces  gods,  which  U 
makes  not  only  the  friends,  but  protectors  and  models  of  crimes.**  Had  it  not 
been  better,  say«  he  farther,  for  ike  Carthaginians  to  have  had  a  Critias,  a  Di- 
agora?-,  and  such  like  open  and  undisguised  atheists  for  their  lawgivers,  than  to 
have  established  so  frantic  and  wicked  a  religion  ?  Could  the  Typhous  and 
the  giants,  (the  avowed  enemies  of  the  gods,)  had  they  gained  a  victory  over 
them,  have  established  more  abominable  sacrifices?tt 

Such  were  the  sentiments  Which  a  heathen  entertained  of  this  part  of  the 
Carthaginian  worship.  But  one  would  hardly  believe  that  mankind  were  ca- 
pable of  such  madness  and  frenzy.    Men  do  not  generally  entertain  ideas  so 


.  *  Plut.  de  Ser.  Vindic.  Deorum,  p.  65'i.  f  Herod.  1.  vii.  c.  167. 

J  In  ipsos  quos  adoJebat  sese  prajcipitavitignes,  ut  eo»  vel  cruore  suo  exling-ueret,  quossibi  nihil  profuisM 
eo§'n')verat. — St.  Anib. 

{  Cum  peste  laboraient,  cruenta  sacrorum  rcligione  et  scelere  pro  remedio  usi  sunt.    Quippe  hominei 
al  fictimas  iinmolabant,  et  impuberes,  (qi.ae  Ktusetiarn  hostium  misericordlam  provocat,)  aris  admovcbaot, 
pacem  deorum  sanguine  eorum  exposccntes,  pro  quorum  vita  dii  maximS  rog^an  soleut. — Justin.  1.  xviii.  « 
6.    The  Gauls,  as  well  ai  Germans,  used  to  sarrifice  men,  if  Dionysius  and  Tacitus  may  be  credited. 
9  Lib.  ii.  p.  755.  If  De  Stiperstllione,  p.  169—171.  *♦  Idem,  in  Camill.  p.  199 

l)e  Supfirstitiomi 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


153 


destructive  of  all  those  things  which  nature  considers  as  most  sacred,  as  to  sa- 
crifice, to  murder  their  children  with  their  own  hands,  and  to  throw  them  in 
cool  blood  into  fieiy  furnaces  !  Sentiments,  so  unnatural  and  barbarous  and 
yet  adopted  by  whole  nations,  and  even  by  the  most  civilized,  as  tlie  Ph(eni- 
cians,  Cartliaginians,  Gauls,  Scythians,  and  even  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and 
consecrated  by  custom  during  a  long  series  of  ages,  can  have  been  inspired  by 
him  only,  who  was  a  murderer  from  the  beginning,  and  who  delights  in  nothinp^ 
but  the  humiliation,  misery,  and  perdition  of  man. 


SECTION  III. 

FORM. OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  CARTHAGE. 

The  government  of  Carthage  was  founded  upon  principles  of  the  mo'  4  • 
•umniate  wisdom,  and  it  is  with  reason  that  Aristotle  ranks  this  republic;  in  th« 
number  of  those  that  were  had  in  the  greatest  esteem  by  the  ancients,  and 
which  were  fit  to  serve  as  models  for  others.*  He  grounds  his  opinion  on  a 
reflection  which  does  great  honour  to  Carthage,  by  remarking,  that  from  its 
foundation  to  his  time,  that  is,  upwards  of  five  hundred  years,  no  considerable  se- 
dition had  disturbed  the  peace,  nor  any  tyrant  oppressed  the  liberty,  of  that  state. 
Indeed,  mixed  governments,  such  as  that  of  Carthage,  wher*  the  power  was 
divided  between  the  nobles  and  the  people,  are  subject  to  *  ^o  inconveniences  ; 
either  of  degenerating  into  an  abuse  of  liberty  by  the  sed  'itons  of  the  populace, 
as  frequently  happened  in  Athens,  and  in  all  the  Greci^ii  republics  ;  or  into  the 
oppression  of  the  public  liberty  by  the  tyranny  of  the  nobles,  as  in  Athens,  Syra- 
cuse, Corinth,  Thebes,  and  Rome  itself  under  Sylla  and  Caesar.  It  is  therefore 
giving  Carthage  the  highest  praise,  to  observe,  that  it  had  found  out  the  art,  by 
the  wisdom  of  its  laws,  and  the  harmony  of  the  different  parts  of  its  government, 
to  shun,  during  so  long  a  series  of  years,  two  '•jcks  that  are  so  dangerous,  and 
on  wh'ch  others  so  often  split.  It  were  to  b%  wished,  that  some  ancient  author 
had  left  us  an  accurate  and  regular  description  of  the  customs  and  laws  of  this 
famous  republic.  For  want  of  such  assistance,  we  can  only  give  our  readers 
a  confused  and  imperfect  idea  of  them,  by  collecting  the  several  passages  which 
lie  scattered  up  and  down  in  authors.  Christopher  Hendrich  has  obliged  the 
learned  world  in  this  particular ;  and  his  work  has  been  of  great  service  to  me.t 

The  government  of  Carthage,  like  that  of  Sparta  and  Rome,  united  three  dif- 
ferent authorities,  which  counterpoised  and  gave  mutual  assistance  to  one 
another.!  These  authorities  were,  that  of  the  two  supreme  magistrates  called 
suffetes,§  that  of  the  senate,  and  that  of  the  people.  There  afterwards  was 
added  the  tribunal  of  one  hundred,  which  had  great  credit  and  influence  in 
the  republic 

THE  SUFFETES. 

The  power  of  the  suffetes  was  only  annual,  and  their  authority  in  Carthage 
answered  to  that  of  the  consuls  at  Rome.ll  In  authors  they  are  frequently  call- 
ed kings,  dictators,  consuls ;  because  they  exercised  the  functions  of  all  three. 
History  does  not  inform  us  of  the  manner  of  their  election.  They  were  em- 
powered to  assemble  the  senate, liF  in  which  they  presided,  proposed  subjects  for 
deliberation,  and  collected  the  votes  and  they  likewise  presided  in  all  de- 
bates on  matters  of  importance.  Theii  authority  was  not  limited  to  the  city, 
nor  confined  to  civil  affairs  :  they  sometimes  had  the  command  of  the  armies. 

*  De  Rep.  1.  ii.  c.  II. 

f  It  is  entitled,  Carthago,  sire  Carthaginensium  Respublica,  &c. — Francofurti  ad  Oderam,  ann.  1664. 

t  Polvb.  1.  iv.  p.  493. 

I  This  name  is  derived  from  a  ^rord,  which  with  the  Hebrews  and  Phrenicians,  signifies  judgfes,  Shopheti  n. 

i)  Ut  Romse  consules,  sic  Carthagine  quotannis  annui  bini  reges  creabantur.-— Corn.  Nep.  in  Vita  A-tiai* 
belis,  c.  7.    The  great  Hannibal  was  once  one  of  the  suffetes. 

%  SeDatum  itaqu«  suffetes,  quod  velut  consulare  imperium  apud  eos  erat,  vocarerunt. — Lir  1.  xx%.  7 
**  CfUa  suffetes  ad  jus  dicenduxn  cono»ditsont. — Idem.  1.  xxx'xr  m.  63. 


|)^^  '  filBTORY  OP  THE 

We  fiud,  lhat  when  their  employment  of  sufFetes  expired,  they  were  made 

praetors,  whose  office  was  considerable,  since  it  empowered  them  to  preside  in 
some  causes  ;  as  also,  to  propose  and  enact  new  laws,  and  call  to  account  the 
receivers  of  the  public  revenues,  as  appears  from  what  Livy*  relates  concern* 
ins  Hannibal  on  this  head,  and  which!  shall  take  notice  of  in  the  sequel. 

THE  SENATE. 

The  senate,  composed  of  persons  who  were  venerable  on  account  of  their 
age,  their  experience,  their  birth,  their  riches,  and  especially  their  merit,  form- 
ed the  council  of  state  ;  and  were,  if  I  may  use  that  expression,  the  soul  of 
the  public  deliberations.  Their  number  is  not  exactly  known  ;  it  must,  how- 
ever, have  been  very  great,  since  a  hundred  were  selected  from  it  to  form  a 
separate  assembly,  ot  which  I  shall  immediately  have  occasion  to  speak.  In  the 
senate,  all  affairs  of  consequence  we  redebated,  the  letters  from  generals  read, 
the  complaints  of  provinces  heard,  ambassadors  admitted  to  audience,  and 
peace  or  war  determined,  as  is  seen  on  many  occasions. 

When  the  sentiments  and  votes  were  unanimous,  the  senate  decided  su- 
premely, and  there  lay  no  appeal  from  it.t  When  there  was  a  division,  and 
the  senate  could  not  be  brought  to  an  agreement,  the  alFair  was  then  brought 
before  the  people,  on  whom  the  power  of  deciding  thereby  devolved.  The 
reader  will  easily  perceive  the  great  wisdom  of  this  regulation  ;  and  how  hap- 
pily it  is  adapted  to  crush  factions,  to  produce  harmony,  and  to  enforce  and 
corroborate  good  counsel ;  such  an  assembly  being  extremely  jealous  of  its 
authority,  and  not  easily  prevailed  upon  to  let  it  pass  injo  other  hands.  Of 
this  we  have  a  memorable  instance  in  Polybius.J  When,  after  the  loss  of  the  bat- 
tle fought  in  Africa  at  the  end  of  the  second  Punic  war,  the  conditions  of  peace 
offered  by  the  victor  were  read  in  the  senate  ;  Hannibal,  observing  that  one 
of  the  senators  opposed  them,  represented  in  the  strongest  terms,  that  as  the 
safety  of  the  republic  lay  at  stake,  it  was  of  the  utmost  importance  for  the 
senators  to  be  unanimous  in  their  resolutions,  to  prevent  sucn  a  debate  from 
coming  before  the  people  ;  and  he  carried  his  point.  This  doubtless  laid  the 
foundation,  in  the  infancy  of  the  republic,  of  the  senate's  power,  and  raised  its 
authority  to  so  great  a  height.  And  the  same  author  observes  in  another  place, 
that  while  the  senate  had  the  administration  of  affairs,  the  state  was  governed 
with  great  wisdom,  and  was  successful  in  all  its  enterprises. § 

THE  PEOPLE. 

It  appears  from  every  thing  related  hitherto,  that  even  as  late  as  Aristotle  s 
time,  who  gives  so  beautiful  a  picture  and  bestows  so  noble  an  eulogium  on 
the  government  of  Carthage,  the  people  spontaneously  left  the  care  of  pablic 
affairs,  and  the  chief  administration  of  them,  to  the  senate  ;  and  this  it  was 
which  made  the  republic  so  powerful.  But  things  changed  afterwards :  for 
the  people,  grown  insolent  by  their  wealth  and  conquests,  and  forgetting  that 
they  owed  these  blessings  to  the  prudent  conduct  of  the  senate,  were  desirous 
of  having  a  share  in  the  government,  and  arrogated  to  themselves  almost  the 
whole  power.  From  that  period,  the  public  affairs  were  transacted  wholly  by 
cabals  and  factions ;  and  this  Polybius  assigns  as  one  of  the  chief  causes  of 
the  ruin  of  Carthage. 

THE  TRIBUNAL  OF  THE  HUNDRED. 

This  was  a  body  composed  of  a  hundred  and  four  persons ;  though  often 
for  brevity's  sake,  they  are  called  only  the  hundred.  These  according  to 
Aristotle,  were  the  same  in  Carthage  as  the  ephori  in  Sparta  ^  whence  it  ap* 
pears,  that  they  were  instituted  to  balance  the  power  of  the  nobles  and  senate  # 
but  with  this  difference,  that  the  ephori  were  but  five  in  number,  and  elected 


♦  Lib.  xxTciii.  n.  46,  47.       f  Arist.  loc.  cit.       X  Lib.  iv.  p.  706,  707. 
5  Pol/b.  1.  vi.  i>.  194.    A.  CurCi-  487- 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


15* 


innuallj ;  whereas  these  were  perpetual,  and  were  upwards  of  a  hukidred. 

It  is  believed  that  these  centum virs  are  the  same  with  the  hundred  judges 
mentioned  by  Justin,*  who  were  taken  out  of  the  senate,  and  appointed  to  in- 
quire into  the  conduct  of  their  generals.  The  exorbitant  power  of  Mago'S 
(amily,  which,  by  its  engrossing  the  chief  employments  I^oth  of  the  state  and 
the  army,  had  therebv  the  sole  direction  and  management  of  all  affairs,  gave 
occasion  to  this  establishment.  It  was  intended  as  a  curb  to  the  authority  ol 
their  generals,  which,  while  the  armies  were  in  the  field,  was  almost  bound- 
less and  absolute  ;  but,  by  this  institution,  it  became  subject  to  the  laws,  by 
the  obligation  their  generals  wers  under  of  giving  an  account  of  their  actions 
before  these  judges,  on  their  return  from  the  campaign.  Ut  hoc  metu  ita  in 
hello  imperia  cogitarent^  ut  domi  judicia  legesque  respicerent,\  Of  these  hun- 
dred and  four  judges,  five  had  a  particular  jurisdiction  superior  to  that  of  the 
rest ;  but  it  is  not  Known  how  long  their  authority  lasted.  This  council  of 
five  was  like  the  council  of  ten  in  the  Venetian  senate.  A  vacancy  in  their 
number  could  be  filled  by  none  but  themselves.  They  also  had  the  power 
of  choosing  those  who  composed  the  council  of  the  hundred.  Their  authority 
was  very  great,  and  for  that  reason  none  were  elected  into  this  office  but  per- 
sons of  uncommon  merit,  and  it  was  not  judged  proper  to  annex  any  salary 
or  reward  to  it ;  the  single  motive  of  the  public  good  being  thought  a  tie  suf- 
ficient to  engage  honest  men  to  a  conscientious  and  faithful  discharge  of  their 
duty.  Polybius,J  in  his  account  of  the  taking  of  New  Carthage  bv  Scipio, 
distii^uishes  clearly  two  orders  of  magistrates  established  in  Old  Carthage; 
for  he  says,  that  among  the  prisoners  taken  at  New  Carthage,  were  two  ma- 
gistrates belonging  to  the  body  or  assembly  of  old  men,  (u  rfis  njouo-faj :)  so  he 
calls  the  council  of  the  hundred;  and  fifteen  of  the  senate  (jx  Eu7xXr.Tcu.) 
Livy  mentions  only  the  fifteen  of  the  senators ;  but,  in  another  place,  he  names 
the  old  men,  and  tells  us,  that  they  formed  the  most  venerable  council  of  the 
government,  and  had  great  authority  in  the  senate. §  ^  Carthagmiensts — Orato- 
res  ad  pacem  petendam  rnittunt  triginta  seniorum  principes.  Id  erat  sanctius 
npud  illos,  concitfum  maximique  ad  ipsum  senatnm  regendum  vis,\\ 

Establishments,  though  constituted  with  the  greatest  wisdom  and  the  justest 
harmonjr  of  parts,  degenerate,  however,  insensibly  into  disorder  and  the  most 
destructive  licentiousness.  These  judges,  who,  by  the  lawful  execution  of 
their  power,  were  a  terror  to  transgressors,  and  the  great  pillars  of  justice, 
abusing  their  almost  unlimited  authority,  became  so  many  petty  tyrants.  We 
shall  see  this  verified  in  the  history  of  the  great  Hannibal,  who,  during  his 
praetorship,  after  his  return  to  Africa,  employed  all  his  influence  to  reform  so 
horrid  an  abuse  ;  and  made  the  authority  of  these  judges,  which  before  was 
perpetual,  only  annual,  about  two  hundred  years  from  the  first  founding  the 
tribunal  of  the  one  hundred. IT 

DEFECTS  IN  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  CARTHAGE, 

Aristotle,  among  other  reflections  made  by  him  on  the  government  of 
Carthage,  remarks  two  defects  in  it,  both  which,  in  his  opinion,  are  repugnant 
to  the  views  of  a  wise  lawgiver,  and  the  maxims  of  sound  policy. 

The  first  of  these  defects  was,  the  investing  the  same  person  with  diffierent 
employments,  which  was  considered  at  Carthage  as  a  proof  of  uncommon 
merit.    But  Aristotle  thinks  this  practice  highly  prejudicial  to  a  community. 


♦  Lib.  xix.  c.  2.    A.  M.  3069.    A.  Garth.  487.  t  -Tustin.  I.  xlx. 

X  Lib.  X.  p.  824.  edit.  Gronov.  §  Liv.  xxvi.  n.  51.    Lib.  xxx.  n.  16. 

11  Mr.  Rollin  might  ha/e  taken  notice  of  some  civil  officers  who  were  established  at  Carthage,  with  a 
power  like  that  of  the  ca  nsors  of  Rome,  to  inspect  the  manners  of  the  citizens.  The  chief  of  these  o&cen 
took  ffom  Hpmilcar,  the  father  of  Hannibal, a  beautiful  youth,  named  Asdrubal,  on  a  report  that  Hamilcar 
was  more  familiar  with  this  youth  than  was  consistent  with  modestv.  Erat  pr«terSL  cum  eo  [AmilcarcJ 
adolescens  iliuttris  et  formosus,  Hasdrubal,  quern  nonnulli  diligi  turpiiis,  quam  par  erat,  ah  Amilcarc,  loque- 
bantur.    Q,uo  faetura  eit  ot  k  praslecto  morum  Hasdrubal  cum  eo  vetar«tur  esse. — Corn.  iVTep.  im  Yitk  Am 

f  A.  M.  a'^^^:     .A.  rarl\. 


156 


HISTORY  or  THE 


F  or,  says  this  author,  a  man  possessed  but  of  one  emp^s  jmcnl  is  much  mom 
capable  of  acquitting  himself  well  in  the  execution  of  it ;  because  affairs  are 
then  examined  mth  greater  care,  and  sooner  despatched.  W e  never  see, con- 
tinues our  author,  either  by  sea  or  land,  the  same  officer  commanding  two  dif- 
ferent bodies,  or  the  same  pilot  steering  two  ships.  Besides,  the  welfare  of  the 
state  requires,  that  places  and  preferments  should  be  divided,  in  order  to  ex- 
cite an  emulation  among  n>en  of  merit :  whereas  the  bestowing  of  them  on 
one  man  too  often  dazzles  him  by  so  distinguishing  a  preference,  and  always 
fills  others  with  jealousy,  discontent,  and  murmurs. 

The  second  defect  taken  notice  of  by  Aristotle  in  the  government  of  Car- 
thage, was,  that  in  order  for  a  man  to  attain  the  first  posts,  a  certain  estate  was 
required,  besides  merit  and  a  conspicuous  birth ;  by  which  means  poverty 
might  exclude  persons  of  the  most  exalted  merit,  which  he  considers  as  a  great 
v.vli  in  a  government.  For  then,  says  he,  as  virtue  is  wholl}^  disregarded,  and 
money  is  all-jpowerful,  because  all  things  are  attained  by  it,  the  admiration 
and  desire  of  riches  seize  and  corrupt  the  whole  community.  Add  to  this, 
that  when  magistrates  and  judges  are  obliged  to  pay  large  sums  for  their  em- 
plovments,  they  seem  to  have  a  right  to  reimburse  themselves. 

There  is  not,  I  believe,  one  instance  in  all  antiquity,  to  show  that  employ- 
ments, either  in  the  state  or  the  courts  of  justice,  were  sold.  The  expense, 
-  therefore,  which  Aristode  talks  of  here,  to  raise  men  to  preferments  in  Car- 
thage, must  doubtless  be  understood  of  the  presents  that  were  given,  in  order 
to  procure  the  votes  of  the  electors :  a  practice,  as  Polybius  observes,  xery 
common  at  Carthage,  where  no  kind  of  gain  was  considered  a  disgrace.*  It  is 
therefore  no  wonder,  that  Aristotle  should  condemn  a  practice,  which  it  is  very 
plain  may  in  its  consequences  prove  fatal  to  a  government. 

But  in  case  he  pretended,  that  the  chief  employm^ents  of  a  state  ought  to  be 
equally  accessible  to  the  rich  and  the  poor,  as  he  seems  to  insinuate,  his  opin- 
ion is  refuted  by  the  general  practice  of  the  wisest  republics ;  for  these,  without 
ill  any  way  demeaning  or  aspersing  poverty,  have  thought,  that  on  this  occasion 
the  preference  ought  to  be  given  to  riches  ;  because  it  is  to^e  presumed,  that 
the  wealthy  have  received  a  better  education,  have  nobler  views,  are  more  out 
of  the  reach  of  corruption,  and  less  liable  to  commit  base  actions  ;  and  that 
t'ven  the  state  of  their  affairs  makes  them  more  affectionate  to  the  government, 
inclines  them  to  maintain  peace  and  order  in  it,  and  to  suppress  whatever  may 
tend  to  sedition  and  rebellion.  . 

Aristotle,  in  concluding  his  reflections  on  the  republic  of  Carthage,  is  much 
pleased  with  a  custom  practised  in  it,  viz.  of  sending  from  time  to  time  colo- 
nies into  different  countries,  and  in  this  manner  procuring  its  citizens  commo- 
dious settlements.  This  provided  for  the  necessities  of  the  poor,  who,  equallv 
with  the  rich,  are  members  of  the  state  ;  and  it  discharged  Carthage  of  mul 
titudes  of  lazy,  indolent  people,  who  were  its  disgrace,  and  often  proved  dan- 
gerous to  it :  it  prevented  commotions  and  insurrections,  by  thus  removing 
such  persons  as  commonly  occasion  them  ;  and  who,  being  very  uneasy  under 
tiieir  present  circumstances,  are  always  ready  for  innovations  and  tumults. 

gg 

SECTION  IV. 

TRADE  OF  CARTHAGE^  THE  FIRST  SOURCE  OF  ITS  WEALTH  AND  POWER. 

Commerce,  strictly  speaking,  was  the  occupation  of  Carthage,  the  particu- 
lar object  of  its  industry,  and  its  peculiar  and  predominant  characteristic.  It 
formed  the  greatest  strength,  and  the  chief  support  of  that  commonwealth.  Ii! 
a  word,  we  may  affirm  that  the  power,  the  conquests,  the  credit,  and  the  glory 
uf  the  Carthaginians,  all  flowed  from  their  commerce.  Situated  in  the  centre 
of  the  Mediterranean,  and  stretching  out  their  arms  eastward  and  westward 


CARTHAGLMANa. 


157 


the  extent  of  their  commerce  took  in  all  the  known  world ;  and  wafted  it  to 
the  coast  of  Spain,  of  Mauritania,  of  Gaul,  and  beyond  the  strait  and  pillars 
of  Hercules.  They  sailed  to  all  countries,  in  order  to  buy,  at  a  cheap  rate, 
»he  superfluities  of  every  na.ion,  which,  by  the  wants  of  others,  became  neces- 
«aries ,  and  these  they  sold  to  them  at  the  dearest  rate.  From  Egypt  the 
Carthaginians  brought  fine  flax,  paper,  corn,  sails,  and  cables  for  ships  ;  from 
the  coast  of  the  Red  Sea,  spices,  frankincense,  perfumes,  gold,  pearl,  and  pre 
cious  stones  ;  from  Tyre  and  Phoenicia,  purple  and  scarlet,  rich  stuffs,  tapes- 
try, costly  furniture,  and  divers  curious  and  exquisite  vyorks  of  art ;  in  a  word, 
they  brought  from  various  countries,  ail  things  that  can  supply  the  necessities^ 
or  are  capable  of  contributing  to  the  comfort,  luxury,  and  the  delights  of  life. 
They  brought  back  from  the  western  parts  of  the  world,  in  return  for  the  com- 
modities carried  thither,  iron,  tin,  lead,  and  copper :  by  the  sale  of  which 
articles,  they  enriched  themselves  at  the  expense  of  all  nations  ;  and  put  them 
under  a  kind  of  contribution,  which  was  so  much  the  surer,  as  it  was  spontaneous. 

In  thus  becoming  the  factors  and  agents  of  all  nations,  they  had  made  them- 
selves lords  of  the  sea ;  the  band  which  held  the  east,  the  west,  and  south 
together,  and  the  necessary  channel  of  their  communication  ;  so  that  Carthage 
rose  to  be  the  common  city,  and  the  centre  of  the  trade  of  all  those  nations 
which  the  sea  separated  from  one  another. 

The  most  considerable  personages  of  the  city  were  not  ashamed  of  engaging 
in  trade.  They  applied  themselves  to  it  as  industriously  as  the  meanest  citi- 
zens ;  and  their  great  wealth  did  not  make  them  less  in  love  with  the  dili- 
gence, patience,  and  labour,  which  are  necessary  for  the  acquisition  of  it.  To 
this  they  owed  their  empire  of  the  sea  ;  the  splendour  of  their  republic  ;  their 
being  able  to  dispute  for  superiority  with  Rome  itself ;  and  their  elevation  of 
power,  which  forced  the  Romans  to  carry  on  a  bloody  and  doubtful  war  for 
upv/ards  of  forty  years,  in  order  to  humble  and  subdue  this  haughty  rival.  In 
short,  Rome,  even  in  its  triumphant  state,  thought  Carthage  was  not  to  be  en- 
tirely reduced  any  other  way  than  by  depriving  that  city  of  the  benefit  of  its 
*:ommerce,  by  which  it  had  been  so  long  enabled  to  resist  the  whole  strength 
of  that  mighty  republic. 

However,  it  is  no  wonder  that,  as  Carthage  .-ame  in  a  manner  out  of  the 
greatest  school  of  traffic  in  the  world,  I  mean  Tyre,  she  should  have  been 
crowned  with  such  rapid  and  uninterrupted  success.  The  very  vessels  in  vvhich 
its  founders  had  been  conveyed  into  Africa,  were  afterwards  employed  by  thc:n 
in  their  trade.  They  began  to  make  settlements  upon  the  coasts  of  Spain,  in 
those  ports  where  they  unloaded  their  goods.  The  ease  with  which  they  ha;  i 
founded  these  settlements,  and  the  conveniences  they  met  with,  inspired  thc-r; 
with  the  design  of  conquering  those  vast  regions ;  and  sometime  after,  A'ava 
Carthago,or^ew  Carthage,  gave  the  Carthaginians  an  empire  in  that  country, 
almost  equal  to  that  which  they  enjoyed  in  Africa 


SECTION  V. 

THE  MINBS  OF  SPAIN,  THE  SECOND  SOURCE  OF  THE  RICHES  AMD  POWER  Ct 

CARTHAGE. 

DioDORUS*  justly  remarks  that  the  gold  and  silver  mines,  found  by  the 
Carthaginians^  in  Spain,  were  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  wealth,  that  enabled 
them  to  sustain  such  long  wars  against  the  Romans.  The  natives  had  long 
been  ignorant  of  these  treasures  that  lay  concealed  in  the  bowels  of  the  eanh, 
at  least  of  their  use  and  value.  The  Phcenicians  took  advantage  of  this  ig- 
norance, and  by  bartering  some  wares  of  little  value  for  this  precious  metal, 
vvhich  the  natives  sufiered  them  to  dig  up,  they  amassed  infinite  wealth. 


158 


HirrORY  OF  TKE 


When  the  Carthaginians  had  made  themselves  masters  of  the  country,  they 
<iug  much  deeper  into  the  earth  than  the  old  inhabitants  of  Spain  had  done, 
fviio  probably  were  content  with  what  they  could  collect  on  the  surface  ;  and 
'he  Romans,  when  they  had  dispossessed  the  Carthaginians  of  Spain,  profited 
by  their  example,  ana  drew  an  immense  revenue  from  these  mines  of  gold 
^   irni  silver. 

The  labour  employed  to  come  at  these  mines,  and  to  dig  the  gold  and  sil« 
ver  out  of  them,  was  incredible,  for  the  veins  of  these  metals  rarely  appeared 
on  the  surface  ;  they  were  to  be  sought  for,  and  traced  through  frightful  depths, 
where  very  often  floods  of  w^ater  stopped  the  miners,  and  seemed  to  defeat  ali 
future  pursuits.*  But  avarice  is  as  patient  in  undergoing  fatigues,  as  ingenious 
in  finding  expedients.  By  pumps,  which  Archimedes  had  invented  when  in 
Egypt,  the  Romans  afterwards  threw  up  the  water  out  of  these  pits,  and  quite 
drained  them.  Numberless  multitudes  of  slaves  perished  in  these  mine>^ 
which  were  dug  to  enrich  their  masters,  who  treated  them  with  the  utmo«t 
barbarity,  forced  them  by  heavy  stripes  to  labour,  and  gave  them  no  respite 
either  day  or  night.  Polybius,!  as  quoted  by  Strabo,  sajs,  that  in  his  time, 
upwards  of  forty-thousand  men  were  employed  in  the  mmes  near  J^ova  Car 
thago,  and  furnished  the  Romans  every  day  with  twenty-five  thousand  drachms, 
or  three  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifteen  dollars  and  sixty-three  cents.  J 

We  must  not  be  surprised  to  see  the  Carthaginians,  soon  after  the  greatest 
defeats,  sending  fresh  and  numerous  armies  again  into  the  field ;  fitting  out 
mighty  fleets,  and  supporting,  at  a  great  expense,  for  many  years,  wars  car* 
ried  on  by  them  in  far  distant  countries.  But  it  must  surprise  us  to  hear  of 
the  Romans  doing  the  same  ;  they  whose  revenues  were  very  inconsiderable 
before  those  great  conquests,  which  subjected  to  them  the  most  powerful  na- 
tions ;  and  who  had  no  resources,  either  from  trade,  to  which  they  were  absolute 
strangers,  or  from  gold  or  silver  mines,  which  were  very  rarely  found  in  Italy, 
in  cose  there  were  any  ;  and  consequently,  the  expenses  of  which  must  have 
swallowed  up  all  the  profit.  The  Romans,  in  the  frugal  and  simple  life  they 
led,  in  their  zeal  for  the  public  welfare  and  love  for  their  country,  possessed  * 
funds  which  were  not  less  ready  or  secure  than  those  of  Carthage,  but,  at  the 
same  time  were  far  more  honourable  to  their  nation. 


SECTION  VI 

WAR. 

Jarthage  must  be  considered  as  a  trading,  and  at  the  same  time  a  warlike 
republic.  Its  genius,  and  the  nature  of  its  government,  led  it  to  traffic ;  and 
from  the  necessity  the  Carthaginians  were  under,  first  of  defending  themselves 
against  the  neighbouring  nations,  and  afterwards  liom  a  desire  of  extending 
their  commerce  and  empire,  they  became  warlike  This  double  idea  gives 
us,  in  my  opinion,  the  true  plan  and  character  of  the  Carthaginian  republic. 
We  have  already  spoken  of  its  commerce. 

The  military  power  of  the  Carthaginians  consisted  in  their  alliances  with 
kings;  in  tributary  nations,  from  which  they  drew  both  men  and  money  ;  ia 
some  troops  raised  from  among  their  own  citizens ;  and  in  mercenary  soldiers, 
purchased  of  neighbouring  states,  without  their  being  obliged  to  levy  or  exer- 
cise them,  because  they  were  already  well  disciplined  and  inured  to  the  fa- 
tigues of  war ;  for  they  made  choice,  in  every  country,  of  such  soldiers  as  had 
the  greatest  merit  and  reputation.  They  drew  from  Numidia  a  nimble,  bold, 
impetuous  and  indefatigable  cavalry,  which  formed  the  principal  strength  of 


*  Lib.  ir.  p.  312,  &c.  f  Lib.  iii-  H7. 

X  Twenty-five  thousand  drachms. — An  attic  drachm,  according  to  Dr.  Bernard  =  8;id.  Enylish  moQ«r 
e^wqueutljr,  25,000  =  «i>9/  Is.  td. 


CARTHAGINIANS. 

their  armies  ;  from  the  Balearian  isles,  the  most  expert  sh'r^ers  in  the  world: 

from  Spain,  a  steady  and  invincible  infantry ;  from  the  coasts  of  Genoa  ana 
Gaul,  troops  of  known  valour ;  and  from  Greece  itself,  soldiers  fit  for  all  the 
various  operations  of  war,  for  the  field  or  the  garrison,  for  besieging  or  de- 
fending cities. 

In  this  manner,  the  Carthaginians  sent  out  at  once  powerful  ai-mies  com- 
posed of  soldiers  which  were  the  flower  of  all  the  armies  in  the  universe, 
without  depopulating  either  their  fields  or  cities  by  new  levies ;  without  sus- 
jyendin^  their  manufactures,  or  disturbing  the  peaceful  artificer;  without  in- 
lerruptmg  their  commerce,  or  weakening  their  navy.  By  venal  blood  they 
possessed  themselves  of  provinces  and  kingdoms;  and  made  other  nations  the 
rnstruments  of  their  grandeur  and  glory,  with  no  other  expense  of  their  own 
than  their  money,  and  even  this  furnished  from  the  traffic  they  carried  on  with 
foreign  nations. 

If  the  Carthaginians,  in  the  course  of  the  war,  sustained  some  losses,  these 
trer**  ^ut  as  so  many  foreign  accidents,  which  only  grazed,  as  it  were,  the  body 
of  tne  state,  but  did  not  make  a  deep  wound  in  the  bowels  or  heart  of  the  re- 
public. These  losses  were  speedily  repaired,  by  sums  arising  out  of  a  flou- 
rishing commerce,  as  from  a  perpetual  sinew  of  war,  by  which  the  government 
was  furnished  with  new  supplies  for  the  purchase  of  mercenary  forces,  who 
were  ready  at  the  first  summons.  And,  from  the  vast  extent  of  the  coasts 
which  the  Carthaginians  possessed,  it  was  easy  for  them  to  levy,  in  a  very  lit- 
tle time,  a  sufficient  number  of  sailors  and  rowers  for  the  working  of  their 
fleets,  and  to  procure  able  pilots  and  experienced  captains  to  conduct  them. 

But,  as  these  parts  were  fortuitously  brought  together,  they  did  not  adhere 
by  any  natural,  intimate,  or  necessary  tie.  No  common'  and  reciprocal  inte- 
rest united  them  in  such  a  manner  as  to  form  a  solid  and  unalterable  body. 
Not  one  individual  in  these  mercenary  armies  wished  sincerely  the  prosperity 
of  the  state.  They  did  not  act  with  the  same  zeal,  nor  expose  themselves  to 
dangers  with  equal  resolution,  for  a  republic  which  they  considered  as  foreign, 
and  which  consequently  was  indifferent  to  them,  as  they  would  have  done  for 
their  native  country,  whose  happiness  constitutes  that  of  the  several  members 
who  compose  it.  4 

In  great  reverses  of  fortune,  the  kings  in  alliance  with  the  Carthaginiani 
might  easily  be  detached  from  their  interest,  either  by  that  jealousy  which 
the  grandeur  of  a  more  powerful  neighbour  naturally  gives  ;  or  from  the  hopes 
of  reaping  greater  advantages  from  a  new  friend ;  or  from  the  fear  of  being 
involved  in  the  misfortunes  of  an  old  ally.* 

The  tributary  nations,  being  impatient  under  the  weight  and  disgrace  of  a 
yoke  which  had  been  forced  upon  their  necks,  greatly  flattered  themselves 
with  the  hopes  of  finding  one  less  galHng  in  changing  Iheir  masters  ;  or,  in 
case  servitude  was  unavoidable,  the  choice  was  indifferent  to  them,  as  will  ap- 
pear from  many  instances  in  the  course  of  this  history. 

The  mercenary  forces,  accustomed  to  measure  their  fidelity  by  the  lai^e- 
ness  or  continuance  of  their  pay,  were  ever  ready,  on  the  least  discontent,  or 
the  slightest  expectation  of  a  more  considerable  stipend,  to  desert  to  the  ene- 
my with  whom  they  had  just  before  fought,  and  to  turn  their  arms  against 
those  who  had  invited  them  to  their  assistance. 

Thus  the  grandeur  of  the  Carthaginians,  being  sustained  only  by  these  foreign 
supports,  was  shaken  to  the  very  foundation  when  they  were  taken  away.  And 
if,  to  this,  there  happened  to  be  added  an  interruption  of  their  commerce,  by 
which  only  they  subsisted,  arising  from  the  loss  of  a  naval  engagement,  they 
imagined  themselves  to  be  on  the  brink  of  ruin,  and  abandoned  themselves  to 
despondency  and  despair,  as  was  evidently  seen  at  the  end  of  the  first 
Punic  war. 

Aristotle,  in  the  treatise  where  he  shows  the  advantages  and  defects  of  the 
wernment  of  Carthage,  finds  no  fault  with  its  keeping  up  none  but  foreign 


•  A»Svj>hai  9mi  MfttiDisMi. 


jQQ  HWBTORY  OF  THE 

forces  ;  it  is  therefore  probable,  that  the  Carthaginians  did  not  fall  into  thL 
practice  till  a  long  time  after.  But  the  rebQllions  which  harassed  Carthage  if 
Its  later  years  ought  to  have  taught  its  citizens,  that  no  miseries  are  comparbl< 
to  those  of  a  government  which  is  supported  only  by  foreigners ;  since  neithei 
zeal,  security,  nor  obedience,  can  be  expected  from  them. 

But  this  was  not  the  case  with  the  republic  of  Rome.  As  the  Romans  had 
neither  trade  nor  money,  they  were  not  able  to  hire  forces,  in  order  to  push  on 
their  conquests  with  the  same  rapidity  as  the  Carthaginians:  but  then,  as  they 
procured  every  thing  from  within  themselves,  and  as  all  the  ^arts  of  the  state 
were  intimately  united,  they  had  surer  resources  in  great  misfortunes  than  the 
Carthaginians.  And  for  this  reason,  they  never  once  thought  of  suing  for  peace 
after  the  battle  of  Cannae,  as  the  Carthaginians  had  done  in  a  less  imminent 
danger. 

The  Carthaginians  had,  besides,  a  body  of  troops,  which  was  not  very  nu- 
merous, levied  from  among  their  own  citizens ;  and  this  was  a  kind  of  school, 
in  which  the  flower  of  their  nobility,  and  those  whose  talents  and  ambition 
prompted  them  to  aspire  to  the  first  dignities,] earned  the  rudiments  of  the  art 
of  war.  From  among  these  were  selected  all  the  general  officers,  who  were 
put  at  the  head  of  the  different  bodies  of  their  forces,  and  had  the  chief  com- 
mand in  the  armies.  This  nation  was  too  iealous  and  suspicious  to  employ 
foreign  generals.  But  they  were  not  so  distrustful  of  their  own  citizens  as 
Rome  and  Athens  ;  for  the  Carthaginians,  at  the  same  time  that  they  invested 
them  with  great  power,  did  not  guard  against  the  abuse  they  might  make  of  it, 
in  order  to  oppress  their  country.  The  command  of  armies  was  neither  annual, 
nor  limited  to  any  time,  as  in  the  two  republics  above  mentioned.  Many  gen- 
erals held  their  commissions  for  a  great  number  of  years,  either  till  the  war  or 
their  lives  ended ;  though  they  were  still  accountable  to  the  commonwealth 
for  their  conduct,  and  liable  to  be  recalled,  whenever  a  real  oversight,  a  mis 
fortune,  or  the  superior  interest  of  a  cabal,  furnished  an  opportunity  for  it. 


SECTION  VII. 

ARTS  AND  SCIENCES. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  Carthaginians  renounced  entirely  the  glory  whicb 
results  from  study  and  knowledge.  The  sending  of  Masinissa,  son  of  a  power- 
ful king,*  thither  for  education,  gives  us  room  to  believe,  that  Carthage  was 
provided  with  an  excellent  school.  The  great  Hannibal,  who  in  all  respects 
was  an  ornament  to  that  city,  was  not  unacquainted  with  polite  literature,  aa 
will  be  seen  hereafter.!  Mago,  another  very  celebrated  general,  did  as  much 
honour  to  Carthage  by  his  pen  as  by  his  victories.J;  He  wrote  twenty-eight 
volumes  upon  husbandry,  which  the  Roman  senate  had  in  such  esteem,  that 
after  the  taking  of  Carthage,  when  they  presented  the  African  princes  with 
the  libraries  founded  there,  another  proof  that  learning  was  not  entirely  ba- 
nished from  Carthage,  they  gave  orders  to  have  these  books  translated  intii 
Latin, §  though  Cato  had  before  written  books  on  that  subject.  There  is  stiH 
extant  a  Greek  version  of  a  treatise,  drawn  up  by  Hanno  in  the  Punic  tongue, 
relating  to  a  voyage  he  made,  by  order  of  the  senate,  with  a  considerable  fleet, 
round  Africa,  for  the  settling  of  different  colonies  in  that  part  of  the  world.H 

This  Hanno  is  believed  to  be  more  ancient  than  that  person  of  the  same  nam^ 
who  lived  in  the  time  of  Agathocles. 

(/litomachus,.called  in  the  Punic  language  Asdrubal,  was  a  great  philosopher.'! 
He  succeeded  the  famous  Carneades,  whose  disiciple  he  had  been  ;  and  mail 


*  Kin^  of  the  Massylians  in  Africa, 
f  Jiepos  in  viti  Amiibalis.  X  ^'c.  de  Orat.  1.  i.  n.  249.    Plin.  1.  xriii  c.  9. 

}  The««  books  were  written  hj  Mago  in  the  Punic  language,  and  translated  into  Greek  by  Casciuf  DW 
»vBiut  of  Utica,  from  whoie  version       m»y  probably  suppose  the  Latin  was  made 

VoM  d«  Hist.  Gr.  I.  IT.  V  Plut.  de  Fort.  Ale».  p  2^8.    Piof.  Lafirt.  in  Cllt<im. 


Carthaginians. 


tilled  in  Athens  the  honour  of  the  acadentic  sect.    Cicero  says,  that  he  was 
a  more  sensible  man,  and  fonder  of  study,  than  the  Carthaginians  generally 
are.*   He  composed  several  books,  in  one  of  which  was  a  treatise  to  console 
the  unhappy  citizens  of  Carthage,  who,  by  the  ruin  of  their  city,  were  re 
duced  to  slavery.t 

I  mif  ht  rank  among,  or  rather  place  at  the  head  of,  the  writers  who  have 
adorner"*.  Africa  with  their  compositions,  the  celebrated  Terence  himself,  being 
singly  capable  of  reflecting  infinite  honour  on  his  countiy  by  the  fame  of  his 
product  ions ;  if,  on  this  accour.t,  Carthage,  the  place  of  his  birth,  ought  not  to 
t^e  less  considered  as  his  countiy  than  Rome,  where  he  was  educated,  and 
acquired  that  purity  of  style,  that  delicacy  and  elegance,  which  have  gained 
him  the  admiration  of  all  succeeding  ages.  It  is  supposed  that  he  was  carried 
off  when  an  infant,  or  at  least  very  young,  by  the  Numidians  in  their  incursions 
Into  the  Carthaginian  territories,  during  the  war  carried  on  between  these  two 
nations,  from  the  conclusion  of  the  second  to  the  beginning  of  the  third  Punic 
war.J  He  was  sold  for  a  slave  to  Terentius  Lucanus,  a  Roman  senator,  who, 
after  giving  him  an  excellent  education,  freed  him,  and  called  him  by  his  own 
name,  as  was  then  the  custom.  He  was  united  in  a  very  strict  friendship  with 
:he  second  Scipio  Africanus  andLaelius  ;  and  it  was  a  common  report  at  Rome, 
Hiat  he  had  the  assistance  of  these  two  great  men  in  composing  his  pieces. 

The  poet,  so  far  from  endeavouring  to  stifle  a  report  so  advantageous  to  him 
made  a  merit  of  it.  Only  six  of  his  comedies  are  extant.  Some  authors, 
according  to  Suetonius,  (the  writer  of  his  life,)  say,  that  in  his  return  from 
Greece,  whither  he  had  made  a  voyage,  he  lost  a  hundred  and  eight  com- 
edies translated  from  Menander,  and  couldnot  survive  an  accident  which  must 
naturally  afflict  him  in  a  sensible  manner  ;  but  this  incident  is  not  very  well 
founded.  Be  this  as  it  may,  he  died  in  the  year  of 'Rome  594,  under  the  con- 
sulship of  Cneius  Cornelius  Dolabella  and  M.  Fulvius,  aged  thirty-five  years, 
and  consequently  was  born  anno  560. 

It  must  yet  be  confessed,  notwithstanding  all  we  have  said,  that  there  ever 
was  a  great  scarcity  of  learned  men  in  Carthage,  since  it  hardly  furnished  three 
or  four  writers  of  reputation  in  upwards  of  seven  hundred  years.  Although 
the  Carthaginians  held  a  correspondence  with  Greece  and  the  most  civilized 
nations,  yet  this  did  not  excite  them  to  borrow  their  learning,  as  being  foreign 
to  their  views  of  trade  and  commerce.  Eloquence,  poetry,  history,  seem  to 
have  been  little  known  among  them.  A  Carthaginian  philosopher  was  consi- 
dered as  a  sort  of  prodigy  by  the  learned.  What,  then,  would  an  astronomer  or 
a  geometrician  have  been  thought  ?  I  know  not  in  what  reputation  physic, 
which  is  so  advantageous  to  life,  was  held  at  Carthage  ;  or  jurisprudence,  so 
necessary  to  society. 

As  works  of  wit  were  generally  had  in  so  much  disregard,  the  education  of 
youth  must  necessarily  have  been  very  imperfect  and  unpolished.  In  Car- 
thage, the  study  and  knowledge  of  youth  were  for  the  most  part  confined  to 
vvriting,  arithmetic,  book-keeping,  and  the  buying  and  selling  of  goods ;  in  a 
word,  to  whatever  related  to  traffic.  But  polite  learning,  history,  and  philosophy, 
were  in  little  repute  among  them.  These  were  in  later  years,  even  prohibited 
by  the  laws,  which  expressly  forbade  any  Carthaginian  to  learn  the  Greek 
tongue,  lest  it  might  qualify  them  for  carrying  on  a  dangerous  correspondence 
with  the  enemy,  either  by  letter  or  word  of  mouth. § 

Now,  what  could  be  expected  from  such  a  cast  of  mind  ?  Accordingly,  there 
was  never  seen  among  them  that  elegance  of  behaviour,  that  ease  and  compla 


*  Clitomachus  /lomo  et  acutus  ul  Pa;nus,  et  valde  studiosus  ac  diliyens. — Academ.  Q,uest.  1.  iv.  n.  98 
t  Tusc.  Q^uajst.  1.  iii.  n.  54.  +  Suet,  in  Vit.  Terent. 

j  Factum  ser.ittus-consultiim  ne  quis  postea  Carthag-iniensis  nut  Uteris  Gra^cis  aut  sermoni  studeret-,  DC 
•  ut  loqui  cum  hoste,  ant  scri!  ere  sine  iiiterprete  posset. — .Justin.  1.  xx.  c.  5.  .Justin  ascribes  the  reason  of 
•f  is  law  to  a  treasonable  correspondence  i;>etween  one  Suniatus,  a  powerful  (""arlhag-inian,  and  DionjsiJ* 
t!  c  tyrant  of  Sicily;  the  former,  by  letters  written  in  Greek,  vrhich  afterwards  fell  into  the  hands  of  tfe* 
f  nrtha^idians,  havlnsj  informed  the  tyrant  of  the  war  dasi^Bed  against  him  by  his  country,  ou'  of  bntfW 
to  Hanno  the  jceneral,  to  whum  he  was  an  cneriiy. 

Vol.  I 


163 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


cencTof  manners,  and  those  sentiments  of  virtue,  which  are  generally  the  frulti 
of  a  liberal  education  in  all  civilized  nations.  The  small  number  of  great  men 
which  this  nation  has  produced,  must  therefore  have  owed  their  merit  to  the 
felicity  of  their  genius,  to  the  singularity  of  their  talents,  and  a  long  experience, 
without  any  great  assistance  from  instruction.  Hence  it  was,  that  the  merit 
of  the  greatest  men  of  Carthage  was  sullied  by  great  failings,  low  vices,  and 
cruel  passions  ;  audit  is  rare  to  meet  with  any  conspicuous  virtue  among  them 
without  some  blemish  ;  with  any  virtue  of  a  noble,  generous,  and  amiable  kind, 
and  supported  by  clear  and  lasting  principles,  such  as  is  every  where  found 
among  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  The  reader  will  perceive,  that  I  here  speak 
only  of  the  heathen  virtues,  and  agreeably  to  the  idea  which  the  pagans  eruer 
tained  of  them. 

I  meet  with  as  few  monuments  of  their  skill  in  arts  of  a  less  noble  and  neces  - 
sary kind,  as  painting  and  sculpture.  1  find,  indeed,  that  they  had  plundered 
the  conquered  nations  of  a  great  many  works  in  both  these  kinds,  but  it  does 
not  appear  that  they  themselves  had  produced  many. 

From  what  has  been  said,  one  cannot  help  concluding,  that  traffic  was  the 
predominant  inclination,  and  the  peculiar  characteristic,  of  the  Carthaginians  ; 
that  it  formed  in  a  manner  the  basis  of  the  state,  the  soul  of  the  common- 
wealth, and  the  grand  spring  which  gave  motion  to  all  their  enterprises.  The 
Carthaginians  in  general  were  skilful  merchants  ;  employed  wholly  in  traffic  ; 
excited  strongly  by  the  desire  of  gain,  and  esteeming  nothing  but  riches  ;  di- 
recting all  their  talents,  and  placing  their  chief  glory,  in  amassing  them,  though, 
at  the  same  *ime,  they  scarce  knew  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  designed, 
or  how  to  Use  them  in  a  noble  or  worthy  manner. 


SECTION  VIII. 

fHE  CHARACTER,  MANNERS,  AND  QUALITIES  OF  THE  CARTHAGINIANS. 

In  the  enumeration  of  the  various  qualities  which  Cicero*  assigns  to  differ 
ent  nations,  as  their  distinguishing  characteristics,  he  declares  that  of  the  Car- 
thaginians to  be  craft,  skill,  address,  industry,  cunning,  calliditas;  which 
doubtless  appeared  in  war,  but  was  still  more  conspicuous  in  the  rest  of  their 
conduct ;  and  this  was  joined  to  another  quality,  that  bears  a  very  near  rela- 
tion to  it,  and  is  still  less  reputable.  Craft  and  cunning  lead  naturally  to  lying, 
Iwpocrisy,  and  breach  of  faith  ;  and  these,  by  accustoming  the  mind  insensi- 
bly to  be  less  scrupulous  with  regard  to  the  choice  of  the  means  for  compass- 
ing its  designs,  prepare  it  for  the  basest  frauds  and  the  most  perfidious  actions. 
This  was  also  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  Carthaginians  }\  and  it  was  so 
notorious,  that  to  signify  any  remarkable  dishonesty ^  it  was  usual  to  call 
it,  Punic  honour^  Jides  Punica ;  and  to  denote  a  knavish  deceitful  mind,  no 
expression  was  thought  more  proper  and  emphatical  than  this,  a  Carthaginian 
mind,  Punicum  ingenium. 

An  excessive  thirst  for,  and  an  immoderate  love  of  profit,  generally  gave 
occasion,  in  Carthage,  to  the  committing  of  base  and  unjust  actions.  A  single 
example  will  prove  this.  In  the  time  of  a  truce,  granted  by  Scipio  to  the 
earnest  entreaties  of  the  Carthaginians,  some  Roman  vessels,  being  driven  by 
a  storm  on  the  coast  of  Carthage,  were  seized  by  order  of  the  senate  and  peo* 
ple,t  who  could  not  suffer  so  tempting  a  prey  to  escape  them.  They  were 
resolved  to  get  money,  though  the  manner  of  acquiring  it  were  ever  so  scan- 


*  Q,H»in  volumus  licet  ipsi  nos  amemus,  tamen  nec  numero  Hispanos,  nec.  rotore  Gallos,  nec  calliditate 
VflRDOB,  led  pietatft  acreligione,  tfcc.  omnes  genles  nationes^ue  superavirnus. — De  Arusp.  Resp.  n.  19. 

t  Carthaglnicnsis  fraudulent!  et  mendaces — multis  et  varus  mercatorum  advenarumque  sermonibut  ail 
•tudium  fallcndi  quaestus  cupiditate  vocabantur  -  Cic.  Or»t.  ii.  in  Rull.  n.  94. 

1  Magiatntat  lenatum  rocare,  populus  in  curiie  vestibulo  fremere,  ne  tanta  ex  eculis  manibuaqiM  asuat 
Uretur  prttda.    Consemum  est  ut,  Sec. — Liv.  1.  xix.  n.  24. 


GARTHAGINlAltft. 


dalous.  The  inhabitants  of  Carthag^e,  even  in  St.  Austin4i  time,  as  that  father 
informs  us,  showed,  on  a  particular  occasion,  that  they  still  retained  part  of 
this  characteristic* 

But  these  were  not  the  only  blemishes  and  faults  of  the  Carthaginians.f 
They  had  something  austere  and  savage  in  their  disposition  and  genius,  a 
haughty  and  imperious  air,  a  sort  of  ferocity,  which  in  its  first  starts  was  deaf 
to  either  reason  or  remonstrances,  and  plunged  brutally  into  the  utmost  ex- 
C'Csses  of  violence.  The  people,  cowardly  and  grovelling  under  apprehen- 
sions, were  proud  and  cruel  in  their  transports ;  at  the  same  time  that  they 
trembled  under  their  magistrates,  they  were  dreaded  in  their  turn  by  their 
miserable  vassals.  In  this  we  see  the  difference  which  education  makes  be- 
tween one  nation  and  another.  The  Athenians,  whose  city  was  always  con- 
sidered as  the  Centre  of  learning,  were  naturally  jealous  of  their  authority, 
and  difficult  to  govern  ;  but  still  a  fund  of  good  nature  and  humanity  maae 
them  compassionate  the  misfortunes  of  others,  and  be  indulgent  to  the  errors 
of  their  leaders.  Cleon  one  day  desired  the  assembly  in  which  he  presided, 
to  break  up,  because,  as  he  told  them,  he  had  -a  sacrifice  to  offer,  and  friends 
to  entertain.  The  people  only  laughed  at  the  request,  and  immediately  sepa- 
rated. Such  a  liberty,  says  Plutarch,  at  Carthage,  would  have  cost  a  man 
his  life. 

Livy  makes  a  like  reflection  with  regard  to  Terentius  Varro.J  That  gene 
ral,  on  his  return  to  Rome  after  the  battle  of  Cannae,  which  had  been  lost  by 
liis  ill  conduct,  was  met  by  persons  of  all  orders  of  the  state,  at  some  distance 
from  Rome,  and  thanked  by  them  for  his  not  having  despaired  of  the  com- 
monwealth; who,  says  the  historian,  had  he  been  a  general  of  the  Carthagi- 
nians, must  have  expected  the  most  severe  punishment  :*Cm2,  si  Carthaginien- 
num  ductor  fuisset,  nihil  recusandum  supplicii  foret.  Indeed,  a  court  was 
established  at  Carthage,  where  the  generals  were  obliged  to  give  an  account 
of  their  conduct ;  and  they  were  all  made  responsible  for  the  events  of  the 
war.  Ill  success  was  punished  there  as  a  crime  against  the  state  ;  and  when- 
ever a  general  lost  a  battle,  he  was  almost  sure  at  his  return  of  ending  his  life 
upon  a  gibbet.  Such  was  the  furious,  cruel,  and  barbarous  disposition  of  the 
Cfarthaginians,  who  were  always  ready  to  shed  the  blood  of  their  citizens  as 
Well  as  of  foreigners.  The  unheard-of  tortures,  which  they  made  Regulus 
luffer,  are  a  manifest  proof  of  this  assertion  ;  and  their  history  will  furnish  us 
with  such  instances  of  it,  as  are  not  to  be  read  without  horror. 


PART  SECOND. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  CARTHAGINIANS. 

'JThe  interval  of  time  between  the  foundation  of  Carthage  and  its  ruin,  inclu- 
ded seven  hundred  years,  and  may  be  divided  into  two  chapters.  The  fir?t, 
which  is  much  the  longest,  and  is  least  known,  as  is  ordinary  with  the  begin- 
nings of  all  states,  extends  to  the  first  Punic  war,  and  takes  up  five  hundreJ 
and  eighty-two  years.  The  second,  which  ends  at  the  destruction  of  Car- 
thage, contains  but  a  hundred  and  eighteen  years. 


*  A  mountebank  had  promised  the  citizens  of  Carthage,  to  discover  to  them  their  most  secret  thoughts, 
in  case  they  would  come,  on  a  day  appointed,  to  hear  him.  Being-  all  met,  he  told  them  they  were  desi- 
rous to  buy  cheap  and  sell  dear.  Every  man's  conscience  pleaded  guilty  to  the  charge  ;  and  the  mounte- 
bank was  dismissed  with  applause  and  laughter. — Vili  vultis  emere,  et  care  vendere  ;  in  quo  dicto  levi»- 
•imi  icenici  omnes  tamen  conscientias  invenerunt  suaf,  eiquo  vera  et  tamen  improvisa  disccnti  adminbili 
favore  plauierunt. — S.  August.  1.  xiii.  de  Trinit.  c.  * 

♦  Pint  de  Gen.  Rep.  p.  7»»».  ♦  Lib.  xxiJ.  n  «1. 


1^4  HISTORY  Of  THE 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  FOUNDATION  OF  CARTHAGE,  AND  ITS 
PROGRESS  TZZiI.  THE  TZ2MCE  OF  THE 
FIRST  FUNIC  WAR. 

Carthage,  in  Africa,  was  a  colony  from  Tyre,  the  most  renovvTied  city  at. 
that  time  for  commerce  in  the  world.  Tyre  had  long  before  transplantedf  an- 
other colony  into  that  country,  which  built  Utica,*  made  famous  by  the  death 
of  the  second  Cato,  who  for  this  reason  is  generally  called  Cato  Uticensis. 

Authors  disagree  very  much  with  regard  to  the  era  of  the  foundation  of 
Carthage. t  It  is  a  difficult  matter,  and  not  very  material,  to  reconcile  them  ; 
at  least,  agreeably  to  the  plan  laid  down  by  me,  it  is  sufficient  to  know,  within 
a  few  years,  the  time  in  which  that  city  was  built. 

Carthage  existed  a  little  above  seven  hundred  years.  J  It  was  destroyed  un* 
der  the  consulate  of  Cn.  Lentulus  and  L.  Mummius,  the  603d  year  of  Rome, 
3«59th  of  the  world,  and  145  before  Christ.  The  foundation  of  it  may  there- 
fore be  fixed  at  the  year  of  the  world  3158,  when  Joash  was  king  of  Judah, 
98  years  before  the  building  of  Rome,  and  846  before  our  Saviour. 

The  foundation  of  Carthage  is  ascribed  to  Elisa,  a  Tyrian  princess,  better 
known  by  the  name  of  Dido.§  Ithobal,  king  of  Tyre,  and  father  of  the  fa- 
mous Jezebel,  called  in  Scripture  Ethbaal,  was  her  great-grandfather.  She 
married  her  near  relation  Acerbas,  called  otherwise  Sicharbas  and  Sichaeus, 
an  extremeJy  rich  prince,  and  Pygmalion,  king  of  Tyre,  was  her  brother 
This  prince  having  put  Sichseus  to  death,  in  order  that  he  might  have  an  oppor 
(unity  of  seizing  his  immense  treasures.  Dido  eluded  the  cruel  avarice  of  her 
brother,  by  withdrawing  secretly  with  all  her  dead  husband's  possessions. 
After  having  long  wandered,  she  at  last  landed  on  the  coast  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean, in  the  gulf  where  Utica  stood,  and  in  the  country  of  Africa,  properly 
so  called,  distant  almost  fifteen  miles  from  Tunis,||  so  famous,  at  this  time,  for 
its  corsairs  ;  and  there  settled  with  her  few  followers,  after  having  purchased 
some  lands  from  the  inhabitants  of  the  country.  IF 

Many  of  the  neighbouring  people,  invited  by  the  prospect  of  lucre,  repaired 
thither  to  sell  to  these  foreigners  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  shortly  after  in- 
corporated themselves  with  them.  These  inhabitants,  who  had  been  thus 
gathered  from  different  places,  soon  grew  very  numerous.  The  citizens  of 
Utica,  considering  them  as  their  countrymen,  and  as  descended  from  the  same 
common  stock,  deputed  envoys  with  very  considerable  presents,  and  exhorted 
them  to  build  a  city  in  the  place  where  they  had  first  settled.  The  natives  of 
the  country,  from  the  esteem  and  respect  frequently  shown  to  strangers,  made 
them  the  like  offers.  Thus  all  things  conspiring  with  Dido's  views,  she  builn 
her  city,  which  was  appointed  to  pay  an  annual  tribute  to  the  Africans  for  the 


*  Utica  et  Carthago  ambae  inclytae,  ambae  a  Phoenicibus  conditae  ;  ilia  fato  Catonis  insignis,  haec  suo.— 
Pompon.  Mel,  c.  67.  Utica  and  Carthage  both  famous,  and  both  built  by  Phosnicians  ;  the  first  renowned 
by  Cato's  fate,  the  last  by  its  own. 

I  Our  countryman  Howel  endeavoured  to  reconcile  the  three  different  accounts  of  the  foundation  of  Car 
thage  in  the  following  manner.  He  says,  that  the  town  consisted  of  three  parts,  viz.  Cothon,  or  the  port 
•od  buildings  adjoining  to  it,  which  he  supposes  to  have  been  first  built ;  Megara,  built  next,  and  in  respect 
•f  Cothon  called  the  New  Town,  or  Karthada  ;  and  Byrsa,  or  the  citadel,  built  last  of  all,  and  probably 
by  Dido. 

Cothon,  to  agree  with  Appian,  was  built  fifty  years  before  the  taking  of  Troy ;  Megara,  to  correspond 
with  Eusfibius,  was  built  a  hundred  and  ninety-four  years  later;  Byrsa,  to  agree' with  Menandcr,  cited  by 
Josephus,  was  built  a  hundred  and  sixty-six  years  after  Megara. 

t  Liv.  Epit.  1.  li. 

5  Justin  1.  xviii.  c.  4,  5,  6.  App.  de  Bello  Pun.  p.  I.  gtrab.  1.  xvii.  p.  832.  Paterc.  1.  i  c.  6. 
I)  One  hundred  and  twenty  stadia. — Strab.  1.  xiv.  p.  &07. 
Some  authors  say,  that  Dido  put  a  trick  on  the  natives,  by  desiring  to  purchase  of  them,  for  her  ia 
tended  settlement,  only  so  much  land  as  an  ox's  hide  would  encompass.  The  request  was  thought  too  mo 
derate  to  be  denied.  She  then  cut  the  hile  into  the  smallest  thongs;  and  with  them  encompassed  a  large 
tract  ot  ground,  on  which  she  built  a  citadel,  called  Byrsa,  from  the  hide.  But  this  talc  of  the  hide  is  geu«- 
rally  exploded  by  the  learned  ;  who  obsei-ve,  that  the  Hebrew  word  Bosra,  which  signlfiej  a  fortificatioi^ 
f%v  rite  to  the  Greek  word  Byrsa,  which  is  the  name  of  fne  citadel  of  Cart^:a^2. 


CARTHAGINIANS 

ground  it  stood  upon,  and  called  it  Carthada,*  or  Carthage,  a  name  that  in  the 
Phoenician  and  Hebrew  tongues,  which  have  a  great  affinity,  signifies  the  New 
City.  It  is  said  that,  when  the  foundations  were  dug,  a  h9rse's  head  wai 
found,  which  was  thought  a  good  omen,  and  a  presage  of  the  future  warlike 
genius  of  that  people.t 

This  princess  was  afterwards  courted  by  larbas,  king  of  Getulia,  and  threat- 
ened with  a  war  in  case  of  refusal.  Dido,  who  had  bound  herself  by  an 
oath  not  to  consent  to  a  second  marriage,  being  incapable  of  violating  the  faith 
she  had  sworn  to  Sichseus,  desired  time  for  deliberation,  and  for  appeasing  the 
manes  of  her  first  husband  by  sacrifice.  Having,  therefore,  ordered  a  pile  to 
be  raised,  she  ascended  it ;  and  drawing  out  a  dagger  she  had  concealed  un- 
der her  robe,  stabbed  herself  with  it.J 

Vii^il  has  made  a  great  alteration  in  this  history,  by  supposing  that  -ZEneas, 
his  hero,  was  contemporary  with  Dido,  though  there  was  an  interval  of  neat 
three  centuries  between  the  one  and  the  other  :  the  era  of  the  building  of 
Carthage  being  fixed  three  hundred  years  later  than  the  destruction  of  Troy. 
This  liberty  is  very  excusable  in  a  poet,  who  is  not  tied  to  the  scrupulous  ac- 
curacy of  a  historian  ;  we  admire,  with  great  reason,  the  judgment  he  has 
shown  in  his  plan,  when,  to  interest  the  Romans  for  whom  he  wrote,  he  has 
the  art  of  introducing  the  implacable  hatred  which  subsisted  between  Car- 
thage and  Rome,  and  ingeniously  deduces  the  original  of  it  from  the  very  re- 
mote foundation  of  those  two  rival  cities. 

Carthage,  whose  beginnings,  as  we  have  observed,  were  veiy  weak,  grew 
larger  by  insensible  degrees,  in  the  country  where  it  was  founded.  But  its 
dominion  was  not  long  confined  to  Africa.  The  inhabitants  of  this  ambitious 
city  extended  their  conquests  into  Europe,  by  invading  Sardinia,  seizing  a 
great  part  of  Sicily,  and  reducing  almost  all  Spain ;  and  having  sent  pow- 
erful colonies  every  where,  they  enjoyed  the'  empire  of  the  seas  for  more  than 
six  hundred  years  ;  and  formed  a  state  which  was  able  to  dispute  pre-emi- 
nence with  the  greatest  em.pires  of  the  world,  by  their  wealth,  their  com- 
merce, their  numerous  armies,  their  formidable  fleets,  and  above  all,  by  the 
courage  and  ability  of  their  captains.  The  dates  and  circumstances  of  many 
of  these  conquests  are  little  known ;  1  shall  take  but  a  transient  notice  of  them, 
in  order  to  enable  my  readers  to  form  some  idta  of  the  countries,  which  will 
be  often  mentioned  in  the  course  of  this  history. 

CONQUESTS  OF  THE  CARTHAGINIANS  IN  AFRICA. 

The  first  wars  made  by  the  Carthaginians,  were  to  free  themselves  frora 
the  annua)  tribute  whi«h  they  had  engaged  to  piy  the  Africans,  for  the  terri- 


*  Kartha  Hadath,  or  Hadtha. 
\  ElTodere  loco  si^num,  quod  regia  Juno 
Monstrarat,  caput  acris  eqwi;  nam  sic  fore  bello 
Egregiam,  et  facilem  victu  per  secula,  gentem. 

Virg.  Mn.  1.  i.  44S. 

The  Tyrians  landing  near  this  holy  ground, 

And  digging  here,  a  prosperous  onrven  found: 

From  under  earth  a  courser's  head  they  drew. 

Their  growth  and  future  fortune  to  foreshew  ; 

This  fated  sign  their  foundress  Jano  gave. 

Of  a  soil  fruitful,  and  a  people  brave.  Dry  den. 

4  The  story,  as  it  is  told  more  at  large  in  Justin.  1.  xviii.  c.  6.  is  this.— larbas,  king  ©f  the  Maur-tanlant, 
•ending  for  ten  of  the  principal  Carthaginians,  demanded  Dido  in  marriage,  threatening  to  declare  war 
Rgainit  h«r  in  case  of  a  refusal.  The  ambassadors  being  afraid  to  deliver  .h^  message  of  larbas,  told  her, 
with  Punic  honesty,  that  he  wanted  to  have  some  person  sent  him,  who  was  capable  of  civilizino-  and  pol- 
ishins:  himself  and  his  Africans ;  but  that  there  was  no  possibility  of  finding  any  Carthaginian,  who  would 
be  willing  to  quit  his  native  place  and  kindred,  for  the  conversation  of  barbarians,  who  were  as  savage  as 
the  wildest  beasts.  Here  the  queen,  with  indignation,  interrupting  them,  and  asking  if  they  were  not 
ashamed  to  refuse  living  in  any  manner  which  might  be  beneficill  to  their  country,  to  which  they  owed 
even  their  lives  f  they  then  delivered  the  king's  message,  and  bade  her  set  them  a  pattern,  and  sacrifice 
herself  to  her  country's  welfare.  Dido  being  thus  ensared,  called  on  Sich»us  witk  tears  and  lamentation*, 
■ad  answered  that  she  would  go  where  the  fate  of  her  city  called  her.  At  the  expiration  of  thr«e  moBtke, 
•he  afcended  the  faUl  pile  ;  and  with  her  last  breath  told  the  soeetatcrs,  that  she  wm  f  oinr  to  her  hm^ 
»aad,  »•  they  had  ordered  her. 


imrroRY  of  the 

toiy  which  had  been  ceded  to  them.*  This  conduct  does  them  no  honour,  a 
the  settlement  was  granted  them  upon  condition  of  their  pajring  a  tributi 
One  would  be  ipt  to  iniagine,  that  they  were  desirous  of  covering  the  obscu 
rity  of  their  original  by  abolishing  this  proof  of  it.  But  they  were  not  sue 
cessful  on  this  occasion.  The  Africans  had  juetice  on  their  side,  and  thej 
prospered  accordingly,  the  war  being  terminated  by  the  payment  of  the  tribute 

The  Carthaginians  afterwards  carried  their  arms  against  the  Mocts  and  Nu- 
midians,  and  gained  many  conquests  over  both.t  Being  now  emboldened  hj 
these  happy  successes,  they  shook  off  entirely  the  tribute  which  gave  them  sc 
much  uneasiness,  and  possessed  themselves  of  a  great  part  of  Africa.J 

About  this  time  there  arose  a  great  dis-pute  between  Carthage  and  Cyrene, 
on  account  of  their  respective  limits. §  Cyrene  was  a  very  powerful  city,  situ- 
ated on  the  Mediterranean,  towards  the  greater  Syrtis,  and  had  been  built  by 
Battus  the  Lacedaemonian. 

It  was  agreed  on  each  side,  that  two  young  men  should  set  out  at  the  same 
time  from  each  city  ;  and  that  the  place  of  their  meeting  should  be  the  com- 
mon boundary  of  both  states.  The  Carthaginians  (these  were  two  brothers 
named  Philaeni)  made  the  most  haste  ;  and  their  antagonists,  pretending  thai 
foul  play  had  been  used,  and  that  the  two  brothers  above  mentioned  had  set 
out  before  the  time  appointed,  refused  to  stand  to  the  agreement,  unless  the 
two  brothers,  to  remove  all  suspicion  of  unfair  dealing,  would  consent  to  be 
buried  alive  in  the  place  where  they  had  met.  They  acquiesced  in  the  propo- 
sal, and  the  Carthaginians  erected,  on  that  spot,  two  altars  to  their  memories, 
and  paid  them  divine  honours  in  their  city,  and  from  that  time,  the  place  was 
called  the  Altars  of  the  Philaeni,  Arae  Philaenorum,||  and  served  as  the  boun- 
dary of  the  Carthaginian  empire,  which  extended  from  thence  to  the  pillars  oi 
Hercules. 

CONQUESTS  OF  THE  CARTHAGINIANS  IN  SARDINIA,  &C. 

History  does  not  inform  us  exactly,  either  of  the  time  when  the  Cartha 
ginians  entered  Sardinia,  or  of  the  manner  they  got  possession  of  it.  Thii 
island  was  of  great  use  to  them,  and  during  all  their  wars  supplied  them  abun- 
dantly  with  provisions. H  It  is  separated  from  Corsica  by  a  strait  of  about 
three  leagues  over.  The  metropolis  of  the  southern  and  most  fertile  part  ol 
it,  #as  Caralis,  or  Calaris,  now  called  Cagliari.  On  the  arrival  of  the  Car* 
thaginians,  the  natives  withdrew  to  the  mountains  in  the  northern  parts  of  the 
island,  which  are  almost  inaccessible,  and  whence  the  enemy  could  not  dis- 
lodge  them. 

The  Carthaginians  seized  likewise  on  the  Baleares,  now  called  Majorca  and 
Minorca.  Port  Magon,  in  the  latter  island,  was  so  called  from  Mago,  a  Car- 
thaginian general,  who  first  made  use  of,  and  fortified  it.  It  is  not  known  who 
this  Mago  was  ;  but  it  is  very  probable  that  he  was  flannibal's  brother  This 
harbour  is,  at  this  day,  one  of  the  most  considerable  in  the  Mediterranean. 

These  isles  furnished  the  Carthaginians  with  the  most  expert  slingers  in  the 
world,  who  did  them  great  service  in  battles  and  sieges.tt  They  slung  large 
stones  of  above  a  pound  weight ;  and  sometimes  threw  leaden  bullets with 
so  much  violence,  that  they  would  pierce  even  the  strongest  helmets,  shields, 
and  cuirasses  ;  and  were  so  dexterous  in  their  aim,  that  tbey  scarce  ever  miss- 
ed the  mark.    The  inhabitants  of  these  islands  were  accustomed  from  theif 


•  Junti^  1.  xix.  c.  1.  f  Justin.  1.  xix.  c.  2. 

t  Afri  compjlliatipendiuin  urbis  conditas  Carthac^inienslbus  remitterc. — Justin.  1.  xix.  e.  3. 
5  Sallust.  de  Bello  Jugurth.  n.  77.    Valer.  Max.  1.  r.  c.  6. 
D  These  p{i\wn  were  not  standing  in  Strabo*i  time.    Some  geographers  think  Arcadia  to  be  the  eMy 
which  was  ancientlj  called  Philaea^rum  Arae  ;  but  others  believe  it  was  Naina  or  Tain,  situated  a  littit 
west  of  Arcadia*  in  the  gulf  of  Sidra. 

IT  Slrab.  1.     p.  224.    Diod.  1.  v.  p.  296.  **  Liv.  1.  xxviii.  n.  37. 

tt  Diod.  1.  r.  n  298,  and  1.  xix.  p.  742.    Liy.  loco  citato, 
tt  Liquescit  excuts*  rlans  fundat  <t  attritu  ajiris  velnt  ijne,  distillat;  u  e.  The  ball,  when  thrown  fpHi 
lb«         distolTM;  tM.bj  the  fricl»B»f  the  air,  nios  as  lif  it  was  melted  kj  fire.—Scnee.  Kat.  Q,«Ml 


OARTHAGINIAXS. 


167 


mfn :'cy  to  handle  the  sling  ;  for  which  purpose  their  mothers  placed,  on  the 
lough  of  a  high  tree,  the  piece  of  bread  designed  for  their  children's  break- 
fast, who  were  not  allowed  a  morsel,  till  they  had  brought  it  down  with  their 
slinffs.  From  this  practice  these  islands  were  called  Baleares  and  Gymnasia 
by  the  Greeks  ;*  because  the  inhabitants  used  to  exercise  themselves  so  earl^ 
in  slinging  of  stones. t 

CONQUESTS  OF  THE  CARTHAGINIANS  IN  SPAIN. 

Before  I  enter  on  the  relation  of  these  conquests,  I  think  it  proper  to  give 
iny  readers  some  idea  of  Spain. 

Spain  is  divided  Into  three  parts,  Bcetica,  Lusitania,  Tarraconia.J 

Boetica,  so  called  from  the  river  Bc£tis,§  was  the  southern  division  of  it,  and 
comprehended  the  present  kingdom  of  Granada,  Andalusia,  part  of  New  Cas- 
tile, and  Estremadura.  Cadiz,  called  by  the  ancients  Gades  and  Gadira,  is  a 
town  situated  in  a  small  island  of  the  same  name,  on  the  western  coast  of  An- 
dalusia, about  nine  leagues  from  Gibraltar.  It  is  well  known  that  Hercules, 
having  extended  his  conquests  to  this  place,  halted  from  the  supposition  that 
he  was  come  to  the  extremity  of  the  w(^rld.||  He  here  erected  two  pillars  as 
monuments  of  his  victories,  pursuant  to  the  custom  of  that  age.  The  place 
has  always  retained  the  name,  though  time  has  quite  destroyed  these  pillars. 
Authors  are  divided  in  opinion,  with  regard  to  ih*t  place  where  these  pillars 
were  erected.  Bcetica  was  the  most  fruitful,  the  we_althiest,  and  the  most 
populous  part  of  Spain. IT  It  contained  two  hundred  cities,  and  was  inhabited 
by  the  Turdetani,  or  Turduli.  On  the  banks  of  the  Boetis  stood  three  large 
cities  ;  Castulo  towards  the  source  ;  Corduba  lower  down,  the  native  place  of 
Lucan  and  the  two  Senecas ;  lastly,  Hispalis,**  Lusitania,  is  bounded  on  the 
west  by  the  ocean,  on  the  north  by  the  river  Durius,tt  and  on  the  south  by  the 
river  Anas.t^  Between  these  two  rivers  is  the  Tagus.  Lusitania  was  what  is 
now  called  Portugal,  with  part  of  Old  and  New  Castile. 

Tarraconia  comprehended  the  rest  of  Spain,  that  is,  the  kingdoms  of  Mur- 
cia  and  Valentia,  Ca'.alonia,  Arragon,  Navarre,  Biscay,  the  Asturias,  Gallicia. 
the  kingdom  of  Leof.,  and  the  greatest  part  of  the  two  Castiles.  Tarraco,§§ 
a  very  considerable  city,  gave  its  name  to  that  part  of  Spain.  Pretty  near  it  lay 
Barcino.llll  Its  name  gave  rise  to  the  conjecture  that  it  was  built  by  Hamilcar, 
surnamed  Barcha,  father  of  the  great  Hannibal.  The  most  renowned  nations 
of  Tarraconia,  were  the  Celtiberi,  beyond  the  river  Iberus  ;1[ir  the  Cantabri, 
where  Biscay  now  lies ;  the  Carpetani,  whose  capital  was  Toledo ;  the  Ovi 
tani,  &c. 

Spain,  abounding  with  mines  of  gold  and  silver,  and  peopled  with  a  martial 
race  of  men,  had  sufficient  to  excite  both  the  avarice  and  ambition  of  the 
Carthaginians,  who  were  more  of  a  mercantile  than  of  a  warlike  disposition, 
from  the  very  genius  and  constitution  of  their  republic.  They  doubtless  knew 
that  their  Phoenician  ancestors,  as  Diodorus  rebates,*!  taking  advantage  of  the 
happy  ignorance  of  the  Spaniards  with  regard  to  the  immense  riches  which 

*  Strab.  I.  Hi.  p.  >67. 

f  Bochart  derives  the  name  of  these  islands  from  two  Phoenician  words,  Baal-jare,  or  master  in  the  art 
of  slinging.  This  strengthens  the  authority  of  Strabo,  viz.that  the  inhabitantBlearnt  their  art  from  the  Phos^ 
iiicians,  who  were  once  their  masters.  S(p£V$ovTiTai  a^taroi  Kijovrai — i^6rov  (polvixes  xaricryfiv  ras  vrjcrBf. 
And  this  is  still  more  probable,  when  we  consiiler  that  both  the  Hebrews  and  Phoenicians  excelled  in  thi» 
art.  The  Balearian  slings  would  annoy  an  enemy,  either  near  at  hand,  or  at  a  distance.  Every  slinger 
carried  three  of  them  in  war.  One  hung  from  the  neck,  a  second  from  the  waist,  and  a  third  was  carried 
in  the  hand.  To  this  give  me  leave  to  add  two  more  observations,  (foreign  indeed  to  the  present  purpose, 
but  relating  to  these  islands,)  which  I  hope  will  not  be  unentcrtainlng  to  the  reader.  The  first  is,  that  these 
islands  were  once  so  infested  with  rabbits,  that  the  inhabitants  applied  to  Rome,  either  for  aid  against 
them,  or  otherwise  desired  new  habitations,  ix€dXXf(r9at  7aj  vv6  twvJ'wcov  TaTWv,  those  creatures  having 
ejected  them  out  of  their  old  ones. — Vide.  Strab.  Plin.  1.  viii.  c.  55.  The  second  observation  is,  that  these 
islanders  were  not  only  expert  slingers,  but  likewise  excellent  swimmers  ;  which  they  are  to  this  day,  by 
the  tegtimony  of  our  countryman  Biddulph,  who,  in  his  Travels,  informs  us,  that  being  becalmed  near  th«M 
wlaadt,  a  woman  swam  to  a'jn  out  of  one  of  them,  with  a  basket  of  fruit  to  sell. 

i  Chtrw.  1.  ii.  c.  2.         \  Guadalquivir.         ||  Strab.  1.  iii.  p.  171.  IT  Ibid.  p.  »»— l«l> 

*♦  Seville.  If  Duero.  Xt  Guadiana.  {5  Tairagooa. 

II  BarceUna.  VK  Ebro.  *f  Uh.  r,  p.  3n. 


U10TORY  OF  THE 

were  hid  in  the  bowels  of  their  land,  first  took  from  therrj  these  precious  trea 
sures  in  exchange  for  commodities  of  little  value.    They  likewise  foresaw, 
that  if  they  coirfd  once  subdue  this  country,  it  would  furnish  them  abundantly 
with  well  disciplined  troops  for  the  conquests  of  other  nations,  as  actually  hap- 
pened. 

^  The  occasion  of  the  Carthaginians  first  landing  in  Spain,  was  to  assist  the 
inhabitants  of  Cadiz,  who  were  invaded  by  the  Spaniards.*  That  city,  as 
well  as  Utica  and  Carthage,  was  a  colony  of  Tyre,  and  even  more  ancient 
than  either  of  them.  The  Tyrians  having  built  it,  established  there  the  wor- 
ship of  Hercules ;  and  erected  in  his  honour  a  magnificent  temple,  which  be- 
came famous  in  after  ages.  The  success  of  this  first  expedition  of  the  Car- 
thaginians, made  them  desirous  of  carrying  their  arms  into  Spain. 

It  is  not  exactly  known  in  what  period  they  entered  Spain,  nor  how  far  they 
extended  their  first  conquests.  It  is  probable  that  these  were  slow  in  the 
beginning,  as  the  Carthaginians  had  to  do  with  very  warlike  nations,  who  de- 
fended themselves  with  great  resolution  and  courage.  Nor  could  they  ever 
have  accomplished  their  design,  as  Strabo  observes,!  had  the  Spaniards,  united 
in  a  body,  formed  but  one  state,  and  mutually  assisted  one  another.  But  as 
every  district,  every  people,  were  entirely  detached  from  their  neighbours,  and 
had  not  the  least  correspondence  nor  connexion  with  them,  the  Carthaginians 
were  forced  to  subdue  them  one  after  another.  This  circumstance  occasioned, 
on  one  hand,  the  loss  of  Spain ;  but  on  the  other,  protracted  the  war,  ana 
made  the  conquest  of  the  country  much  more  difficult  ;J  accordingly,  it  has 
been  observed,  that  though  Spain  was  the  first  province  which  the  Romans 
invaded  on  the  continent,  it  was  the  last  they  subdued  ;§  and  was  not  en^'rei)'' 
subjected  to  their  power,  till  after  having  made  a  vigorous  opposition  for  up- 
wards of  two  hundred  years. 

It  appears  from  the  accounts  given  by  Polybius  and  Livy,  of  the  wars  of 
Hamilcar,  Asdrubal,  and  Hannibal  in  Spain,  which  will  soon  ht  mentioned, 
that  the  arms  of  the  Carthaginians  had  not  made  any  considerable  progies.s  \i\ 
that  country  before  that  period,  and  that  the  greatest  part  of  Spain  was  then 
unconquered.  But  in  twenty  years  time  they  completed  the  conquest  of  al" 
most  the  whole  country. 

At  the  time  that  Hannibal  set  out  for  Italy,  all  the  coast  of  Africa,  from  the 
Philaenorum  Arae,  by  the  great  Syrtis,  to  the  pillars  of  Hercules,  was  subject 
to  the  Carthaginians.il  Passing  through  the  strait,  they  had  conquered  all  the 
western  coast  of  Spain,  along  the  ocean,  as  far  as  the  Pyrenean  hills.  The 
coast  which  lies  on  the  Mediterranean  had  been  almost  wholly  subdued  by 
them ;  and  it  was  there  they  had  built  Carthagena,  and  they  were  masters  oT 
all  the  country,  as  far  as  the  river  Iberus,  which  bounded  their  dominions. 
Such  was  at  that  time  the  extent  of  their  empire.  In  the  centre  of  the  coun- 
try, some  nations  had  indeed  held  out  against  all  their  efforts,  and  could  not  be 
subdued  by  them. 

CONQUESTS  OF  THE  CARTHAGINIA^:S  IN  SICILY. 

The  wars  which  the  Carthaginians  carried  on  in  Sicily  are  more  known.  1 
shall  here  relate  those  which  were  waged  from  the  reign  of  Xerxes,  who  first 
prompted  the  Carthaginians  to  carry  their  arms  into  Sicily,  till  the  first  Punic 
war.  This  period  includes  near  two  hundred  andtw^enty  years,  viz,  from  the 
y  ear  of  the  world  3520  to  3738.  At  the  breaking  out  of  these  wars,  Syra 
cusc,  the  most  considerable  as  well  as  most  powerfiil  city  of  Sicily,  had  in- 
Testf;d  Gelon,  Hiero,  arid  Thrasybulus,  three  brothel's  who  succeeded  one 


*  Justin.  1.  xliv.  c.  5.    Diod.  1.  v.  p.  300.  t  Lib.  iii.  p.  15^ 

X  Such  a  division  of  Britain  retarded,  and  at  the  »ani3  time  facilitated  the  conquest  of  it  to  the  Romans. 

Dum  tinguli  pugnant,  universi  vincuntur. — Tacit. 
I  Uisjpania  prima  Romanis  inita  Provinciarum  quas  qis  dem  contiaent's  »\ni,  rostrema  omnium  pei 

•tt.— Lit.  1.  xxv'm,  o.  13. 

ij  Polyb.  1.  iii,  p  192.  1.  i.  p  9. 


CART  4  AGIN  IAN' 6. 


ftnother,  with  a  sovereign  power.  After  their  deathf^,  a  democracy,  or  popular 
government  was  established  in  that  city,  and  subsisted  above  sixty  years. 
From  this  time  the  two  Dionysiuses,  Timoleon  and  Agathocles,  bore  the  sway 
in  Syracuse.  Pyrrhus  was  afterwards  invited  into  Sicily,  but  he  kept  pos- 
session of  it  only  a  few  years.  Such  was  the  government  of  Sicily  during  the 
wars  of  wl\ich  I  am  about  to  treat.  They  will  give  us  great  light  with  regard 
to  the  pcwer  of  the  Carthaginians  at  the  time  that  they  began  to  be  engaged 
in  war  wi til  the  Romans.  . 

Sicily  is  the  largest  and  most  considerable  island  in  the  Mediterranean.  It 
is  of  a  triangular  tonn,  and  for  that  reason  was  called  Trinacria  and  Trique- 
tra.  The  eastern  side,  wtiicii  faces  the  Ionian  or  Grecian  sea,  extends  from 
Cape  Pachynum*  to  Pelorum.t  The  most  celebrated  cities  on  this  coast  are 
Syracuse,  Tauromenium,  andMessana.  The  northern  coast,  which  looks  to- 
wards Italy,  reaches  from  Cape  Pelorum  to  Cape  Lilybaeum.];  The  lllO.^L  111'- 
ted  cities  on  this  coast  are  Mylae,  Hymera,  Panormus,  Eryx,  Motya,  Lily- 
baeum.  The  southern  coast,  which  lies  opposite  to  Africa,  extends  from  Cape 
Lilybaeum  to  Pachynum.  The  most  remarkable  cities  on  this  coast  are  SeJi- 
nus,  Agrigentum,  Gela,  and  Camarina.  This  island  is  separated  from  Italy 
by  a  strait,  which  is  not  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half  over,  and  called  the  Faro, 
or  Strait  of  Messina,  from  its  contiguity  to  that  city.  The  passage  from  Lily- 
baeum to  Africa§  is  about  1500  furlongs,  that  is  about  seventy-five  leagues.il 

The  period  in  which  the  Carthaginians  first  carried  their  arms  into  Sicily 
not  exactly  known.ll  All  we  are  certain  of  is,  that  they  were  already  pos- 
sessed of  some  part  of  it  at  the  time  that  they  entered  into  a  treaty  with  the- 
Romans  ;  the  same  year  that  the  kings  were  expelled,  and  consuls  appointed 
m  their  room,  viz.  twenty-eight  years  before  Xerxes  invaded  Greece.  This 
treaty,  which  is  the  first  we  find  mentioned  to  have  been  made  between  these 
t\^5o  nations,  speaks  of  Africa  and  Sardinia  as  possessed  by  the  Carthaginians  ; 
whereas  the  conventions,  with  regard  to  Sicily,  relate  only  to  those  parts  of 
the  island  which  were  subject  to  them.  By  this  treaty  it  is  expressly  sflpn 
lated,  that  neither  the  Romans  nor  their  allies  shall  sail  beyond  the  Fair  Pro- 
montory,** which  was  very  near  Carthage  ;  and  that  such  merchants  as  shall 
resort  to  this  city  for  traffic,  shall  pay  only  certain  duties,  as  are  settled  in  it.tl 

It  appears  by  the  same  treaty,  that  the  Carthaginians  were  particularly 
careful  to  exclude  the  Romans  from  all  the  countries  subject  to  them,  as  well 
as  from  the  knowledge  of  what  was  transacting  in  them  ;  as  though  the  Car- 
thaginians, even  at  that  time,  had  taken  umbrage  at  the  rising  power  of  tlie 
Romans,  and  already  harboured  in  their  breasts  the  secret  seeds  of  jealousy 
and  distrust,  that  were  one  day  to  burst  out  in  long  and  cruel  wars,  and  a  mu- 
tual hatred  and  animosity,  which  nothing  could  extinguish  but  the  ruin  of  one 
of  the  contending  powers. 

Some  years  after  the  conclusion  of  this  first  treaty,  the  Carthaginians  made 
an  alliance  with  Xerxes  king  of  Persia.JJ  This  prince,  who  aimed  at  nothing 
less  than  the  total  extirpation  of  the  Greeks,  whom  he  considered  as  his  irre- 
concileable  enemies,  thought  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  succeed  in  \m 
enterprise  without  the  assistance  of  Carthage,  whose  power  was  formidable 
even  at  that  time.  The  Carthaginians,  who  always  kept  in  view  the  design 
they  entertained  of  seizing  upon  the  remainder  of  Sicily,  eagerly  embraced 
th«  favourable  opportunity  which  now  presented  itself  ifor  completing  the  re- 

•  Tz-isaro.  t  II  Faro.  X  Cape  Bo^o.  5  Strabo,  1.  vi.  p.  267. 

Q  Th  »  is  Strabo's  calculation:  but  there  must  be  a.inistake  in  the  numera.  characters,  and  what  he  Im- 
■»e^5£.t«ly  subjoins,  is  a  proof  of  this  mistake.  He  says,  that  a  man,  whose  eve-sig-ht  was  g-ood,  mighV 
from  th<  coast  of  Sicily,  count  the  vessels  that  carae  out  of  the  port  of  Carihag-e.  Is  it  possible  thaMh* 
•ye  cat.  carry  so  far  as  60  or  75  leagues  ?  This  passage  of  Strabo,  therefore,  must  be  thus  corrected.  Th« 
passagn  from  Talybasum  to  Africa,  is  only  25  leagues. 

IT  A  M.  3501.   A.  Garth.  S43.   Rome,  245.   Ant.  J.  C.  503.   Polvb.  1.  iii.  p.  245.  et  seq.  Edit.  Gronov. 
The  reason  of  this  restaint,  according  to  Polybius,  was,  the  unwillingness  of  the  Carthaginians  to  Uf 
tlie  Komans  have  any  knowledge  of  the  countries  which  lay  more  to  the  south,  in  order  that  thii  enterpriv 
'm§  people  might  not  hear  of  th«ir  fertility — Polyb.  1.  iii.  p.  247.    Edit.  Grtwiov. 

tt  Polyb.  1.  iii.  p.  24S.  fi  A.  M  3520.    Ant  J.  C.  484.    Diod.  1.  xi.  p.  1,  16,  ot  79 

8 


170 


HISTORY  OF  TUB 


duction  of  it  A  treaty  was  therefore  concluded,  wherein  it  was  agreed  that 
the  Carthaginians  were  to  invade,  with  all  their  forces,  those  Greeks  who 
were  settled  in  Sicily  and  Italy,  while  Xerxes  should  march  in  person  against 
Greece  itself. 

The  preparations  for  this  war  lasted  three  years.  The  land  army  amounted 
to  no  less  than  three  hundred  thousand  men.  The  fleet  consisted  of  two  thc  L> 
sand  ships  of  war,  and  upwards  of  three  thousand  small  vessels  of  burden. 
Hamilcar,  the  most  experienced  captain  of  his  age,  sailed  from  Carthage  with 
tb's  formidable  army.  He  landed  at  Palermo,*  and,  after  refreshing  his 
troops,  he  marched  against  Hymera,  a  city  not  far  distant  from  Palermo,  and 
laid  siege  to  it.  Theron,  who  commanded  in  it,  seeing  himself  very  much 
straitened,  sent  to  Gelon,  who  had  possessed  himself  of  Syracuse.  He  flew  im- 
mediately to  his  relief  with  fifty  thousand  foot,  and  five  thousand  horse.  His 
arrival  infused  new  courage  into  the  besieged,  who,  from  that  time,  made  a 
very  vigorous  defence. 

Gelon  was  an  able  warrior,  and  excelled  in  stratagems.  A  courier  was 
brought  to  him,  who  had  been  despatched  from  Selinuntum,  a  city  of  Sicily, 
with  a  letter  for  Hamilcar,  to  inform  him  of  the  day  when  he  might  expect 
the  cavaliy,  which  he  had  requested.  Gelon  drew  out  an  equal  number  of 
his  own  troops,  and  sent  them  from  his  camp  about  the  time  agreed  on. 
These  being  admitted  into  the  enemy's  camp,  as  coming  from  Selinuntum, 
rushed  upon  Hamilcar,  killed  him,  and  set  fire  to  his  ships.  In  this  critical 
conjuncture,  Gelon  attacked  with  all  his  forces  the  Carthaginians,  who  at  first 
nf/ade  a  gallant  resistance.  But  when  the  news  of  their  general's  death  was 
b/ought  them,  and  they  saw  all  their  fleet  in  a  blaze,  their  courage  failed  them, 
and  they  fled.  And  now  a  dreadful  slaughter  ensued  ;  upwards  of  a  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  being  slain.  The  rest  of  the  army,  having  retired  to  a 
place  where  they  were  in  want  of  every  thing,  could  not  make  a  long  defence, 
and  were  forcea  to  surrender  at  discretion.  This  battle  was  fought  on  the 
very  day  of  the  famous  action  of  Thermopylae,  in  which  three  hundred  Spar- 
tans,t  with  the  sacrifice  of  their  lives,  disputed  Xerxes's  entrance  into  Greece. 

When  the  sad  news  was  brought  to  Carthage  of  the  entire  defeat  of  the  ar- 
my, consternation,  grief,  and  despair,  threw  the  whole  city  into  such  a  confu- 
sion and  alarm  as  are  not  to  be  expressed.  It  was  imagined  that  the  enem}' 
was  already  at  the  gates.  The  Carthaginians,  in  great  reverses  of  fortune, 
always  lost  their  courage,  and  sunk  into  the  opposite  extreme.  Immediately 
they  sent  a  deputation  to  Gelon,  by  which  they  desired  peace  upon  any  terms. 
He  heard  their  envoys  with  great  humanity.  The  complete  victory  he  had 
Rained,  so  far  from  making  him  haughty  and  untractable,  had  only  increased 
his  modesty  and  clemency  even  towards  the  enemy.  He  therefore  granted 
them  a  peace  without  any  other  condition  than  their  paying  two  thousand 
talentsj  towards  the  expense  of  the  war.  He  likewise  required  them  to  build 
<wo  temples,  where  the  treaty  of  this  peace  should  be  deposited,  and  exposed 
at  all  times  to  public  view.  The  Carthaginians  did  not  think  this  a  dear 
purchase  of  a  peace,  that  was  so  absolutely  necessary  to  their  affairs,  and 
which  they  hardly  durst  hope  for.  Cisco,  the  son  of  Hamilcar,  pursuant  to 
(he  unjust  custom  of  the  Carthaginians,  of  ascribing  to  the  general  the  ill  suc- 
cess of  a  war,  and  making  him  bear  the  blame  of  it,  was  punished  for  his 
father's  misfortune,  and  sent  into  banishment.  He  passed  the  remainder  of  his 
days  at  Selinuntum,  a  city  of  Sicily. 

Gelon,  on  his  return  to  Syracuse,  convened  the  peoplt,  and  invited  all  the 
citizens  to  appear  under  arms.  He  himself  entered  the  assembly, unarmed, 
and  without  his  guards,  and  there  gave  an  account  of  the  whole  conduct  of  his 


♦  This  city  is  called  in  Latin  Panormus. 
t  Bcsidei  the  300  Spartans,  the  Tliessians,  a  people  of  Boeotia,  to  the  number  of  700,  fought  and  AieA 
with  Leonidas  in  this  memorable  battle — Herod.  1.  vii.  c.  202 — 222. 
i  An  Attir  silver  talent,  aecording  to  Dr.  Bernard,  is  L.'206  5a.  consequentlj  9000  talents  it  L.4l!S.fiOt 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


171 


•|fo  His  speech  met  witn  no  other  interruption  than  the  public  testimonies 
wrhich  were  given  him  of  gratitude  and  admiration.  So  far  from  being  treated 
AS  a  tyrant,  and  the  oppressor  of  his  country's  liberty,  he  was  considered  as 
its  benefactor  and  deliverer;  with  a  unanimous  voice,  proclaimed  him 
King  ;  and  the  crown  was  bestowed,  after  his  death,  on  his  two  brothers. 

After  the  memorable  defeat  of  the  Athenians  before  Syracuse,*  where  Nicias 
perislied  with  his  whole  fleet,  the  Segestans,  who  had  declared  in  favour  of 
the  Atheruans  against  the  Syracusans,  fearing  the  resentment  of  their  enemies, 
and  being  attacked  by  the  inhabitants  of  Selinuntum,  implored  the  aid  of  the 
Carthaginians,  and  put  themselves  and  city  under  their  protection.  At  Car- 
thage, the  people  debated  some  time  what  course  would  be  proper  for  them 
to  take,  the  affair  meeting  with  great  difficulties.  On  one  hand,  the  Cartha- 
ginians were  very  desirous  to  possess  themselves  of  a  city,  which  lay  so  con- 
venient for  them  ;  o.^  the  other,  they  dreaded  the  powers  and  forces  of  Syra- 
cuse, which  had  so  lately  cut  to  pieces  a  numerous  army  of  the  Athenians,  and 
become,  by  so  splendid  a  victory  more  formidable  than  ever.  At  last  the  lust 
of  empire  prevailed,  and  the  Segestans  were  promised  succours. 

The  conduct  of  this  war  was  committed  to  Hannibal,  who  at  that  time  was 
invested  with  the  highest  dignity  of  the  state,  being  one  of  the  sufFetes.  He 
was  grandson  of  Hamilcar,  who  had  been  defeated  by  Gelon,  and  killed  be- 
fore Hymera,  and  son  of  Gisco,  who  had  been  condemned  to  exile.  He  left 
Carthage,  animated  with  an  ardent  desire  of  revenging  his  family  and  coun- 
try, and  of  wiping  away  the  disgrace  of  the  last  defeat.  He  had  a  very  great 
army,  as  well  as  fleet,  under  his  command.  He  landed  at  a  place  called  the 
Well  of  Lilybceum^  which  gave  its  name  to  a  city,  afterwards  built  on  the  same 
spot.  His  first  enterprise  was  the  siege  of  Selinuntum.  The  attack  and 
defence  were  equally  vigorous,  the  very  women  showing  a  resolution  and 
bravery  above  their  sex.  The  city,  after  making  a  long  resistance,  was  taken 
by  storm,  and  the  plunder  of  it  abandoned  to  the  soldiers.  The  victor  exer- 
cised the  most  horrid  cruelties,  without  showing  the  least  regard  either  to 
2ge  or  sex.  He  permitted  such  inhabitants  as  had  fled,  to  return  to  the  city 
after  it  had  been  dismantled,  and  to  till  the  lands,  on  condition  of  their  paying 
a  tribute  to  the  Carthaginians.  This  city  had  been  built  two  hundred  and 
forty-two  years. 

Hymera,  which  he  next  besieged  and  took  likewise  by  storm,  after  being 
more  cruelly  treated  than  Selinuntum,  was  entirely  razed,  two  hundred  and 
forty  years  from  its  foundation.  He  forced  three  thousand  prisoners  to  undergo 
every  kind  of  ignominious  punishment,  and  at  last  murdered  them  on  the  very 
spot,  where  his  grandfather  had  been  killed  by  Gelon's  cavalry,  to  appease 
and  satisfy  his  manes  by  the  blood  of  these  unhappy  victims. 

These  expeditions  being  ended,  Hannibal  returned  to  Carthage,  on  which 
occasion  the  whole  city  came  out  to  meet  him,  and  received  him  with  the 
most  joyful  acclamations. 

These  successes  re-inflamed  the  desire,  and  revived  the  design  which  the 
Carthaginians  had  ever  entertained,  of  making  themselves  masters  of  all  Si- 
ciiy.t  Three  years  after,  they  appointed  Hannibal,  their  general  a  second 
time,  and  on  his  pleading  his  great  age,  and  refusing  the  command  of  this  war, 
they  gave  him  for  lieutenant,  Imilcon,  son  of  Hanno,  of  the  same  family.  Tiie 
preparations  for  this  war  were  proportioned  to  the  great  design  which  the  Car 
thaffinians  had  formed.  The  fleet  and  army  were  soon  ready,  and  set  out  for 
Sicily.  The  number  of  their  forces,  according  to  Timaeus,  amounted  to  above 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand,  and  according  toEphorus,  to  three  hundred 
thousand  men.  The  enemy  on  their  side,  were  prepared  to  give  the  Car- 
thaginians a  warm  reception.  The  Syracusans  had  sent  to  all  their  allies,  in 
order  to  levy  forces  among  them,  and  to  all  the  cities  of  Sicily  to  exhort  then) 
10  exert  themselves  vigorously  in  defence  of  their  liberties. 


••AM.  S592     A.Canh.  434.    A.  Rome,  338.    Ant.  J.  C.  412.    Diod.  1.  xiii.  p.  159  -171,  iTf-^lt*. 

t  Diod.  1  xiii.  p.  301—203,  206— "211,  22^  231. 


172 


msiORT  OF  TWE 


Agri^entum  expected  to  feel  the  first  fury  of  the  enemy.  This  city  was 
immensely  rich,*  and  strongly  fortified.  It  was  situated",  as  were  Hymera, 
aod  Selinuntum,  on  that  coast  of  Sicily  which  faces  Africa.  Accordingly, 
Hannibal  opened  the  campaign  with  the  siege  of  this  city.  Imagining  that  it 
was  impregnable  except  on  one  side,  he  directed  his  whole  force  to  that  quar- 
ter. He  threw  up  banks  and  terraces  as  high  as  the  walls,  and  made  use. 
on  this  occasion,  of  the  rubbish  and  fragments  of  the  tombs  standing  round  the 
city,  which  he  had  demolished  for  that  purpose.  Soon  after,  the  plague  in- 
fected the  army,  and  swept  away  a  great  number  of  the  soldiers,  and  the  gene- 
ral himself.  The  Carthaginians  interpreted  this  disaster  as  a  punishment  in- 
flicted by  the  gods,  who  revenged  in  this  manner  the  injuries  done  to  the 
dead,  whose  ghosts  many  fancied  they  had  seen  stalking  before  them  in  the 
night.  No  more  tombs  were  therefore  demolished  ;  prayers  were  ordered  to 
be  made,  according  to  the  practice  of  Carthage  ;  a  child  was  sacnficed  to 
Saturn,  in  compliance  with  a  most  inhumanly  superstitious  custom  ;  and  many 
victims  were  thrown  into  the  sea  in  honour  of  Neptune. 

The  besieged,  who  at  first  had  gained  several  advantages,  were  at  last  so 
pressed  by  famine,  that  all  hopes  of  relief  seeming  desperate,  they  resolved 
to  abandon  the  city.  The  following  night  was  fixed  on  for  this  purpose.  The 
reader  will  naturally  imagine  to  himself  the  grief  with  which  these  miserable 
people  must  be  seized,  on  their  being  forced  to  leave  their  houses,  Iheir  rich 
possessions,  and  their  country  ;  but  life  was  still  dearer  to  them  than  all  these. 
Never  was  a  more  melancholy  spectacle  seen.  To  omit  the  rest,  a  crowd  of 
women,  bathed  in  tears,  were  seen  dragging  after  them  their  helpless  infants, 
in  order  to  secure  them  from  the  brutal  fuiy  of  the  victor.  But  the  most 
g'rievous  circumstance,  was  the  necessity  they  were  under  of  leaving  behind 
them  the  aged  and  sick,  who  were  unable  either  to  fly  or  to  make  the  least 
resistance.  The  unhappy  exiles  arrived  at  Gela,  which  was  the  nearest  city 
m  their  way,  and  there  received  all  the  comforts  they  could  expect  in  the  de- 
plorable condition  to  which  they  were  reduced. 

In  the  mean  lime  Imilcon  entered  the  city,  and  murdered  all  who  were 
found  in  it.  The  plunder  was  immense,  and  such  as  might  be  expected  from 
one  pf  the  most  opulent  cities  of  Sicily,  which  contained  two  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  had  never  been  besieged,  nor  consequently  plundered  before. 
A  numberless  multitude  of  pictures,  vases  and  statues  of  all  kinds  were  found 
here,  the  citizens  having  an  exquisite  taste  for  the  polite  arts.  Among  other 
curiosities,  was  the  famous  bullj  of  Phalaris,  which  was  sent  to  Carthage. 

The  siege  of  Agrigentum  had  lasted  eight  months.  Imilcon  made  his 
forces  take  up  their  winter  quarters  in  it,  to  give  them  the  necessary  refresh- 
ment ;  and  left  this  city,  aftei  laying  it  entirely  in  ruins,  in  the  beginning  of 
the  spring.  He  afterwards  besie^d  Gela,  and  took  it,  notwithstanding  the 
succours  which  were  brought  by  Dionysius  the  Tyrant,  who  had  seized  upon 
the  government  of  Syracuse.  Imilcon  ended  the  war  by  a  treaty  with  Diony- 
6ius.  The  conditions  of  it  were,  that  the  Carthaginians,  besides  their  ancient 
acquisitions  in  Sicily,  should  still  possess  the  country  of  the  Sicanians,J  Seli- 
nuntum,  Agrigentum,  and  Hymera  ;  as  likewise  that  of  Gela  and  Camarina, 
with  leave  for  the  inhabitants  to  reside  in  their  respective  disnfiantled  cities, 


*  The  very  sepulchral  monuments  showed  the  magnificence  and  luxury  of  this  city,  they  bemg-  adorncl 
with  statues.*of  birds  and  horses.  But  the  wealth  and  boundless  a:enerosity  of  Gelliar,  one  of  its  inhabit- 
ants, is  almost  incredible.  He  entertained  the  people  with  spectacles  and  feasts;  and,  during  a  famine, 
prevented  the  citizens  from  dying  with  hurv^er;  he  gave  portions  to  poor  maidens,  and  rescued  the  unfor 
tunate  from  want  and  despair ;  he  had  built  houses  in  the  city  and  country,  purposely  for  the  accommodation 
of  strangers,  svhom  he  usually  dismissed  with  handsome  presents.  Five  hundred  ship-wrecked  citizen! 
of  Gela,  applying  to  him,  were  bountifully  relieved,  and  every  man  s-.rpplied  with  a  cloak  and  coat  out  of 
his  wardrobe. — Died.  1.  xiii.  Valer.  Max.  1.  iv.  c.  ult.  Kmpedocles  the  philosopher,  born  in  Agrigentum, 
^  hat  a  memorable  saying  concerning  his  fellow-citizens,  that  the  Agrigentines  squandered  tneir  money  m 
errf-sfiively  everjr  day,  as  if  they  expected  it  could  never  be  exhausted  ;  and  built  with  such  solidity  Rnd 
meLfrnifice.nee,  as  if  they  thought  they  should  live  for  ever. 

I  r»ii»  bull,  with  other  spoils  here  taken,  Avas  afterwards  restored  to  the  Agrigcntinei  by  Scipio,  wh«a 
he  took  Cartbfti^e,  in  the  th'rd  Punic  war. — Cic.  1.  iv.  in  Verrem,  c.  33. 

1  The  Stcaniant  aifid  Siciliahs  were  anciently  two  distiijc^  p«opI-9. 


CARTHAOmiANB 


173 


on  condition  of  'h^^h*  paying-  a  tribute  to  Carthage :  that  the  Leontines,  the  Mcs- 
senians,  and  all  the  iSici!  ai^^  sbonld  retain  their  own  laws,  aud  Dreserv€ 
their  liberty  and  independence  ,  las^y,  that  the  Syracusans  shouM  sii/i  con- 
tinue subject  to  Dionysius.  After  this  treaty  was  concluded,  Imilcon  returned 
to  Carthage,  where  the  plague  still  made  dreadful  havoc. 

Dionysius  had  concluded  the  late  peace  with  the  Carthaginians,  with  no 
other  view  than  to  get  time  to  establish  his  new  authority,  and  make  the  neces- 
sary preparations  for  the  war  which  he  meditated  agaii:ist  them.*  As  he  was 
very  sensible  how  formidable  these  people  were,  he  used  his  utmost  endea- 
vours to  enable  himself  to  invade  them  with  success,  and  his  design  was  won- 
derfully we'i  seconded  by  the  zeal  of  his  subjects.  The  fame  of  this  prince, 
(he  Jbtrong  desire  he  had  to  distinguish  himself,  the  charms  of  gain,  and  th« 
prospect  of  the  rewards  which  he  promised  those  who  should  show  the  greatest 
industry,  invited  from  all  quarters  into  Sicily,  the  most  able  artists  and  work- 
men at  that  time  in  the  world.  All  Syracuse  now  became  in  a  manner  an  im- 
mense work-shop,  in  every  part  of  which  men  were  seen  making  swords,  hel- 
mets, shields,  and  military  engines ;  and  preparing  all  things  necessary  for 
building  ships  and  fitting  out  fleets.  The  invention  of  vessels  w  ith  five  benches 
of  oars  (or  gtimquer ernes,)  was  at  tbst  time  very  recent ;  for,  till  then,  those 
with  three  alone  had  been  used.j 

Dionysius  animated  the  workmen  by  his  presence,  and  by  the  applauses  he 
gave,  and  the  bounty  Vv  hich  he  bestowed  seasonably  ;  but  chiefly  by  his  popular 
and  engaging  behaviour,  which  excited,  more  strongly  than  any  other  conduct, 
the  industry  and  ardour  of  the  workmen, J;  the  most  excellent  of  whom,  in  every 
art,  had  frequently  tne  honour  to  dine  wi^h  him. 

When  all  things  were  ready,  and  a  great  number  of  forces  had  been  levied 
in  different  countries,  he  called  the  Syracusans  together,  laid  his  designs  before 
them,  and  represented  to  them  that  the  Carthaginians  w^erethe  professed  ene- 
mies of  the  Greeks :  that  they  had  no  less  in  view  than  the  invasion  of  all 
Sicily  ;  the  subjectingof  all  the  Grecian  cities  ;  and  that,  in  case  their  progress 
was  not  checked,  the  Syracusans  themselves  would  soon  be  attacked  ;  that  the 
reason  why  the  Carthaginians  did  not  attempt  any  enterprise,  and  continued 
inactive,  was  owing  entirely  to  the  dreadful  havoc  made  by  the  plague  among 
them,  which,  he  observed,  w^as  a  favourable  opportunity  for  the  Syracusans 
Though  the  tyranny  and  the  tyrant  were  equally  odious  to  Syracuse,  yet  the 
hatred  the  people  bore  to  the  Carthaginians,  prevailed  over  all  other  consider- 
ations, and'every  one,  guided  more  by  the  views  of  an  interested  policy,  than 
by  the  dictates  of  justice,  received  the  speech  with  applause.  Upon  this, 
without  the  least  complaint  made,  or  any  declaration  of  war,  Dionysius  gave 
up  to  the  fuiy  of  the  populace,  the  persons  and  possessions  of  the  Carthaginians 
Great  numbers  of  them  resided  at  that  time  in  Syracuse,  and  traded  there  on 
the  faith  of  treaties.  The  common  people  ran  to  their  houses,  plundered  their 
effects,  and  pretended  they  were  sufficiently  authorized  to  exercise  every  ig  no- 
miny,  and  inflict  every  kind  of  punishment  on  them,  for  the  cruelties  they  had 
exercised  against  the  natives  of  the  country.  And  this  horrid  example  of  per- 
fidy and  inhumanity  was  followed  throughout  the  whole  island  of  Sicily.  This 
was  the  bloody  signal  of  the  war  which  was  declared  against  them.  Diony 
sius  having  thus  begun  to  do  himself  justice,  (in  his  way,)  sent  deputies  to 
Cartb^-ge,  to  require  them  to  restore  all  the  Sicilian  cities  to  their  liberties  , 
and  that  otherwise  all  the  Cartliaginians  found  in  ^hem  should  be  treated  as 
enemies.  This  news  spread  a  general  alarm  in  Carthajre,  especially  when 
they  reflected  on  the  sad  condition  to  which  they  were  reduceti. 

D'ionysius  opened  the  campaign  with  the  siege  of  Motya,  whirh  w^as  the 
magazine  of  the  Carthaginians  in  Sicily;  Jind  pusiiea  the  siege  on  with  so 
much  vigour,  that  it  was  impossible  for  Iiii.'ccii,  naexjorthaginian  admii^i,  Ui 


*  •    ;W  5«500.  A.  Carth.  442.    A.  Rome.  344.    a»    J.  C.  404.    Dion.  1.  xlv.  p.  268— m 
t  Tfvtaui.  ♦  Honv/t.  ali»  artes 


174 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


relieve  ft.  He  bi  ought  forward  his  engines,  battered  the  place  with  his 
lering  rams,  advanced  towers  six  stories  high  to  the  wall,  rolled  upon  wheels, 
and  of  an  equal  height  with  their  houses  ;  and  from  these  he  greatly  annoyed 
the  besieged  with  furious  volleys  of  arrows  and  stones  sent  from  his  catapultas, 
an  engine  at  that  time  of  late  invention.*  At  last  the  city,  after  a  long  an  J 
vigorous  defence,  was  taken  by  storm,  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  it  put  to  the 
sword,  those  excepted  who  took  sanctuary  in  the  temples.  The  plunder  of  j| 
Was  abandoned  to  the  soldiers  ;  and  Dionysius,  leaving  a  strong  garrison  and  a 
trusty  governor  in  it,  returned  to  Syracuse. 

The  lol]r>winp^  year  Imilcon,  being  appointed  one  of  the  suffetes,  returned 
to  Sicily  with  a  tar  g^reater  army  than  before.!  He  landed  at  Palermo.!,  took 
several  cities,  and  recovered  Motya  by  force  of  arms.  Animated  by  these 
successes,  he  advanced  towards  Syracuse,  with  a  design  to  besiege  it ;  march- 
ing his  infantry  by  land,  while  his  fleet,  under  the  command  of  Mago,  sailed 
ftlong  the  coast. 

The  arrival  of  Imilcon  threw  the  Syracusans  into  great  consternation.  Aotn  e 
two  hundred  ships  laden  with  the  spoils  of  the  enemy,  and  advancing  in  good 
order,  entered  in  a  kind  of  triumph  the  great  harbour,  being  followed  by  five 
hundred  barks.  At  the  same  time  the  land  army,  consisting,  accord uig  to 
some  authors,  of  three  hundred  thousand  foot,§  and  three  thousand  horse,  was 
seen  marching  forward  on  the  other  side  of  the  city.  Imilcon  pitched  his  tei.t 
in  the  very  temple  of  Jupiter,  and  the  rest  of  the  army  encamped,  at  twelve 
furlongs,  or  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  city.  Marching  up  to  it,  Imilcon 
offered  battle  to  the  inhabitants,  who  did  not  care  to  accept  the  challenge. 
Imilcon,  satisfied  at  his  having  extorted,  from  the  Syracusans,  this  ronfessior; 
of  their  own  weakness  and  his  superiority,  returned  to  his  camp,  not  doubting 
but  he  should  soon  be  master  of  the  city,  considering  it  already  as  a  certain 
prey,  which  cou'd  not  possibly  escape  him.  For  thirty  days  together,  he  laid 
waste  the  neighbourhood  about  Syracuse,  and  ruined  the  whole  country.  He 
possessed  himself  of  the  suburb  of  Acradina,  and  plundered  the  temples  of  Ceres 
and  Proserpine.  To  fortify  his  camp,  he  beat  down  the  tombs  which  stood 
round  the  city  ;  and  among  others,  that  of  Gelon,  and  his  w^ife  Demarata,  which 
•was  exceeding  magnificent. 

But  these  successes  w^et*e  not  lasting.  All  the  splendour  of  this  anticipated 
triumph  vanished  in  a  moment,  and  taught  mankind,  says  Diodorus,  that  the 
proudest  mortal,  blasted  sooner  or  later  by  a  superior  power,  shall  be  forced 
to  confess  his  own  weakness.  While  Imilcon,  now  master  of  almost  all  the 
cities  of  Sicily,  expected  to  finish  his  conquests  by  the  reduction  of  Syracuse, 
a  contagious  distemper  seized  his  army,  and  made  dreadful  havoc  in  it.  1 1 
was  now  the  midst  of  summer,  and  the  heat  that  year  was  excessive.  The  in- 
fection began  among  the  Africans,  multitudes  of  whom  died,  without  any  pci- 
sibiiity  of  their  being  relieved.  Care  was  taken  at  first  to  inter  the  dead  ;  but 
the  number  increased  daily,  and  the  infection  spreading  very  fast,  the  dead  lay 
unburied,  and  the  sick  could  have  no  assistance.  This  plague  was  attended 
with  very  uncommon  symptoms,  such  as  violent  dysenteries,  raging  fevers, 
burning  entrails,  acute  pains  in  every  part  of  the  body.  ^  The  infected  wer^ 
even  seized  with  madness  and  fury,  so  that  they  would  fall  upon  any  person 
that  came  in  their  way,  and  tear  them  to  pieces. 

Dionysius  did  not  lose  this  favourable  opportunity  for  attackhig  the  enemy. 
Innilcon's  army,  being  more  than  half  conquered  by  the  plague,  could  make 
but  a  fpeble  resistance.  The  Carthaginian  ships  were  almost  all  either  taken 
or  burnt.  The  inhabitants  in  general  of  Syracuse,  their  old  men,  women,  and 
children,  came  pouring  out  of  the  city,  to  behold  an  event,  which  to  them  ap- 


♦  Th«  curious  reader  «  'il  nnd  a  rery  particular  Recount  of  it  in  a  »ubsequent  part  of  this  work. 
^  Diod.  1.  xiv.  p.  '279 — 2^5.    Justin.  1.  xix.  c.  2,  3- 

±  Pane  m-r  us. 

^  Some  authors  say  but  thirty  ihousonrl  foot,  which  is  the  more  probsbk  account,  ai  the  fleat  which 
llockcd  up  th«  town  by  sea  was  so  forinir^riL  e 


CAKTHAGiNlAJ^S. 


174 


peared  miraculous.  With  hands  lifted  up  to  heaven,  they  thanked  the  tutelar 
gods  of  their  city,  for  having  revenged  the  sanctity  of  temples  and  tombs, 
which  had  been  so  brutally  violated  by  these  barbarians.  Night  coming  on, 
both  parties  retired,  when  Imilcon,  taking  the  opportunity  of  this  short  suspen- 
sion of  hostilities,  sent  to  Dionysius,  fo"  leave  to  carry  back  with  him  the  small 
remains  of  his  shattered  army,  with  an  offer  of  three  hundred  talents,*  which 
was  all  the  specie  he  had  then  left.  Permission  only  could  be  obtained  for  the 
Caithaginians,  with  whom  Imilcon  stole  away  in  the  night,  and  left  the  rest  to 
the  mercy  of  the  conqueror. 

In  such  unhappy  circumstances  did  the  Carthaginian  general,  who  a  few 
days  before  had  been  so  proud  and  haughty,  retire  from  Syracuse.  Bitterly 
bewailing  his  own  fate,  but  most  of  all  that  of  his  country,  he  with  the  most 
insolent  Tury,  accused  the  gods  as  the  sole  authors  of  his  misfortunes.  The 
enemy,"  continued  he,  "  may  indeed  rejoice  at  our  misery,  but  have  no  rea- 
son to  glory  in  it.  We  return  victorious  over  the  Syracusans,  and  are  defeat- 
ed by  the  plague  alone.  No  part,"  added  he,  of  the  disaster  touches  me  so 
much  as  my  surviving  so  many  gallant  men,  and  being  reserved,  not  for  the 
comforts  ol  life,  but  to  be  the  sport  of  so  dire  a  calamity  ;  however,  since  I 
brought  back  the  miserable  remams  of  an  army  which  have  l3een  committed  to 
my  care,  I  now  have  nothing  to  do,  but  to  follow  the  brave  soldiers  who  lie 
dead  before  Syracuse,  and  show  my  country,  that  I  did  not  survive  them  out 
of  a  fondness  of  life,  but  merely  to  preserve  the  troops  which  had  escaped  the 
plague  from  the  fury  of  the  enemy,  to  which  my  more  early  death  would  have 
abandoned  them." 

Being  now  arrived  in  Carthage,  which  he  found  overwhelmed  with  grief 
and  despair,  he  entered  his  house,  shut  his  doors  against  the  citizens,  and  even 
his  own  children  ;  and  then  gave  himself  the  fatal  stroke,  in  compliance  with 
a  practice  to  which  the  heathens  falsely  gave  the  name  of  courage,  though  it 
was,  in  reality,  no  other  than  cowardly  despair. 

But  the  calamities  of  this  unhappy  city  did  not  stop  here  ;  for  the  Africans, 
who,  from  time  immemorial,  had  borne  an  implacable  hatred  to  the  Cartha- 
ginians, being  now  exasperated  to  fury,  because  their  countrymen  had  been 
left  behind,  and  exposed  to  the  murdering  sword  of  the  Syracusans,  assemble 
in  the  most  frantic  manner,  sound  the  alarm,  take  up  arms,  and,  after  seizing 
upon  Tunis,  march  directly  to  Carthage,  to  the  number  of  more  than  two  hun- 
dred thousand  men.  The  citizens  now  gave  themselves  up  for  lost.  This  new 
mcident  wa«  considered  by  them  as  the  sad  effect  of  the  wrath  of  the  gods, 
which  pursued  ihe  guilty  wretches  even  to  Carthage.  As  its  inhabitants, 
especially  in  all  public  calamilie^^,  carried  their  superstition  to  the  greatest  ex 
cess,  their  first  care  was  to  appease  ine  otfended  gods.  Ceres  and  Prosei- 
pine  were  deities,  who,  till  that  time,  had  never  been  heard  of  in  Africa.  But 
now,  to  atone  for  the  outrage  which  had  been  done  them,  in  the  plundering 
of  their  temples,  magnificent  statues  were  erected  to  their  honour;  prieHi 
TTf.re  selected  from  among  the  most  distinguished  families  of  the  city;  sacri- 
ti  jes  and  victims,  according  to  the  Greek  ritual,  if  I  may  use  the  expression, 
were  offered  up  to  them ;  in  a  word,  nothing  was  omitted  which  could  be 
thoughi  conducive  in  any  manner,  to  appease  those  angry  goddesses,  and  to 
merit  their  favour.  After  this,  the  defence  of  the  city  was  the  next  object  of 
their  care.  Happily  for  the  Carthaginians,  this  numerous  army  had  no  leader, 
but  \vas  like  a  body  uninformed  with  a  soul ;  no  provisions  or  military  engines  ; 
no  discipline  or  subordination  were  seen  among  theni,  eveiy  man  setting  him- 
self up  for  a  general,  or  claiming  an  independence  from  the  rest.  Divisions, 
therefore,  arising  in  this  rabble  of  an  army,  and  the  famine  increasing  daily, 
the  individuals  of  it  withdrew  to  their  respective  homes,  and  delivered  Car- 
thage from  a  dreadful  alarm. 

I  lip  Carthaginians  were  not  discouraged  by  their  late  disaster,  but  continued 
•Jieir  enterprises  on  Sicily.    Mago,  their  general,  and  one  of  the  suftetes,  lost 


176 


HISTORY  OP  THE 


a  great  battle  in  which  he  was  slain.  The  Carthaginian  chiefs  demanded  a 
peace,  which  was  granted,  on  condition  of  their  evacuating  all  Sicily,  and  de« 
iraying  the  expenses  of  the  war.  They  pretended  to  accept  the  terms  ;  but 
representing  th^t  it  was  not  in  their  power  to  deliver  up  the  cities,  without 
first  obtaining  an  order  from  their  republic,  they  obtained  so  1  /ng  a  truce,  as 
gave  them  time  sufficient  for  sending  to  Carthar^e.  They  took  advantage  of 
this  interval,  to  raise  and  discipline  new  troops,  over  which  Mago,  son  of  him 
who  had  been  lately  killed,  was  appointed  general.  He  was  very  young,  but 
of  great  abilities  and  reputat.'on.  As  soon  as  he  arri\ed  in  Sicily,  at  the  ex- 
piration of  the  truce,  he  gave  Dionysius  battle  ;  in  which  Leptinus,*  one  of 
tne  generals  of  the  latter,  was  killed,  and  upwards  of  fourteen  thousand  Sy- 
racusans  left  dead  on  the  field.  By  this  victory  the  Carthaginians  obtained 
an  honourable  peace,  which  left  them  in  possession  of  all  they  had  in  Sicily, 
and  even  the  addition  of  some  strong  holds,  besides  a  thousand  talents,!  which 
were  paid  to  them  for  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  war. 

About  this  time  a  law  was  enacted  at  Carthage,  by  which  its  inhabitants 
were  forbid  to  learn  to  write  or  speak  the  Greek  language  ;  in  order  to  deprive 
them  of  the  means  of  corresponding  with  the  enemy,  either  by  word  of  mouth 
or  in  writing. J  This  was  occasioned  by  the  treachery  of  a  Carthaginian,  who 
had  written  in  Greek  to  Dionysius,  to  give  him  advice  of  the  departure  of  the 
army  from  Carthage. 

Carthage  had  soon  after  another  calamity  to  struggle  with.§  The  plague 
spread  in  the  city,  and  made  terrible  havoc.  Panic  terrors,  and  violent  fits 
of  frenzy,  seized  on  a  sudden  the  heads  of  the  distempered  ;  who,  sallying 
sword  in  hand  out  of  their  houses,  as  if  the  enemy  had  taken  the  city,  killed 
or  vv^ounded  all  who  unhappily  came  in  their  way.  The  Africans  and  Sardi- 
nians would  very  willingly  have  taken  this  opportunity  to  shake  off  a  yoke 
which  was  so  hateful  to  them ;  but  both  were  subjected,  and  reduced  to  their 
allegiance.  Dionysius  formed  at  this  tim^e  an  enterprise  in  Sicily,  with  the 
same  views,  which  was  equally  unsuccessful.il  He  died,  some  time  after,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  of  the  same  name. 

We  have  already  taken  notice  of  the  first  treaty  which  the  Carthaginians 
concluded  with  the  Romans.  There  was  another,  which,  according  to  Oro- 
sius,  was  concluded  in  the  402d  year  of  the  foundation  of  Rome,  and  conse- 
quently about  the  time  we  are  now  speaking  of.  This  second  treaty  was  near- 
ly the  same  with  the  first,  except  that  the  inhabitants  of  Tyre  and  Utica  w^ere 
expressly  comprehended  in  it,  and  joined  with  the  Carthaginians. 

After  the  death  of  the  elder  Dionysius,  Syracuse  was  involved  in  great  troubles.  IF 
Dionysius  the  younger,  whohadbeen  expelled,  restored  himself  by  force  of  arms, 
and  exercised  great  cruelties  there.  One  part  of  the  citizens  implored  the  aid 
of  Icetes,  tyrant  of  the  Leontines,  and  by  descent  a  Syracusan.  This  seemed  a 
very  favourable  opportunity  for  the  Carthaginians  to  seize  upon  all  Sicilj^,  and  ac- 
cordingly they  sent  a  mighty  fleet  thither.  In  this  extremity,  such  of  the  Syra- 
cusans  as  loved  their  counify  best,  had  recourse  to  the  Corinthians,  who  often  as- 
sisted them  in  their  dangers,  and  were,  of  all  the  Grecian  nations,  the  most  pro- 
fessed enemies  to  tyranny,  and  the  most  avowed  and  most  generous  assertorsof 
liberty.  Accordingly  the  Corinthians  sent  over  Timoleon,  a  man  of  great  merit, 
asfid  who  had  signalized  his  zeal  for  the  public  welfare,  by  freeing  his  countiy 

*  Thig  Leptinus  waa  brother  to  Dionysius.  t  About  $914,640. 

I  Justin.  1.  XX.  c.  5.  J  Dlod.  1.  xv.  p.  344. 

1}  This  is  the  Dionysius  who  invitf.d  Plato  to  his  court ;  and  who,  being  afterwards  offended  with  nil 
freedom,  sold  him  for  a  slare.  Some  philosophers  came  from  G  reece  to  Syracuse,  in  ordei  to  redeem  thcil 
trother,  which  having-  done,  they  sent  him  home  with  this  useful  lesson — that  philosophers  ought  very 
rarely  or  very  obligingly  to  converse  with  tyrants.  This  prince  had  learning,  and  affected  to  pass  for  a 
poet  •,  but  cccild  not  gain  that  name  at  the  Olympic  games,  whither  he  had  sent  his  verses,  to  be  repeated 
by  his  brother  Thearides.  It  had  been  happy  for  Dionysius,  had  the  Athenians  entertained  no  b*itter  la 
opinion  of  his  poetry  ;  for  on  their  pronouncing  him  victor,  when  his  poems  were  repeated  in  their  citr*  h« 
was  raised  to  such  a  transport  of  joy  and  intemperance,  that  both  together  killed  him;  and  thus,  perhaps, 
waa  verified  the  prediction  of  the  oracle,  viz.  that  he  should  die  when  he  had  overcome  jis  betters. 

IT  A..  M.  3656.  A.  Carth.  408.  A.  Rome,  400.  Ant  J.  C.  348.  Diod.  1.  xvi.  p.  252.  Polyh  \.  iu,  9< 
i^WI.    riiit.  inTimel. 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


177 


from  tyranny,  at  the  expense  of  his  own  family.  He  set  sail  with  only  ten 
ships,  and  arriving  at  Rhegium,  he  eluded,  by  a  nappy  stratagem,  the  vigil anc«5 
of  the  Carthaginians;  who,  having  been  informed,  by  Icetes,  of  his  voyage 
and  design,  wanted  to  intercept  him  in  his  passage  to  Sicily. 

Timoleqn  had  scarce  above  a  thousand  soldiers  under  his  command ;  and 
yet,  with  this  handful  of  men,  he  marched  boldly  to  the  relief  Syracuse. 
His  small  army  increased  in  proportion  as  he  advanced.  The  Syrac».sans 
were  now  in  a  desperate  condition,  and  quite  hopeless.  They  saw  the  Car- 
thaginians masters  of  the  port ;  Icetes  of  the  city,  and  Dionysius  of  the  cita- 
del. Happily,  on  Timoleon's  arrival,  Dionysius  having  no  refuge  left,  put  the 
citadel  into  his  hands,  with  all  the  forces,  arms,  and  ammunition  in  it,  and  es- 
caped by  his  assistance  to  Corinth.*  Timoleon  had,  by  his  emissaries,  art- 
fully represented  to  the  foreign  forces  in  Mago's  army,  (which,  by  an  error  in 
the  constitution  of  Carthage,  before  taken  notice  of,  was  chiefly  composeii  of 
•uch,  and  even  the  greatest  part  of  whom  were  Greeks,)  that  it  was  astonish-* 
ing  to  see  Greeks  using  their  endeavours  to  make  barbarians  masters  of  Sicily, 
from  whence  they,  in  a  very  little  time,  would  pass  over  into  Greece.  For, 
could  they  imagine,  that  the  Carthaginians  were  come  so  far,  with  no  other 
view  than  to  establish  Icetes  tyrant  of  Syracuse  ?  Such  discourses  being 
spread  among  Mago's  soldiers,  gave  this  general  very  great  uneasiness :  and, 
as  he  wanted  only  a  pretence  to  retire,  he  was  glad  to  have  it  believed  that 
his  forces  were  going  to  betray  and  desert  him,  and  upon  this  he  sailed  with 
his  fleet  out  of  the  harbour,  and  steered  for  Carthage.  Icetes,  after  his  de- 
parture, could  not  hold  out  long  against  the  Corinthians  ;  so  that  they  now  got 
entire  possession  of  the  whole  city. 

Mago,  on  his  arrival  at  Carthage,  was  impeached  ;  but  he  prevented  the  ex- 
ecution of  the  sentence  passed  upon  him,  by  a  voluntary  death.  His  bodj' 
was  hung  upon  a  gallows,  and  exposed  as  a  public  spectacle  to  the  people. 
New  forces,  were  levied  at  Carthage,  and  a  greater  and  more  powerful  fleet 
than  the  former  was  sent  to  Sicily. t  It  consisted  of  two  hundred  ships  of  war, 
besides  a  thousand  transports  ;  and  the  army  amounted  to  upwards  of  seventy 
thousand  men.  They  landed  at  Lilybaeum,  under  the  command  of  Hamilcar 
and  Hannibal,  and  resolved  to  attack  the  Corinthians  first.  Timoleon  did  not 
wait  for,  but  marched  out  to  meet  them.  But,  such  was  the  consternation  of 
Syracuse,  that  of  all  the  forces  which  were  in  that  city,  only  three  thousand 
Syracusans,  and  four  thousand  mercenaries,  followed  him  ;  and  a  thousand  of 
the  latter  deserted  upon  the  march,  through  fear  of  the  danger  they  were  go 
ing  to  encounter.  Timoleon,  however,  was,  not  discouraged,  but  exhorting 
the  remainder  of  his  forces  to  exert  themselves  courageously  for  the  safety 
and  liberties  of  Ineir  allies,  he  led  them  against  the  enemy,  Avhose  rendezvous 
he  had  been  informed  was  on  the  banks  of  the  little  river  Crimisa.  It  appear- 
ed at  the  first  reflection  inexcusable  folly  to  attack  an  army  so  numerous  as 
that  of  the  enemy,  with  only  tour  or  five  thousand  foot,  and  a  thousand  horse  ; 
but  Timoleon,  who  knew  that  bravery,  conducted  by  prudence,  is  superior  to 
num.bers,  relied  on  the  courage  of  his  soldiers,  who  seemed  resolved  to  i^'ie 
rather  than  yield,  and  with  ardour  demanded  to  be  led  against  the  enemy. 
The  event  justified  his  views  and  hopes.  A  battle  was  fought ;  the  Cartha- 
ginians were  routed,  and  upwards  of  ten  thousand  of  them  skin,  full  three 
thousand  of  whom  were  Carthaginian  citizens,  which  filled  their  city  with 
mourning  and  the  greatest  consternation.  Their  camp  was  taken,  and  with  it 
immense  riches,  and  a  great  number  of  prisoners. 


♦  Here  he  preserred  some  resemblance  of  his  former  tyranny,  by  turning  schoolmaster,  and  exercisirg 
a  discipline  over  boys,  when  he  could  no  longer  tyrannise  overmen.  He  had  learning,  and  was  oncf  a 
•ckolar  to  Plato,  whom  he  caused  to  come  again  into  Sicily,  notwithstanding  the  unworthy  treatment  ha 
limii  met  with  from  Dionysius'  father.  Philip  king  of  Macedon,  meeting  him  in  the  streets  at  CorL^th, 
and  asking  him  how  he  came  to  lose  so  considerable  a  principality  as  had  been  left  him  by  his  father;  h« 
•mwered,  that  his  father  had  indeed  left  him  the  inheritance,  but  not  the  fortune  which  had  prcwrretf 
^th  himself  and  that. — However,  fortuna  did  him  no  g^reat  injury,  in  r*splacing  him  on  the  dunifhill,  fv«i» 
which  ih«  had  ratted  bis  father.  t  Fki  p.  HAS — 230. 

Vol..  I 


178 


HISTORY  OP  THE 


Timoleon  *  at  the  same  time  that  he  despatched  the  news  of  this  ricloiy  lo  : 
Corinth,  sent  thither  the  finest  arms  found  among  the  plunder.  For  he  was  pas- 
sionately desirous  of  ha>  ing  this  city  applauded  and  admired  by  all  men, 
when  they  should  see  that  Corinth  alone,  among  all  the  Grecian  cities,  adorn- 
ed its  finest  temples,  not  with  the  spoils  of  Greece,  and  offerings  died  in  the 
blood  of  its  citizens,  the  sight  of  which  could  tend  only  to  preserve  the  fad 
remembrance  of  their  losses  ;  but  with  those  of  barbarians,  which  by  fine  in- 
scriptions, displayed  at  once  the  courage  and  religious  gratitude  of  those  who 
had  won  them.  For  these  inscriptions  imported.  That  the  Corinthians^  and 
Timoleon  their  general^  after  having  freed  the  Greeks^  settled  in  Sicily,  from  tht 
Carthaginian  yoke^  had  hung  up  these  arms  in  their  temples y  as  an  eternal  ac- 
knowledgment  of  the  favour  and  goodness  of  the  gods. 

After  this,  Timoleon,  leaving  the  mercenary  troops  in  the  Carthaginian  ter- 
litories,  to  waste  and  destroy  them,  returned  to  Syracuse.  On  his  arrival 
there,  he  banished  the  thousand  soldiers  who  had  deserted  him  ;  and  took  no 
other  revenge,  than  commanding  them  to  leave  Syracuse  before  sunset. 

This  victory  gained  by  the  Corinthians,  was  followed  by  the  capture  of 
many  cities,  which  obliged  the  Carthaginians  to  sue  for  peace. 

In  proportion  as  the  appearance  of  success  made  the  Carthaginians  vigorous- 
ly exert  themselves  to  raise  powerful  armies  both  by  land  and  sea,  and  pros- 
perity led  them  to  make  an  insolent  and  cruel  use  of  victoiy  ;  so  their  courage 
would  sink  in  unforeseen  adversities,  their  hopes  of  new  resources  vanish,  and 
their  grovelling  souls  condescend  to  ask  quarter  of  the  most  inconsiderable 
enemy,  and  without  sense  of  shame,  accept  the  hardest  and  most  mortifying 
conditions.  Those  now  imposed  were,  that  they  should  possess  only  the 
lands  lying  beyond  the  river  Halycus  ;t  that  they  should  give  all  the  natives 
liberty  to  retire  to  Syracuse  with  their  families  and  effects  ;  and  that  they 
shoula  neither  continue  in  the  alliance,  nor  hold  any  correspondence  with  the 
tyrants  of  that  city. 

About  this  time,  in  all  probability,  there  happened  at  Carthage  a  memora- 
ble incident,  related  by  Justin.J  Hanno,  one  of  its  most  powerful  citizens, 
formed  a  design  of  seizing  upon  the  republic,  by  destroying  the  whole  senate. 
He  chose,  for  the  execution  of  this  bloody  plan,  the  day  on  which  his  daugh- 
ter was  to  be  married,  on  which  occasion  he  designed  to  invite  the  senators 
to  an  entertainment,  and  there  poison  them  all.  The  conspiracy  was  discov- 
ered, but  Hanno  had  such  influence,  that  the  government  did  not  dare  to  pun- 
ish so  execrable  a  crime  :  the  magistrates  contented  themselves  with  only  pre- 
venting it,  by  an  order,  which  forbade,  in  general,  too  great  a  magnificence  at 
weddings,  and  limited  the  expense  on  those  occasions.  Hanno,  seeing  his 
stratagem  defeated,  resolved  to  employ  open  force,  and  for  tnat  purpose  ann- 
ed  all  the  slaves.  However,  he  was  again  discovered  ;  and,  to  escape  pun- 
ishment, retired,  with  twenty  thousand  armed  slaves,  to  a  castle  that  was  very 
strongly  fortified ;  and  there  endeavoured,  but  without  success,  to  engage  in 
his  rebellion  the  Africans,  and  the  king  of  Mauritania.  He  afterwards  was 
ta!:en  prisoner,  and  carried  to  Carthage,  where,  after  being  whipped,  his  eyes 
were  put  out,  his  arms  and  thighs  broken,  he  was  put  to  death  in  presence  of 
the  people,  and  his  body,  all  torn  with  stripes,  was  hung  on  a  gibbet.  Hjs 
children,  and  all  his  relations,  though  they  had  not  joined  in  his  guilt,  shared 
in  his  punishment.  They  w^ere  all  sentenced  to  die,  in  order  that  not  a  single 
person  of  his  family  might  be  left,  either  to  imitate  his  crime  or  revenge  his 
death.  Such  was  the  temper  of  the  Carthaginians  ;  ever  severe  and  violent 
in  their  punishments,  they  carried  them  to  the  extremes  of  rigour,  and  made 
them  extend  even  to  the  innocent,  without  showing  the  least  regard  to  ecjuity, 
moderation,  or  gratitude. 


*  Plut.  248—250. 

t  This  river  is  aot  far  from  Ag rigentum.  It  is  called  Lycus  brDiodomu  aod  P'uUrch,  but  thu»tli««cfci 

X  Justin,  lib.  xsi.  e.  4» 


CARTHAGINIAIW. 


179 


f  now  come  to  the  wars  sustained  by  the  Carthaginians  in  Africa  itaelf,  ai 
well  as  in  Sicily,  against  Agathocles,  which  exercised  their  arms  during  seve- 
ralyears.* 

This  Agathocles  was  a  Sicilian,  of  obscure  birth  and  low  fortune.!  Sup- 
ported at  first  by  the  forces  of  the  Carthaginians,  he  had  invaded  the  sove- 
reignty of  Syracuse,  and  made  himself  tyrant  over  it.  In  the  infancy  of  his 
power,  the  Carthaginians  kept  him  within  bounds,  and  Hamilcar,  their  chiefs 
forced  him  to  agree  to  a  peace,  which  restored  tranquillity  to  Sicily.  But  he 
goon  infringed  the  articles  of  it,  and  declared  war  against  the  CarthaginiatK 
themselves,  who,  under  the  conduct  of  Hamilcar,  obtained  a  signal  victory 
over  him,J  and  forced  him  to  shut  himself  up  in  Syracuse.  The  Carthagi- 
nians pursued  him. thither,  and  laid  siege  to  that  important  city,  the  capture 
of  which  would  have  given  them  possession  of  all  Sicily. 

Agathocles,  whose  forces  were  greatly  inferior  to  theirs,  and  who  saw  him- 
6elf  deserted  by  all  his  allies,  from  their  detestation  of  his  horrid  cruelties, 
meditated  a  design  of  so  daring,  and,  to  all  appearance,  of  so  impracticable 
a  nature,  that  even  after  success,  it  yet  appears  almost  incredible.  This  de- 
sign was  no  less  than  to  make  Africa  the  seat  of  war,  and  to  besiege  Carthage, 
at  a  time  when  he  could  neither  defend  himself  in  Sicily,  nor  sustain  the  siege 
of  Syracuse.  His  profound  secrecy  in  the  execution  is  as  astonishing  as  the  de 
sign  itself.  He  communicated  his  thoughts  on  this  affair  to  no  person  whatso- 
ever, but  contented  himself  with  declaring,  that  he  had  found  out  an  infallible 
way  to  free  the  Syracusans  from  the  dangers  that  surrounded  them  ;  that  they 
had  only  to  endure  with  patience,  for  a  short  time,  the  inconveniences  of  a 
siege  ;  lout  that  those  who  could  not  bring  themselves  to  this  resolution,  might 
freely  depart  the  city.  Only  sixteen  hundred  persons  quitted  it.  He  left  his 
brother  Antander  there  with  forces  and  provisions  sufficient  for  him  to  make  a 
stout  defence.  He  set  at  liberty  all  slaves  who  were  of  age  to  bear  arms,  and, 
after  obliging  them  to  take  an  oath,  joined  them  to  his  forces.  He  carried 
with  him  only  fifty  talents  §  to  supply  his  present  wants  ;  well  assured  that  he 
should  find  in  the  enemy's  country,  whatever  was  necessary  to  his  subsistence. 
He  therefore  set  sail  with  two  of  his  sons,  Archagathus  and  Heraclides.  with- 
out letting  any  one  person  know  whither  he  intended  his  course.  All  who 
were  on  board  his  fleet  believed  that  they  were  to  be  conducted  either  to  Italy 
or  Sardinia,  in  order  to  plunder  those  countries,  or  to  lay  waste  those  coasts 
of  Sicily  which  belonged  to  the  enemy.  The  Carthaginians,  surprised  at  so 
unexpected  a  departure,  endeavoured  to  prevent  it ;  but  Agathocles  eluded 
their  pursuit,  and  made  for  the  main  ocean. 

He  did  not  discover  his  design  till  he  had  landed  in  Africa.  There  assem- 
bling his  troops,  he  told  them,  in  few  words,  the  motives  which  had  prompted 
him  to  this  expedition.  He  represented,  that  the  only  way  to  free  their  coun- 
try, was  to  carry  the  war  into  the  territories  of  their  enemies  :  that  he  led  them, 
who  were  inured  to  war  and  of  intrepid  dispositions,  against  a  parcel  of  ene- 
mies who  Avere  softened  and  enervated  by  ease  and  luxury  :  that  the  natives 
of  the  country,  oppressed  with  the  yoke  of  servitude,  equally  cruel  and  igno- 
minious, would  run  in  crowds  to  join  them  on  the  first  news  of  their  arrival : 
that  the  boldness  of  their  attempt  would  alone  disconcert  the  Carthaginians, 
who  had  no  expectation  of  seeii^  an  enemy  at  their  gates  :  in  short,  that  no 


*  A.  M.  3685.  A.  Carth.  527.  A.  Rome,  429.  Ant.  J.  C.  319.  Diod.  1.  xix.  p.  651— 6i^.  710—712. 
737—743.  760.    Justin.  1.  ii.  c.  1—6. 

t  He  was,  according  to- most  historians,  the  son  of  a  potter,  but  all  allow  him  to  hare  worked  at  the  trade. 
From  the  obscurity  of  his  birth  and  condition,  Polybius  uses  an  argument  to  prove  his  capacity  and  talent*, 
In  opposition  to  the  slanders  of  Timasus.  But  his  greatest  eulogium  was  the  praise  of  Scipio.  That  illiji»- 
nous  Roman  being  asked,  who,  in  his  opinion,  were  the  most  prudent  in  the  conduct  of  their  aflain,  ajMi 

■>st  judiciously  bold  in  the  execution  of  their  designs;  answered,  Agathocles  and  Dionysius.  Polyb.  1. 

»»,  ]j^l003.  Edit.  Gronov.    However,  let  his  capacity  have  been  ever  so  great,  it  was  exceeded  bj 

X  The  battle  was  fought  rear  the  river  and  city  of  Hymen. 
J  50,000  French  crowns,  or  |55,OOa 


riliSTUKY  OF  THfc 


enterprise  could  possibly  be  moi*  ^drantageous  or  honourable  than  this,  since 
the  whole  wealth  of  Carthage  would  become  the  prey  of  the  victors,  whose 
courage  would  be  praised  and  admired  by  the  latest  posterity.  The  soldiers 
fancied  themselves  already  masters  of  Carthage,  and  received  his  spec  ch  with 
applause  and  acclamations.  One  circumstance  alone  gave  them  uneasiness, 
and  that  was,  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  happening  just  a.s  they  were  setting  sail. 
In  these  ages,  even  the  most  civilized  nations  understood  very  little  the  reason 
of  these^extraordinary  phenomena  of  nature  ;  and  used  to  draw  from  them,  (by 
their  soothsayers,)  superstitious  and  arbitrary  conjectures,  which  frequently 
would  either  suspend  or  hasten  the  most  important  enterprises.  However, 
Agathocles  revived  the  drooping  courage  of  his  soldiers,  by  assuring  them  that 
fhese  eclipses  always  foretold  some  instant  change:  that,  therefore,  good  for- 
tune was  taking  its  leave  of  Carthage,  and  coming  over  to  them. 

Finding  his  soldiers  in  the  good  disposition  he  Vvished  them,  he  executed, 
almost  at  the  same  time,  a  second  enterprise,  which  was  even  more  daring  and 
hazardous  than  his  first,  of  carrying  them  over  into  Africa  ;  and  this  w^as,  the 
burning  every  ship  in  his  fleet.  Many  reasons  determined  him  to  so  desperate 
an  action.  He  had  not  one  good  harbour  in  Africa  where  his  ships  could  lie 
in  safety.  As  the  Carthaginians  were  masters  of  the  sea,  they  would  not  have 
failed  to  possess  themselves  immediately  of  his  fleet,  which  was  incapable  of 
making  the  least  resistance.  In  case  he  had  left  as  many  hands  as  were  neces- 
sary to  defend  it,  he  would  have  weakened  his  army,  which  was  inconsiderable 
at  the  best,  and  put  it  out  of  his  power  to  gain  any  advantage  by  this  unex- 
pected diversion,  the  success  of  which  depended  entirely  on  the  swiftness  and 
vigour  of  the  execution.  Lastly,  he  was  desirous  of  putting  his  soldiers  under 
a  necessity  of  conquering,  by  leaving  them  no  other  refuge  than  victory 
Much  courage  was  necessary  to  adopt  such  a  resolution.  He  had  already  pre- 
pared all  his  officers,  who  were  entirely  devoted  to  his  service,  and  received 
every  impression  he  gave  them.  He  then  came  suddenly  into  the  assembly, 
with  a  crown  upon  his  head,  dressed  in  a  magnificent  habit,  and,  with  the  air 
and  behaviour  of  a  man  who  was  going  to  perform  some  religious  ceremony, 
and  addressing  himself  to  the  assembly,  "  When  we,"  says  he,  "  left  Syracuse, 
and  were  warmly  pursued  by  the  enemy,  m  this  fatal  necessity,  I  aadressed 
myself  to  Ceres  and  Proserpine,  the  tutelar  divinities  of  Sicily  ;  and  promised, 
that  if  they  would  free  us  from  this  imminent  danger,  I  would  burn  all  our 
ships  in  their  honour,  at  our  first  landing  here.  Aid  me,  therefore,  O  soldiers, 
to  dischai^e  my  vow ;  for  the  goddesses  can  easily  make  us  amends  for  this 
sacrifice."  At  the  same  time,  taking  a  flambeau  in  his  hand,  he  hastily  led 
hhe  way  on  board  his  own  ship,  and  set  it  on  fire.  All  the  officers  did  the  like, 
and  were  cheerfully  followed  by  the  soldiers.  The  trum.pets  sounded  from 
every  quarter,  and  the  whole  army  echoed  with  joyful  shouts  and  acclama- 
tions. The  fleet  was  soon  consumed.  The  soldiers  had  not  been  allowed 
time  to  reflect  on  the  proposal  made  to  them.  They  had  all  been  hurried  on 
by  a  Hind  and  impetuous  ardour :  but  when  they  had  a  little  recovered  their 
reason^  and,  surveying  in  their  minds  the  vast  extent  of  ocean  which  separated 
them  from  their  own  country,  saw  themselves  in  tnat  of  the  enemy,  without 
(he  least  resource,  or  any  means  of  escaping  out  of  it,  a  sad  and  melancholy 
silence  succeeded  the  transport  of  joy  and  acclamations,  which,  but  a  moment 
before,  had  been  so  general  in  the  army. 

Here  again  Agathocles  left  no  time  for  reflection.  He  marched  his  army 
towards  a  place  called  the  Great  City,  which  was  part  of  the  domain  of  Car- 
thage. The  country  through  which  they  marched  to  this  place  afforded  the  most 
delicious  and  agreeable  prospect  in  the  world.  On  each  side  were  seen  large 
meads  watered  by  beautiful  streams,  and  covered  with  innumerable  flocks  of  all 
kinds  of  cattle  ;  country  seats  built  with  extraordinary  magnificence  ;  delightful 
avenues  planted  with  olire  and  all  sorts  of  fruit-trees ;  wardens  of  a  prodigious 
extent,  and  kept  with  a  cam  ^nd  elegance  which  delighted  the  eye.  Thi« 
liDnnnftct  reanimated  the  soldiers^    They  marched  full  of  courage  to  the  Gmd 


CARTIIACINlAi^B. 


181 


City,  which  they  took,  sword  in  hand,  and  enriched  ^hen^selves  with  the  plun- 
der of  it,  which  was  entirely  abandoned  to  them.  Tunis,  which  was  not  f^r 
distant  from  Carthage,  made  as  little  resistance. 

The  Carthaginians  were  in  prodigious  alarm,  when  it  was  known  that  the 
enemy  was  in  the  country,  advancing  by  hasty  marches.  This  arrival  of  Aga- 
thocles  made  the  Carthaginians  conclude,  that  their  army  before  Syracuse  had 
been  defeated,  and  their  fleet  lost.  The  people  ran  in  disorder  to  ihe  great 
square  of  the  city,  while  the  senate  assembled  in  haste,  and  in  a  tumultuous 
manner.  Immediately  they  deliberated  on  the  means  for  preserving  the  city 
They  had  no  army  in  readiness  to  oppose  the  enemy,  and  their  imminent  dan- 
ger did  not  permit  them  to  wait  the  arrival  of  those  forces  which  might  be 
raised  in  the  countrj?-,  and  among  the  allies.  It  was  therefore  resolved,  after 
several  different  opinions  had  been  heard,  to  arm  the  citizens.  The  number 
of  the  forces  thus  levied  amounted  to  forty  thousand  foot,  a  thousand  horse, 
and  two  thousnnd  armed  chariots.  Hanno  and  Bomilcar,  though  divided  be- 
tween themselves  by  some  family  quarrels,  were,  however,  joined  in  the  com- 
mand of  these  troops.  They  marched  immediately  to  meet  the  enemy,  and 
on  sight  of  them,  drew  up  their  forces  in  order  of  battle.  Agathocles  had,  at 
most,"  but  thirteen  or  fourteen  thousand  men.*  The  signal  was  given,  and  an 
obstinate  fight  ensued.  Hanno,  with  his  sacred  cohort,  the  flower  of  the  Car- 
thaginian forces,  long  sustained  the  fury  of  the  Greeks,  and  sometimes  even 
broke  their  ranks  ;  but  at  last,  overwnelmed  with  a  shower  of  stones,  and 
covered  with  wounds,  he  fell  dead  on  the  field.  Bomilcar  might  have  changed 
the  face  of  things,  but  he  had  private  and  personal  reasons  not  to  obtain  a  vic- 
toiy  for  his  country.  He  therefore  thought  proper  to  retire  with  the  forces 
under  his  command,  and  was  followed  by  the  whole  army,  which  by  that  means 
was  forced  to  leave  the  field  to  Agathocles.  After  pursuing  the  enemy  some 
time,  he  returned  and  plundered  the  Carthaginian  camp.  Twenty  thousand 
pair  of  manacles  were  found  in  it,  with  which  the  Carthaginians  bad  furnished 
themselves,  in  the  firm  persuasion  of  their  taking  many  prisoners.  The  result 
of  this  victory  was  the  capture  of  a  great  number  of  strong-holds,  and  the  de- 
fection of  many  of  the  natives  of  the  countiy,  who  joined  the  victor. 

This  descent  of  Agathocles  into  Africa,  doubtless  gave  birth  to  Scipio's  de- 
sign of  making  a  like  attempt  upon  the  same  republic,  and  from  the  same 
place.t  Wherefore,  in  his  answer  to  Fabius,  who  ascribed  to  temerity  his 
design  of  making  Africa  the  seat  of  the  war,  he  forgot  not  to  mention  the  ex- 
ample of  Agathocles,  as  an  instance  in  favour  of  his  enterprise,  and  to  show, 
that  frequently  there  is  no  other  way  to  get  rid  of  an  enemy,  who  presses  too 
closely  upon  us,  than  by  carrying  the  war  into  his  own  country  ;  and  that  men 
are  much  more  courageous  when  they  act  upon  the  offensive,  than  when  they 
stand  only  upon  the  defensive. 

While  the  Carthaginians  were  thus  warmly  attac':ed  by  their  enemies,  am- 
bassadors came  to  them  from  Tyre.  J  They  came  to  implore  their  succour 
against  Alexander  the  Great,  who  was  upon  the  point  of  taking  their  city, 
which  he  had  long  besieged.  The  extremity  to  which  their  countrymen,  for 
•o  they  called  them,  were  reduced,  touched  the  Carthaginians  as  sensibly  as 
their  ovm  danger.  Though  they  were  unable  to  relieve  them,  they  at  least 
fiiought  it  their  duty  to  comfort  them  ;  and  deputed  thirty  of  their  principal 
Eitizens^  to  express  their  grief  that  they  could  not  spare  them  any  troops,  be- 
cause ci  the  present  melancholy  situation  of  their  own  afiairs.  1  he  Tyri^ns, 
though  disappointed  of  the  only  hope  they  had  left,  did  not  however  despond. 
1  ]?ey  committed  their  v^ives,  children,§  and  '^Id  men,  to  the  care;  of  those 
deputtV? ;  and,  being  delivered  from  all  inquietude  with  regard  to  persons  who 


♦  -Ag-filhocles,  wanting'  arms  for  many  of  his  soldiers,  provided  them  with  such  as  were  counterfeit,  whick 
ksoked  well  at  a  distance.  And  perceiving'  the  discouragement  his  forces  were  under  on  sight  of  the  «t»- 
■v*»  horse,  he  let  fly  a  great  manv  owls,  privately  procured  for  that  purpose,  which  his  soldien  iiiter|H«% 
M  ac  aa  c-men  and  assurance  of  victory. — Died,  ad  Ann.  3  Olymp.  p.  117. 

t  Lir.  1.  xxviii.  n.  43.  J  Diod.  1.  xvii.  p.  519.    Q,uint  C  >*t.  1.  ir.  c.  S 

i  Tu)V  T|>iv<wvxa]  yvvainSiV  ili^ot,  lAsta  of  tb«ir  wives  and  children. — Pio  d.  1.  ivii— «li 


iriSTBitV  OF  THE 


were  dearer  to  them  than  any  thing  in  the  world,  they  thought  only  of  making 
a  resolute  defence,  prepared  for  the  worst  that  might  happen.  Carthage  re- 
ceived this  afflicted  company  with  all  possible  marks  of  amity,  and  paid  to 
guests  who  were  so  dear  and  worthy  of  compassion,  all  the  services  which  theT 
could  have  expected  from  the  most  affectionate  and  tender  parents. 

Quintus  Curtius  places  this  embassy  from  Tyre  to  the  Carthaginians  at  the 
same  time  that  the  Sj^racusans  were  ravaging  Africa,  and  had  advanced  to  the 
very  gates  of  Carthage.  But  the  expedition  of  Agathocles  against  Africa  ccn- 
not  agree  in  time  with  the  siege  of  Tyre,  which  was  more  than  twenty  years 
before  it. 

At  the  same  time,  Carthage  was  solicitous  how  to  extricate  itself  frori  the 
difficulties  with  which  it  was  surrounded.  The  present  unhappy  state  of  the 
republic  was  considered  as  the  effect  of  the  wrath  of  the  gods  ;  and  it  was 
acknowledged  to  be  justly  deserved,  particularly  with  regard  to  two  deities 
towards  whom  the  Carthaginians  had  been  remiss  in  the  discharge  of  certain 
duties  prescribed  by  their  religion,  and  which  had  once  been  observed  with 
great  exactness.  It  was  a  custom,  coeval  with  the  city  itself,  in  Carthage,  to 
send  annually  to  Tyre,  the  mother  city,  the  tenth  of  all  the  revenues  of  the 
republic,  as  an  offering  to  Hercules,  the  patron  and  protector  of  both  cities. 
The  domain,  and  consequently  the  revenues  of  Carthage,  having  increased 
considerably,  the  portion  on  the  contrary,  of  the  god,  had  been  lessened,  and 
they  were  far  from  remitting  the  whole  tenth  to  him.  They  were  seized  with 
a  scruple  in  this  respect,  they  made  an  open  and  public  confession  of  their 
insincerity,  and  sacrilegious  avarice;  and  to  expiate  their  guilt,  they  sent  to 
Tyre  a  great  number  of  presents,  and  small  shrines  of  their  deities,  all  of 
gold,  which  amounted  to  a  prodigious  value. 

Another  violation  of  religion,  which  to  their  inhuman  superstition  seemed  a* 
flagrant  as  the  former,  gave  them  no  less  uneasiness.  Anciently,  children  of 
the  best  families  in  Carthage  used  to  be  sacrificed  to  Saturn.  They  now 
reproached  themselves  with  having  failed  to  pay  to  the  god  the  honours  which 
they  thought  were  due  to  him ;  and  with  having  used  fraud  and  dishonest 
dealing  towards  him,  by  having  substituted  in  their  sacrifices,  children  of 
slaves  or  beggars,  bought  for  that  purpose,  in  the  room  of  those  nobly  born 
To  expiate  the  guilt  of  so  horrid  an  impiety,  a  sacrifice  was  made  to  this  blood-' 
thirsty  god,  of  two  hundred  children  of  the  first  rank  ;  and  upwards  of  three 
hundred  persons,  from  a  sense  of  this  terrible  neglect,  offered  themselves 
voluntarily  as  victims  to  pacify,  by  the  effusion  of  their  blood,  the  wrath  of 
the  gods. 

Alter  these  expiations,  expresses  were  despatched  to  Sicily,  with  the  news 
of  what  had  happened  in  Africa  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  request  immediate 
succours.  Hamilcar,  on  receiving  this  disastrous  intelligence,  commanded  the 
deputies  to  observe  the  strictest  silence  on  the  victory  of  Agathocles,  and 
spread  a  contrary  report,  that  he  had  been  entirely  defeated,  his  forces  all  cut 
off,  and  his  whole  fieet  taken  by  the  Carthaginians ;  and  in  confirmation  of  this 
report,  he  showed  the  irons  of  the  vessels  pretended  to  be  tak^n,  which  had 
been  carefully  sent  to  him.  The  truth  of  this  report  was  not  at  all  doubted 
in  Syracuse  ;  the  majority  were  for  capitulating*  when  a  galley  of  thirty  cars, 
built  in  haste  by  Agathocles,  arrived  in  the  port,  and  through  great  difti..v  Hies 
and  dangers  forced  its  way  to  the  besieged.  The  news  of  Agathocles  '.c- 
loiy  immediately  flew  through  the  city,  and  restored  life  and  resolution  tc  ^« 
inhabitants.  Hamilcar  made  a  last  efibrt  to  storm  the  city,  but  was  beaten 
with  loss.  He  then  raised  the  siege,  and  sent  five  thousand  men  to  the  relief 
of  his  distressed  country.  Some  time  after,  having  resumed  the  siege,  and 
hoping  to  surprise  the  Syracusans,  by  attacking  them  in  the  night,t  his  desigo 


♦  ilijd  the  most  forward  of  all  the  rest  was  Antander,  the  brother  of  A g-athocles,  left  commander  l« 
h2«  absence,  who  was  so  terrified  with  the  report,  that  he  was  eager  for  having^  the  city  tiirread«i«ii«  Ml4 
•KneUtJ  tut  ol  it  eight  thoufand  inhabitants  who  were  of  a  contrary  opinioD. 

t  Dlod.  p.  767—769. 


183 


was  discovered,  and  falling  nliye  into  the  enomy-.s  hands,  he  wjs  put  (o  death 
ivilh  most  exquisite  tortures. Hainilcar's  head  was  sent  ininnedialely  to 
Agathocles,  who,  advancing  to  the  enemy's  camp,  threw  it  into  a  general  con* 
sternation,  by  displaying  to  them  the  head  of  their  general,  which  manifested 
(he  melancholy  situation  of  their  affairs  in  Sicily. 

To  these  foreign  enemies  was  joined  a  domestic  one,  which  was  more  to  be 
feared,  as  being  more  dangerous  than  the  others  ;  this  was  Bomilcar  their 
general,  who  was  then  in  possession  of  the  first  post  in  Carthage. t  He  had 
long  meditated  how  to  make  himself  tyrant,  and  attain  the  sovereignty  of  Car- 
thage, and  imagined  that  the  present  troubles  offered  him  the  wished-for  op- 
portunity. He  therefore  entered  the  city,  and  being  seconded  by  a  small 
nutnber  of  citizens,  who  were  the  accomplices  of  his  rebellion,  and  a  body  of 
foreign  soldiers,  he  proclaimed  himself  tyrant,  and  made  himself  literally 
such,  by  cutting  the  throats  of  all  the  citizens  w^hom  he  met  with  in  the  streets. 
A  tumult  arising  immediately  in  the  city,  it  was  at  first  thought  that  the  enemy 
had  taken  it  by  some  treachery  ;  but  w^hen  it  was  known  that  Bomilcar  caused 
all  this  disturbance,  the  young  men  took  up  arms  to  jepel  the  tyrant,  and  from 
the  tops  of  the  houses  discharged  whole  volley:^  of  darts  and  stones  upon  the 
heads  of  his  soldiers.  When  he  saw  an  army  marching  in  order  against  him, 
he  retired  with  his  troops  to  an  eminence,  with  design  to  make  a  vigorous  de- 
fence, and  to  sell  his  life  as  dear  as  possible.  To  spare  the  blood  of  the  citi- 
zens, a  general  pardon  was  proclaimed  for  all  who  would  lay  down  their  arms. 
They  surrendered  upon  this  proclamation,  and  all  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  ii, 
Bomilcar  their  chief  excepted  ;  for  he,  notwithstanding  the  general  indemnity 
promised  by  oath,  was  condemned  to  die,  and  fixed  to  a  cross,  where  he  suT- 
fered  the  most  exquisite  torments.  From^  the  cross,  as  from  a  rostrum,  he 
harangued  the  people,  and  thought  himself  justly  empowered  to  reproach  them 
for  their  injustice,  their  ingratitude,  and  perfidy,  which  he  did  by  enumerating 
many  illustrious  generals,  whose  services  they  had  rewarded  with  an  ignomini- 
ous death.    He  expired  on  the  cross  while  uttering  these  reproaches.^ 

Agathocles  had  won  over  to  his  interest  a  powerful  king  of  Cyrene,  named 
Ophelias,  whose  ambition  he  had  flattered  with  the  most  splendid  hopes,  by 
ieading  him  to  understand  that  contenting  himself  with  Sicily,  he  would  leave 
to  Ophelias  the  empire  of  Africa.  But  as  Agathocles  did  not  scruple  to  com- 
mit the  most  horrid  crimes  to  promote  his  ambition  and  interest,  the  credulous 
prince  had  no  sooner  put  himself  and  his  army  in  his  power,  than,  by  the  black- 
est perfidy,  he  caused  him  to  be  murdered,  inorder  that  Ophelias'  army  might 
be  entirely  at  his  devotion.  Many  nations  were  now  joined  in  alliance  with 
Agathocles,  and  several  strongholds  were  garrisoned .  by  his  forces.  As  he 
now  saw  the  affairs  of  Africa  in  a  flourishing  condition,  he  thought  it  proper  to 
look  after  those  of  Sicily  ;  accordingly,  he  sailed  back  thither,  having  left  the 
command  of  his  army  to  his  son  Archagathus.  His  renown,  and  the  report  of 
his  victories,  flew  before  hirn. 

On  the  news  of  his  arrival  in  Sicily,  many  towns  revolted  to  him ;  but  bad 
news  soon  recalled  him  to  Africa.  His  absence  had  quite  changed  the  face  of 
things  ;  and  all  his  endeavours  were  incapable  of  restoring  them  to  their  for- 
mer condition.  All  his  strong  holds  had  surrendered  to  the  enemy ;  the  Afri- 
cans had  deserted  him  ;  some  of  his  troops  were  lost,  and  the  remainder  were 
unable  to  make  head  against  the  Carthaginians :  he  had  no  way  to  transport 
them  into -Sicily,  as  he  was  destitute  of  ships;  the  enemy  were  masters  at  sea. 

*  He  was  cruelly  tortured  till  he  died,  and  so  met  with  the  fate  which  his  fellow-citizens,  offended  al 
his  conduct  in  Sicily,  had  probably  allotted  for  him  at  home.  He  was  too  formidable  to  be  attacked  at 
Ihe  head  of  his  army,  and  therefore  the  votes  of  the  senate,  whatever  they  were,  being  according'  to  cu»- 
tcci  cast  into  a  vessel,  it  was  immediately  closed,  with  an  order  not  to  uncover  it  till  he  was  returned,  and 
tad  thrown  up  his  commission. — Justini  1.  xxii.  c.  3. 

t  Diod.  p.  779—781.    Justin.  1.  xxii.  c.  7. 
I  It  would  seem  Incredible,  that  any  man  could  so  far  triumph  over  the  pains  of  the  cross,  &•  to  tatt 
Tith  any  coherence  in  his  discourse,  had  not  Seneca  assured  us,  that  some  bare  so  far  dsspiscd  and  iiMsItM 
\M  torturer,  that  they  spit  contemptuously  upon  the  spectators.    Q,uidaro  cx  patibulo  tuoi  spectatores  cow 
<N«ef»st.>->D«  Vitft  Beata,  c.  19. 

i  D'iod.  p.  7T7— 779.  791—802.    Justin.  1.  xxii.  c.  7.  8. 


184 


HISTORY  OF  T1I£ 


and  he  could  not  hope  f^r  either  peace  or  treaty  with  the  barbarians,  since  he 
»iad  insulted  them  in  so  outrageous  a  mariner,  by  his  being  the  first  who  had 
dared  to  naake  a  descent  on  their  country.  In  this  extremity,  he  thought  only 
jf  providing  for  his  own  safety. 

After  many  adventures,  this  base  deserter  of  his  army,  and  perfidious  betray- 
er of  his  own  children,  who  were  left  by  him  to  the  wild  fui-y  of  his  disap- 
pointed soldiers,  stole  away  from  the  dangers  w^hich  threatened  him,  and  arrived 
at  Syracuse  with  very  few  followers.  His  soldiers,  seeing  themselves  thus 
betrayed,  murdered  his  sons,  and  surrendered  to  the  enemy.  Himself  died 
miserably  soon  after,  and  ended,  by  a  cruel  death,  *  a  life  that  had  been  pol- 
luted with  the  blackest  crimes. 

In  this  period  may  be  placed  another  incident  related  by  Justin.j  The  fame 
of  Alexander's  conquests  made  the  Carthaginians  fear  that  he  might  think  of 
turning  his  arms  towards  Africa. 

The  disastrous  fate  of  Tyre,  whence  they  drew  their  origin,  and  which  he 
had  so  lately  destroyed ;  the  building  of  Alexandria  upon  the  confines  of  Africa 
and  Egypt,  as  if  he  intended  it  as  a  rival  city  to  Carthage  ;  the  uninterrupted 
successes  of  that  prince,  whose  ambition  and  good  fortune  were  boundless ; 
all  this  justly  alarmed  the  Carthaginians.  To  sound  his  inclinations,  Hamil- 
car,  surnamed  Rhodanus,  pretending  to  have  been  driven  fr'.»m  his  country  by  the 
cabals  of  his  enemies,  went  over  to  the  camp  of  Alexander,  to  whom  he  was  in- 
troduced by  Parmenio,  and  offered  him  his  services.  The  king  received  him 
graciously,  and  had  several  conferences  with  him.  Hamilcar  did  not  fail  to 
transmit  to  his  country  whatever  discoveries  he  made  from  time  to  time  of 
Alexander's  designs.  Nevertheless,  on  his  return  to  Carthage,  after  Alexan- 
der's death,  he  was  considered  as  a  betrayer  of  his  country  to  that  prince,  and 
accordingly  was  put  to  death  by  a  sentence,  which  displayed  equally  the  in- 
gratitude and  cruelty  of  his  countrymen. 

I  am  now  to  speak  of  the  wars  oi  the  Carthaginians  in  Sicily,  in  the  time  of 
Pyrrhus,  king  of  Epirus.  The  Romans,  to  whom  the  designs  of  ihat  ambi- 
tious prince  were  not  unknow^n,  to  strengthen  themselves  against  any  attempts 
he  might  make  upon  Italy,  had  renew^ed  their  treaties  with  the  Carthaginians, 
who,  on  their  side,  were  no  less  afraid  of  his  crossing  into  Sicily.  To  the  ar. 
tides  of  the  preceding  treaties,  there  was  added  an  engagement  of  mutual 
assistance,  in  case  either  of  the  contracting  powers  should  be  attacked  by 
Pyrrhus.  J 

The  foresight  of  the  Romans  was  well  founded :  Pyrrhus  turned  his  arms 
against  Italy,  and  gained  many  victories.  The  Carthaginians,  in  consequence 
of  the  last  treaty,  thgught  themselves  obliged  to  assist  the  Romans,  and  ac- 
cordingly sent  tnem  a  fleet  of  six-score  sail,  under  the  command  of  Mago. 
This  general,  in  an  audience  before  the  senate,  signified  to  them  the  concern 
his  superiors  took  in  the  war  w^hich  they  heard  was  carrying  on  against  the 
Romans,  and  offered  them  their  .assistance.  The  senate  returned  thanks  for 
the  obliging  offer  of  the  Carthaginians,  but  at  present  thought  fit  to  decline  it  § 

Mago,  som.e  days  after,  repaired  to  Pyrrhus,  upon  pretence  of  offering  the 
mediation  of  Carthage  for  terminating  his  quarrel  with  the  Romans,  but  in  re- 
ality to  sound  him,  and  discover,  if  possible,  his  designs  with  regard  to  Sicily, 
which  common  fame  reported  he  was  going  to  invade. ||  The  Carthaginians 
w^eie  afraid  that  either  Pyrrhus  or  the  Romans  would  interfere  in  the  affairs 
of  that  island,  and  transport  forces  thither  for  the  conquest  of  it.  And  indeed 
the  Syracusans,  who  had  been  besieged  for  some  time  by  the  Carthaginians, 
had  sent  pressingly  for  succour  to  Pyrrhus    This  prince  had  a  particular 


*  He  was  poisoned  by  one  Mjenon,  whom  he  had  unnaturally  abused.  His  teeth  were  putrefied  by  th<» 
violence  of  the  poison,  and  his  body  tortured  all  over  vrith  the  most  racking  pains.  Ma?non  wcs  exciterf 
to  this  deed  by  Archngathns,  grandson  of  Ag-athocles.  whom  ho  desig-ned  to  defeat  of  the  succeiS'on,  i« 
farour  of  his  other  son  Agathocles.  Before  his  death,  he  res<ore«l  the  democracy  to  the  people,  ft  is  ob- 
lervable  that  Justin,  or  rather  Trogus,  and  Diodorus,  disagree  in  all  the  material  parts  of  this  tyranl't  hittofj, 

t  Justin.  I.  xti.  c.  6. 

J  A.  If.  1727.    A.  Garth.  569.    Ratne,  471.    Ant.  J.  C.  277.    Polvb.  1.  iii.  p.  5250.  Edit.  Qrowv 
}  JxttVm.  1.  tv'iW.  c.  Q  '  I  Ibid. 


IBS 

r«A9r»D  la  espouse  their  iiitcrt  sls,  having  married  Lanassa,  daughter  of  Agalho- 
cles,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  named  Alexander. 

He  at  last  sailed  from  Tarentum,  passed  the  strait,  and  arrived  in  Sicily. 
His  conquests  at  first  were  so  rapid,  that  he  left  the  Carthaginians,  in  ilia 
whole  island,  only  the  single  town  of  Lilybseum.  He  laid  siege  to  it,  I  ut 
meeting  with  a  vigorous  resistance,  was  obliged  to  retire,  and  the  urgt.nt  ne- 
cessity of  his  affairs  called  him  back  to  Italy,  where  his  presence  was  absi> 
hiteiy  necessary.  Nor  was  it  less  so  in  Sicily,  which,  on  his  departure,  re 
turned  to  the  obedience  of  its  former  masters.  Thus  he  lost  this  island 
with  the  same  rapidity  that  he  had  won  it.  As  he  was  embarking,  turning 
his  eyes  back  to  Sicily.  What  a  Jine  field  of  battUj*  said  he  to  those  about 
him,  do  we  leave  the  Carthaginians  and  Romans  !\  His  prediction  was  soon 
veriiied. 

After  his  departure,  the  chief  magistracy  of  Syracuse  was  conferred  on 
I  Iiero,  who  afterwards  obtained  the  name  and  dignity  of  king,  by  the  united 
sutfrages  of  the  citizens,  so  greatly  had  his  government  pleased.  He  was  ap- 
pointed to  carry  on  the  war  against  the  Carthaginians,  and  obtained  several 
advantages'over  them.  But  now  a  common  interest  reunited  them  against  a 
new  enemy,  who  began  to  appear  in  Sicily,  and  justly  alarmed  both;  these 
were  the  Romans,  who  having  crushed  all  the  enemies  who  had  hitherto  exer- 
cised their  arms  in  Italy  itself,  were  now  powerful  enough  to  carry  them  out 
of  it ;  and  to  lay  the  foundation  of  that  vast  power  there,  to  which  they  after- 
wards attained,  and  of  which  it  was  probable  they  had  even  then  formed  the 
design.  Sicily  lay  too  commodious  for  them,  not  to  form  a  resolution  of  es- 
tablishir^  themselves  in  it.  They  therefore  eagerly  snatched  this  opportunity 
tor  crossing  into  it,  which  caused  the  rupture  between  them  and  the  Carthagi- 
nians, and  gave  rise  to  the  first  Punic  war.  This  I  shall  treat  of  more  at  large 
by  relating  the  causes  of  that  war. 


CHAPTER  IL 


THIS  HISTORY  OF  CAHTHAGXS,  FROM  THE  FIRST 
PUNIC  WAR  TO  ITS  DSSTRUCTION. 

The  plan  which  I  have  laid  down,  does  not  allow  me  to  enter  into  an  exact 
detail  of  the  wars  between  Rome  and  Carthage,  since  that  relates  rather  to  the 
Roman  history,  which  I  shall  only  transiently  and  occasionally  touch  upon. 
My  business  is  to  relate  such  facts  only  as  may  give  the  reader  a  just  idea  of 
the  republic,  whose  history  lies  before  me  ;  by  confining  myself  to  those  pc*r- 
ticulars  which  relate  chiefly  to  the  Carthaginians,  such  as  their  transactions  in 
Sicily,  Spain,  and  Africa,  which  are  sufficiently  extensive. 

I  have  already  observed,  that  from  the  first  Punic  war  to  the  ruin  of  Car 
thage,  a  hundred  and  eighteen  years  elapsed.  This  whole  time  may  be  divi 
ded  into  five  parts  or  intervals. 

I.  The  first  Punic  war  lasted  twenty-four  years.  24 

II.  The  interval  between  the  first  and  second  Punic  war  is  also  twen- ) 
ty-four  years.  \ 

III.  The  second  Punic  w^ar  took  up  seventeen  years.  '  17 

IV.  The  interval  between  the  second  and  third,  is  forty  nine  rears.  4f 
V,  The  th/rd  Punic  war,  terminated  by  the  destruction  of  Carthage,  I 

con*  !nued  but  four  years  and  some  months.  2  / 

118 


*  Plut.  in  P_yrrh.  p.  398. 

t  Oiav  &iTo\2{iro]Xiv  u  (ipikouKao%r,'6o\"o\s  xai  *Pco/iai'oiJ  TraXaftrr^av*  The  Greek  expression  is  bean- 
|fu\  Indeed  Sicily  ^ras  a  kind  of  Palfsstra.  where  the  Carthajrinians  and  Romans  exercised  theniselvei 
n  war  ind  for  many  years  seemed  to  play  the  part  of  wrestlers  with  each  othtr.  Th*  English  laiijfuafr* 
M  well  as  the  Freoch.  bai  no  word  to  express  the  Greclr 


186 


HJS1\)HY  CdF  THK 


ARTICLE  I  — THE  FIRST  PUNIC  WAR. 


The  first  Punic  war  arose  fi-om  the  following  cause.  Some  Campanian  sol 
diers  in  the  service  of  Agathocles,  the  Sicilian  tyrant,  having  entered  a« 
friends  into  Messina,  they  soon  after  murdered  part  of  the  townsmen,  drove 
out  the  rest,  married  their  wives,  seized  their  effects,  and  remained  sole  mas 
ters  of  that  important  city.*  They  then  assumed  the  name  of  Mamertincft^ 
In  imitation  of  them,  and  by  their  assistance,  a  Reman  legion  treated  in  the 
same  cruel  manner  the  city  of  Rhegium,  lying  directly  opposite  to  Messina, 
on  the  other  side  of  the  strait.  These  two  perfidious  cities,  supporting  one 
another,  became  at  last  formidable  to  their  neighbours  ;  and  especially  Mes- 
sina, which,  being  very  powerful,  gave  great  jmbrage  and  uneasiness  both  to 
the  Syracusans  and  Carthaginians,  who  possessed  one  part  of  Sicily.  After 
the  Romans  had  got  rid  of  the  enemies  they  had  so  long  contended  with,  and 
particularly  of  Pyrrhus,  they  began  to  think  it  time  to  call  their  citizens  to 
account,  who  had  settled  themselves,  near  two  years,  at  Rhegium,  in  so  cruel 
and  treacherous  a  manner.  Accordingly  they  took  the  city,  and  killed,  in  the 
attack,  the  greatest  part  of  the  inhabitants,  who,  armed  with  despair,  Had 
fought  to  the  last  gasp  :  three  hundred  only  were  left,  who  w^ere  carried  to 
Rome,  wliij'ped,  and  then  publicly  beheaded  in  the  forum.  The  view  which 
the  Romans  had  in  making  this  bloody  execution,  was,  to  prove  to  their  al- 
lies their  own  sincerity  and  innocence.  Rhegium  was  immediately  restored 
to  its  lawful  possessors.  The  Mamertines,  who  were  considerably  weakened, 
as  well  by  the  ruin  of  their  confederate  city,  as  by  the  losses  sustained  from 
the  Syracusans,  w^io  had  lately  placed  Hiero  at  their  head,  thought  it  time  to 
provide  for  their  own  safety.  But  divisions  arising  among  them,  one  part  sur- 
rendered the  citadel  to  the  Carthaginians,  while  the  other  called  in  the  Ro- 
mans to  their  assistance,  and  resolved  to  put  them  in  possession  of  their  city. 

The  affair  was  debated  in  the  Ronian  senate,  where,  being  considered  in 
all  its  lights,  it  appeared  to  have  some  difficulties.!  On  one  hand,  it  was 
thought  base,  and  altogether  unworthy  of  the  Roman  virtue,  for  them  to  un- 
dertake openly  the  defence  of  traitors,  whose  perfidy  was  exactly  the  same 
with  that  of  the  Rhegians,  whom  the  Romans  had  recently  punisho  i  with  so 
exemplaiy  a  severity.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  of  the  utmost  consequence 
to  stop  the  progress  of  the  Carthaginians,  who,  not  satisfied  with  their  con- 
quests in  Africa  and  Spain,  had  also  made  themselves  masters  of  almost  all 
the  islands  of  the  Sardinian  and  Hetrurian  seas  ;  and  would  certamly  get  al'. 
Sicily  into  their  hands,  if  they  should  be  suffered  to  possess  themselves  ot 
Messina.  From  thence  into  Italy  the  passage  was  very  short ;  and  it  was  in 
some  manner  to  invite  an  enemy  to  come  over,  to  leave  the  entrance  open. 
These  reasons,  though  so  strong,  could  not  prevail  with  the  senate  to  declare 
In  favour  of  the  Mamertines  ;  and  accordingly,  motives  of  honour  and  justice 
prevailed  over  those  of  interest  and  policy.  But  the  people  were  not  so  scru- 
pulous ;  for,  in  an  assembly  held  on  this  subject,  it  was  resolved  that  the  Ma- 
mertines should  be  assisted.^  The  consul  Appius  Claudius  immediately  set 
forward  with  his  army,  and  boldly  crossed  the  strait,  after  he  had,  by  an  in- 
genious stratagem,  eluded  the  vigilance  of  the  Carthaginian  general.  Thf, 
Carthaginians,  partly  by  art  and  paitly  by  force,  were  driven  out  of  the  cita- 
del ;  and  the  city  w^as  surrendered  immediately  to  the  consul.  The  Cartha- 
ginians hanged  their  general,  for  having  given  up  the  citadel  in  so  cowardly  a 
manner,  and  prepared  to  besiege  the  town  with  all  their  forces.  Hiero  joined 
them  with  his  own.  But  the  consul  having  defeated  them  separately,  raised 
the  siege,  and  laid  waste  at  pleasure  the  neighbouring  country,  Ihr  enemy  not 


*  A.  M  3724.    A.  Garth.  666.    A.  Rome,  468.    Ant.  J.  C.  280.    Polyb.  1.  i.  p.  8.  Edit.  Givaor. 
t  Polyb.  1.  i.  p.  12—15.    iCdit.  Gronov. 
i  A.  M.  3741-    A.  Carlh.  583.    A.  Rome,  485.    Ant.  J.  C.  ^23.  Frsntin. 


CARTHAGLNIANS. 


li  is  doubled,  w^hether  the  motives  which  prompted  the  Romans  to  under- 
lake  this  expedition  were  very  upright,  and  exactly  conformable  to  the  rulet 
of  strict  justice.*  Be  this  as  it  may,  their  passage  into  Sicily,  and  the  suc- 
cour thsy  gave  to  the  inhabitants  of  Messina,  may  be  said  to  have  been  the 
first  steps  by  which  they  ascended  to  that  height  of  glory  and  grandeur  they 
^ftervvan^s  attained. 

Hiero  having  recorKiiled  himself  to  the  Romans,  and  entered  into  an  allia  ce 
with  them,  the  Carthaginia.^s  bent  all  their  thoughts  on  Sicily,  and  sent  nume- 
rous armies  into  that  island.!  Agrigentum  was  their  depot  of  arms,  whic'j, 
being  attacked  by  the  Romans,  was  won  by  them,  after  tney  had  besieged  ii 
«cveM  months,  and  grained  one  battle. J 

Notwithstanding  the  advantage  of  this  victory,  and  the  conquest  of  so  im- 
portant a  city,  the  Romans  were  sensii>.*\  *hat  while  the  Carthaginians  should 
continue  masters  at  sea,  the  maritir^e  places  in  the  island  would  always  side 
with  them,  and  put  it  out  of  thf  ir  power  ever  to  drive  them  out  of  oiciIy.<^ 
Besides,  they  saw  with  reluctance  Africa  enjoy  a  profound  tranquillity,  at  a 
time  that  Italy  was  iiifested  hy  the  frequent  incursions  of  its  enemies.  They 
now  first  formed  the  design  of  having  a  fleet,  and  of  disputing  the  empire  of 
the  sea  with  the  Carthaginiims.  The  undertaking  was  bold,  and  in  outward 
appearance  rash,  but  evinces  the  courage  and  grandeur  of  the  Roman  genius. 
The  Romans  were  not  then  possessed  of  a  single  vessel,  which  they  could 
call  their  own;  and  the  ships  which  had  transported  their  forces  into  Sicily 
iiad  been  borrowed  of  their  neighbours.  They  were  unexperienced  in  sea 
affairs,  had  no  carpenters  acquainted  with  the  building  of  ships,  and  knew 
nothing  of  the  shape  of  the  quinqueremes,  or  galleys,  with  five  benches  ol  uars, 
in  which  the  chief  strength  of  fleets  at  that  time  consisted  ;  but  happily,  the 
year  before,  one  had  been  taken  upon  the  coasts  of  Italy,  which  served  them 
as  a  model.  They  therefore  applied  themselves  with  ardour  and  incredible  in- 
dustry to  the  building  of  ships  in  the  same  form  ;  and  in  the  mean  time  they 
got  together  a  set  of  rowers,  who  were  taught  an  exercise  and  discipline  ut- 
terly unknown  to  them  before,  in  the  following  manner.  Benches  were  made, 
on  the  shore,  in  the  same  order  and  fashion  with  those  of  galleys.  The  row- 
ers were  seated  on  these  benches,  and  taught,  as  if  they  had  been  furnished 
with  oars,  to  throw  themselves  backwards  with  their  arms  drawn  to  their 
breasts  ;  and  then  to  throw  their  bodies  and  arms  forward  in  one  regular  mo- 
tion, the  instant  their  commanding  officer  gave  the  signal.  In  two  months,  one 
hundred  galkys  of  five  benches  of  oars,  and  twenty  galleys  of  three  benches 
were  built;  and  after  some  time  had  been  spent  in  exercising  the  rowers  on 
ship-board,  the  fleet  put  to  sea,  and  went  in  quest  of  the  enemy.  The  con- 
sul Duillius  had  the  command  of  it. 

The  Romans  coming  up  with  the  Carthaginians  near  the  coast  of  Myle, 
they  prepared  for  an  engagement.il  As  the  Roman  galleys,  by  their  being 
clumsily  and  hastily  built,  were  neither  very  nimble  nor  easy  to  work,  this  in- 
convenience was  supplied  by  a  machine  invented  for  this  occasion,  and  af- 
If'rwards  known  by  the  name  of  the  Corvus,1[  crow  or  crane,  by  help  of  which 
they  grappler^  the  enemy's  ships,  boarded  them,  and  immediately  came  to 
^.lose  engagement.  The  signaJ.  for  fighting  was  given.  The  Carthaginian 
fleet  consisted  of  a  hundred  and  thirty  sail,  under  the  command  of  Hannibal 
fie  himself  was  on  board  a  galley  of  seven  benches  of  Oars,  which  had  once 
belonged  to  Pyrrhus.  The  Carthaginians,  highly  despising  enemies  wl  o 
y/ere  utterly  unacquainted  with  sea  affairs,  imagined  that  their  very  appear- 
ance would  put  them  to  flight,  and  therefore  came  1  mvard  boldly,  with  little 
expectatfon  of  fighting,  but  firmly  imagining  they  should  reap  the  spoils, 
which  they  had  already  devoured  with  tlieir  eyes.     They  were  nevertheletf 

♦  The  Chevalier  Folard  examines  this  question  in  his  remarks  upon  Polybius,  1.  i.  p.  16. 
♦  Polyb.  1.  i.  p.  15—19.  i  A.  M.  3743.    A.  Rome,  437.  6  Polyb.  I.  i.  p.  m, 

d  A.  M.  3745.    A.  Rome,  489.    Polyb.  1.  \.  p.  22.  f  Polyb.  1.  u  p.  SL 

♦*  A  different  person  from  the  great  Hannibal- 


188 


HISTORT  OF  THE 


a  little  surprised  at  (he  sight  of  the  above-mentioned  engines,  raised  on  thi 
prow  of  every  one  of  the  enemy's  ships,  and  which  was  entirely  new  to  them. 
But  their  astonishment  increased,  when  they  saw  those  engines  drop  down  at 
once ;  and  being  thrown  forcibly  into  their  vessels,  grapple  them  in  spite  of 
all  resistance.  This  changed  the  form  of  the  action,  and  obliged  the  Cartha- 
ginians to  come  to  close  engagement  with  their  enemies,  as  though  they  had 
iought  them  on  land.  They  soon  were  unable  to  sustain  the  attack  of  the 
Roman  vessels,  upon  which  a  horrible  slaughter  ensued  ;  and  the  Carthagi- 
nians lost  fourscore  vessels,  among  which  was  the  admiral's  galley,  he  himself 
escaping  with  difliculty  in  a  small  boat. 

So  considerable  and  unexpected  a  victory  raised  the  courage  of  the  Romans, 
and  seemed  to  redouble  their  vigour  for  the  continuance  of  the  war.  Extra- 
ordinary honours  were  bestowed  on  the  consul  Duillius,  who  was  the  first  Ro- 
man that  had  a  naval  triumph  decreed  him.  Besides  which,  a  rostral  pillar 
was  erected  in  his  honour,  with  a  noble  inscription  ;  which  pillar  is  yet  stand- 
ing in  Rome.* 

During  the  two  following  years,  the  Romans  grew  insensibly  stronger  at  sea, 
by  their  gaining  several  naval  victories.!  But  these  were  considered  by  them 
only  as  essays  preparatory  to  the  great  design  they  meditated  of  carrying  the 
war  into  Africa,  and  of  combating  the  Carthaginians  in  their  own  country. 
There  was  nothing  the  latter  dreaded  more  ;  and  to  divert  so  dangerous  a  blow, 
they  resolved  to  fight  the  enemy,  whatever  iin'ght  be  the  consequence. 

The  Romans  had  elected  M.  Atilius  Regulus,  and  L.  Manlius,  consuls  for  this 
year.J;  Their  fleet  consisted  of  three  hundred  and  thirty  vessels,  on  board  of 
which  were  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  men,  each  vessel  having  three 
hundred  rowers,  and  a  hundred  and  twenty  soldiers.  That  of  the  Carthagi- 
nians, commanded  by  Hanno  and  Hamilcar,  had  twenty  vessels  more  than  the 
Romans,  and  a  greater  number  of  men  in  proportion.  The  two  fleets  came 
in  sight  of  each  other  near  Ecnomus  in  Sicily.  No  man  could  behold  t^vo 
such  formidable  navies,  or  be  a  spectator  of  the  extraordinary  preparations 
they  made  for  fighting,  without  being  under  some  concern,  on  seeing  the  dan- 
ger which  menaced  two  of  the  most  powerful  states  in  the  world.  As  the 
courage  on  both  sides  was  equal,  and  no  great  disparity  in  the  forces,  the  fight 
was  obstinate,  and  the  victory  long  doubtful ;  but  at  last  the  Carthaginians 
were  overcome.  More  than  sixty  of  their  ships  were  taken  by  the  enemy, 
and  thirty  sunk.    The  Romans  lost  twenty-four,  not  one  of  which  was  taken 


The  fruit  of  this  victory,  as  the  Romans  had  designed  it,  was  their  sailing 
(o  Africa,  after  having  refitted  their  ships,  and  provided  them  with  all  neces- 
saries for  carrying  on  a  long  war  in  a  foreign  country. §  They  landed  happily 
in  Africa,  and  began  the  war  by  taking  a  town  called  Clypea,  which  had  a 
commodious  haven.  From  thence,  after  having  sent  an  express  to  Rome,  to 
give  advice  of  their  landing,  and  to  receive  orders  from  the  senate,  they  over 
ran  the  open  countrj^  in  which  they  made  terrible  havoc ;  bringing  away 
whole  flocks  of  cattle,  and  twenty  thousand  prisoners. 

The  express  returned  in  the  mean  time  with  the  orders  of  the  senate  ;  which 
were,  that  Regulus  should  continue  to  command  the  armies  in  Africa,  with  the 
title  of  proconsul ;  and  that  his  colleague  should  return  with  a  great  part  of 
Sie  fleet  and  the  forces  ;  leaving  Regulus  only  forty  vessels,  fifteen  thousand 
foot,  and  five  hundred  horse. ||  Their  leaving  the  latter  with  so  few  ships  and 
troops,  was  a  visible  renunciation  of  the  advantages  which  might  have  been 
expected  from  the  descent  upon  Africa. 

The  people  at  Rome  depended  greatly  on  the  courage  and  abilities  of  Regu- 
iuf;  and  their  joy  was  universal,  when  it  was  known  that  he  was  continued  ia 


•  Theie  pillars  were  called  rostratae,  fiom  the  beaks  of  ships  with  which  they  were  adorned  ;  roftl9 
t  Polyb.  1.  i.  p.  24.  t  A.  IVi.  3749.    A.  Rome.  494.    Polyb.  1.  i.  p.  34. 

i  Folyb.  1.  i  p.  30.  11  A  M.  376b.    A.  Rome,  494. 


CARTHACINlAx-Va.  jg^ 

^  command  in  Africa  ;  but  je  alone  was  afflicted  on  that  account.*  Whee 
news  was  brought  him  of  it,  he  wrote  to  Rome,  and  requested,  in  the  strongest 
terms,  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  resign.  His  chief  reason  was,  that  the 
death  of  the  farmer  who  rented  his  grounds,  having  given  one  of  his  hirelings 
an  opportunity  of  carrying  off  all  the  implements  of  tillage,  his  presence  was 
necessaiy  for  taking  care  of  his  little  spot  of  ground,  but  seven  acres,  which 
was  all  the  property  his  family  possessed.  But  the  senate  undertook  to  have 
fells  lands  cultivated  at  the  public  expense  ;  to  maintain  his  wife  and  children; 
an.i  to  indemnify  him  for  the  loss  he  had  sustained  by  the  robbery  of  his  hire- 
ling. Thrice  happy  age  I  in  which  poverty  was  thus  had  in  honour,  and  v/aa 
united  with  the  most  rare  and  uncommon  merit,  and  the  highest  employments 
of  the  state!  Regulus,  thus  freed  from  his  domestic  cares,  bent  his  whole 
thoughts  on  discharging  the  duty  of  a  general. 

After  taking  several  castles,  he  laid  siege  to  Adis,  one  of  the  strongest  for- 
tresses of  the  country.t  The  Carthaginians,  exasperated  at  seeing  their  ene- 
mies thus  laying  waste  their  lands  at  pleasure,  at  last  took  the  field,  and  march- 
ed against  them,  to  force  them  to  raise  the  siege.  With  this  view,  they  posted 
themselves  on  a  hill,  which  overlooked  the  Roman  camp,  and  was  convenient 
for  annoying  the  enemy  ;  but  at  the  same  time,  by  its  situation,  useless  to  one 
part  of  their  army ;  for  the  strength  of  the  Carthaginians  lay  chiefly  in  their 
horses  and  elephants,  which  are  of  no  service  but  in  plains.  Regulus  did  not 
give  them  an  opportunity  of  descending  from  the  hill,  but  taking  advantage 
of  this  essential  mistake  of  the  Carthaginian  generals,  he  fell  upon  them  in  this 
■  post ;  and  after  meeting  with  a  feeble  resistance,  put  the  enemy  to  flight, 
plundered  their  camp,  and  laid  waste  the  adjacent  countries.  Then,  having 
taken  Tunis,!  im.portant  city,  and  which  brought  him  near  Carthage,  he 
naade  his  army  encamp  there. 

The  enemy  were  in  the  utmost  alarm.  All  things  had  succeeded  ill  with 
them  ;  their  forces  had  been  defeated  by  sea  and  land,  and  upwards  of  two 
aundred  towns  had  surrendered  to  the  conqueror.  Besides,  the  Numidians 
made  greater  havoc  in  their  territories  than  even  the  Romans.  They  expected 
every  moment  to  see  their  capital  besieged.  And  their  affliction  was  increased 
by  the  concourse  of  peasants,  with  their  wives  and  children,  vvho  flocked  from 
all  parts  to  Carthage  for  safety ;  which  gave  them  melancholy  apprehensions 
'>(  a  famine  in  case  of  a  siege.  Regulus,  afraid  of  having  the  glory  of  his  vic- 
tories torn  from  him  by  a  successor,  made  some  proposal  of  an  accommoda- 
tion to  the  vanquished  enemy  ;  but  the  conditions  appeared  so  hard,  that  they 
fvould  not  listen  to  them.  As  he  did  not  doubt  his  being  soon  master  of  Car- 
'hage,.  he  would  not  abate  any  thing  in  his  demands ;  but,  by  an  infatuation 
jvhich  is  almost  inseparable  from  great  and  unexpected  success,  he  treated 
them  with  haughtiness,  and  pretended,  that  every  thing  he  suffered  them  to 
possess  ought  to  be  esteemed  a  favour,  with  this  farther  insult.  That  they  ought 
either  to  overcome  like  brave  men^  or  learn  to  submit  to  the  victor,^  So  harsh 
and  disdainful  a  treatment  only  fired  their  resentment,  and  made  them  resolve 
rather  to  die  sword  in  hand,  than  to  do  any  thing  which  might  derogate  how 
the  dignity  of  Carthage. 


*  Va\  Max.  1.  iv.  c.  4.  f  Polyb.  1.  i.  p.  31—36. 

X  In  the  interval  between  the  departure  of  Manlijis  and  the  taking  of  Tunis,  we  are  to  place  the  memo- 
nbie  combat  of  Regulus  apd  his  whole  army,  with  a  serpent  of  so  prodigious  a  size,  that  th<5  fabulous  out 
•f  Cadmus  is  hardly  comparable  to  it.  The  story  of  this  serpent  was  elegantly  written  by  Livy,  but  it  if 
BOW  lost  Valerius  Maximus,  hoA^ever,  partly  repairs  that  loss;  and,  in  the  last  chapter  of  his  first  book, 
fire*  us  this  account  of  this  monster  from  Livy  himself.  He  (Livy)  says,  that  on  the  banks  of  Bagrada, 
an  African  river,  lay  a  serpent,  of  so  enormous  a  size,  that  it  kept  the  whole  Roman  army  from  coming  to 
the  river.  Several  soldiers  had  been  buried  in  the  wide  caverns  of  its  belly,  and  many  pressed  to  death  in 
the  spiral  volumes  of  its  tail.  Its  skin  was  impenetrable  to  darts  ;  and  it  was  with  repeated  endeavours 
that  stones,  siung  from  military  engines,  at  last  killed  it.  The  serpent  then  exhibited  a  sight  that  was  mor« 
terrible  to  the  Roman  cohorts  and  legions,  than  even  Carthagie  itsnf.  The  streams  of  the  river  were  djed 
with  its  blood,  and  the  stench  of  its  putrified  carcase  infecting  the  adjacent  country,  the  Romac  army  was 
Ibrced  to  decamp.  Its  skin,  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long,  was  sent  to  Rome  ;  and,  if  Pliny  may  b% 
credited,  was  to  be  seen,  together  with  the  jaw-bone  of  the  same  monster,  in  the  temple  whei«  ihey  wei« 
•nrt  deposited,  as  late  as  the  Numantine  war. 

I  AfT  rif  dya^Ht  t\  vjxgiv    gTjtgiv  To'f  uTTfptxacriv — Diod.  Eclog.l.  xxm.  • 


J  (^0  msi  OKY  OF  THE 

Reduced  to  this  fatal  extremity,  they  t-eceived,  in  the  happiest  junc^Lne,  t 
reinforcement  of  auxiliary  troops  out  of  Greece,  with  Xsn^hijDpus  the  Lace^ 
daemonian  at  their  head,  who  had  been  educated  in  the  discipline  of  Sparta, 
and  learned  the  art  of  war  in  that  renowned  and  excellent  school.  When  he 
had  heard  the  circumstances  of  the  last  battle,  which  were  told  him  at  his 
request ;  had  clearly  discerned  the  occasion  of  its  being  lost,  and  perfectly 
informed  himself  of  the  strength  of  Carthage,  he  declared  publicly,  and  repeat- 
ed t  often  in  the  hearing  of  the  rest  of  the  officers,  that  the  misfortunes  of  the 
Cart\iaginians  were  owing  entirely  to  the  incapacity  of  their  generals.  These 
discourses  came  at  last  to  the  ear  of  the  public  council :  the  members  cf  it 
were  struck  with  them,  and  they  requested  the  favour  of  seeing  and  talking 
with  him.  He  then  corroborated  his  opinion  with  such  strong  and  convincing 
reas<  ns,  that  the  oversights  committed  by  the  generals  were  visible  to  every 
one ;  and  he  proved  as  clearly  to  the  council,  that,  by  a  conduct  opposite  to 
to  the  former,  they  would  not  only  secure  their  dominions,  but  drive  the  ene- 
my out  of  them.  This  speech  revived  the  courage  and  hopes  of  the  Cartha- 
ginians  ;  and  Xanthippus  was  entreated,  and  in  some  measure  forced,  to  ac- 
cept the  command  of  the  army.  When  the  Carthaginians  saw,  in  his  exercis- 
ing of  theii  forces  near  the  city,  the  manner  in  v/hich  he  drew  them  up  in  ordei 
01  battle,  made  them  advance  or  retreat  on  the  first  signal,  file  off  with  order 
and  expedition  ;  in  a  word,  perform  all  the  evolutions  and  movements  of  the 
militaiT  art ;  they  were  struck  with  astonishment,  and  owned,  that  the  ablest 
generals  which  Carthage  had  hitherto  produced  knew  nothing  in  comparison 
^f  Xanthippus. 

The  officers,  soldiers,  and  every  one,  were  lost  in  admiration  ;  and,  what  is 
very  uncommon,  jealousy  gave  no  alloy  to  it ;  the  fear  of  the  present  danger, 
and  the  love  of  their  country,  stifling,  without  doubt,  all  other  sentiments. 
The  gloomy  consternation,  which  had  before  seized  the  whole  army,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  joy  and  alacrity.  The  soldiers  were  urgent  to  be  led  against  the 
enemy,  in  the  firm  assurance,  as  they  said,  of  being  victorious  under  their  neM 
leader,  and  of  obliterating  the  disgrace  of  former  defeats.  Xanthippus  did 
not  suffer  their  ardour  to  cool,  and  the  sight  of  the  enemy  only  inflamed  it 

When  he  had  approached  within  a  little  more  than  twelve  hundred  paces  of 
them,  he  thought  proper  to  call  a  council  of  war,  in  order  to  show  a  respeci 
to  the  Carthaginian  generals  by  consulting  them.  All  unanimously  joined  ir 
opinion  with  him,  upon  which  they  resolved  to  give  the  enemy  battle  the  fol- 
lowing  day. 

The  Carthaginian  army  was  composed  of  twelve  thousand  foot,  four  thou- 
sand horse,  and  about  a  hundred  elephants.  That  of  the  Romans,  as  near  as 
may  be  guessed  from  what  goes  before,  for  Polybius  gives  no  determinate  num- 
ber, consisted  of  fifteen  thousand  foot,  and  three  hundred  horse. 

It  must  have  been  a  noble  sight  to  see  two  armies,  not  overcharged  with 
numbers,  but  composed  of  brave  soldiers,  and  commanded  by  very  aole  gene- 
rals, engaged  in  battle.  In  those  tumultuous  fights,  where  two  or  three  hun- 
dred thousand  are  engaged  on  both  sides,  confusion  is  inevitable  ;  and  it  is  dif- 
ficult, amidst  a  thousand  events,  where  chance  generally  seems  to  have  great- 
er share  than  counsel  to  discover  the  true  merit  of  commanders,  and  the  real 
causes  of  victory.  But  in  such  engagements  as  this  before  us,  nothing  escapes 
the  curiosity  of  the  reader,  for  he  clearly  sees  the  disposition  of  the  two  ar- 
mies, imagines  he  almost  hears  the  orders  given  out  by  the  generals,  follows  all 
the  movements  of  the  army,  discovers  plainly  the  faults  on  both  sides,  and  is 
thereby  qualified  to  determine,  with  certainty,  the  causes  to  which  the  victory 
or  defeat  is  owing.  The  success  of  this  battle,  hawever  inconsiderable  it  may 
appear,  from  the  small  number  of  the  combatants,  was  nevertheless  to  decide 
the  fate  of  Carthage. 

The  disposition  of  both  armies  was  as  follows.  Xanthippus  drew  all  his  ele- 
phants in  front.  Behind  these,  at  some  distance,  he  placed  the  Carthaginiai 
miantiy  in  one  body  or  phalanx.   The  foreign  troops  in  the  Carthaginian  ser 


rARTIlAGIMANa 


191 


Tice  were  posted,  one  part  of  them  on  the  right,  between  the  phalani  and  the 
horse  ;  ana  the  other,  composed  of  light-armed  soldiers^  jn  platoons,  at  the 
head  of  the  two  wings  of  the  cavalry. 

On  the  side  of  the  Romans,  as  they  apprehended  the  elephants  most,  Re- 
pilus.  to  provide  against  them,  posted  his  light-armed  soldiers,  on  a  line,  in 
the  front  of  the  legions.  In  the  rear  of  these  he  placed  the  cohorts,  one  be- 
hind another,  and  the  horse  on  the  wings.  In  thus  straitening  the  front  of  hi? 
main  battle,  to  give  it  more  depth,  he  indeed  took  a  just  precaution,  says^Po- 
lybius,  against  the  elephants,  but  he  did  not  provide  for  the  inequality  of  his 
cavalry,  which  was  much  inferior  in  numbers  to  that  of  the  enemy. 

The  two  armies  being  thus  drawn  up,  waited  only  for  the  signal.  Xanthip- 
pus  ordered  the  elephants  to  advance,  to  break  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  ;  and 
commanded  the  two  wings  of  the  cavalry  to  charge  the  Romans  in  flank.  At 
the  same  time,  the  latter,  clashing  their  arms,  and  shouting  after  the  manner 
of  their  country,  advanced  against  the  enemy.  Their  cavalry  did  not  stand 
the  onset  long,  it  being  so  much  inferior  to  that  of  the  Carthaginians.  The  in- 
fantry of  the  left  wing,  to  avoid  the  attacks  of  the  elephants,  and  show  how 
h'ttle  they  feared  the  mercenaries  who  formed  the  enemy's  right  wing,  attacks 
%  puts  it  to  flight,  and  pursues  it  to  the  camp.  Those  in  the  first  ranks,  who 
were  opposed  to  the  elephants,  were  broken  and  trodden  under  foot,  after  fight- 
ing valiantly  ;  and  the  rest  of  the  main  body  stood  firm  for  sometime,  by  rea- 
son of  its  great  depth.  But  the  rear,  being  attacked  in  flank  by  the  enemy's 
cavalry,  and  obliged  to  face  about  and  receive  it,  and  thos?  who  had  broken 
through  the  elephants,  met  the  phalanx  of  the  Carthaginians,  which  had 
not  yet  engaged,  and  which  received  them  in  good  order,  the  Romans  were 
routed  on  all  sides,  and  entirely  defeated.  The  greatest  part  of  them  were 
crushed  to  death  by  the  enormous  weight  of  the  elephants  ;  and  the  remain- 
der, standing  in  their  ranks,  were  shot  through  and  through  with  arrows  from 
the  enemy's  horse.  Only  a  small  number  fled,  and  as  the}'  v>ere  in  an  open 
country,  the  horse  and  elephants  killed  a  great  part  of  them.  Five  hundred, 
or  thereabouts,  who  went  off*  with  Regulus,  were  taken  prisoners  with  him. 
The  Carthaginians  lost,  in  this  baftle,eighthundredmercenaries,  who  were  op- 
posed to  the  left  wing  of  the  Romans  ;  and  of  the  latter  only  two  thousand 
escaped,  who,  by  their  pursuing  the  enemy's  right  wing,  had  drawn  themselves 
out  of  the  engagement.  All  the  rest,  Regulus  and  those  who  were  taken  with 
him  excepted,  were  left  dead  in  the  field.  The  two  thousand  who  had  es- 
caped the  slaughter  retired  to  Clypea,  and  were  saved  in  an  almost  nviraculous 
manner. 

The  Carthaginians,  after  having  stripped  the  dead,  entered  Carthage  in  tri- 
umph, dragging  a^fter  them  the  unfortunate  Regulus,  and  five  hundred  prison- 
ers. Their  joy  was  so  much  the  greater,  as,  but  a  very  few  days  before,  they 
had  seen  themselves  upon  the  brink  of  ruin.  The  men  and  women,  old  and 
young,  crowded  the  temples,  to  return  thanks  to  the  gods  ;  and  several  days 
Were  devoted  wholly  to  festivities  and  rejoicings. 

Xanthippus,  who  had  contributed  so  much  to  this  happy  change,  had  the 
wisdom  to  withdraw  shortly  after,  from  the  apprehension  lest  his  glory,  which 
had  hitherto  been  unsullied,  might,  after  this  first  blaze,  insensibly  faae  away, 
and  leave  him  exposed  to  the  darts  of  envy  and  calumny,  which  are  always 
dangerous,  but  most  in  a  foreign  country,  when  a  man  etands  alone,  unsup- 
ported by  friends,  relations,  or  any  other  succour. 

Polybius  tells  us,  that  Xanthippus'  departure  was  related  in  a  different  man- 
ner, and  he  promises  to  take  notice  of  it  in  another  place,  but  that  part  of  his 
history  has  not  come  down  to  us.  We  read  in  Appian,*  that  the  Carthaginians, 
excited  by  a  mean  and  detestable  jealousy  of  Xanthippus'  glory,  and  unable 
to  bear  the  thoughts  that  they  should  stand  indebted  to  Sparta  for  their  safety, 
•poll  pretence  of  conducting  him  and  his  attendants  back  with  honour  to  hit 


De  Bell.  Phd.  p.  90 


m 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


DWS  countiy,  with  a  numerous  convoy  of  ships,  gave  private  orders  to  hart 
them  all  put  to  death  in  their  passage  :  as  if,  with  him,  thej  could  have  buried 
in  the  waves  for  ever  the  memory  of  his  services,  and  ihejr  horrid  ingratitude 
to  him.* 

This  battle,  says  Polybius,t  though  not  so  considerable  as  many  others,  may 
yet  furnish  very  salutary  instructions ;  which,  adds  that  author,  is  the  grcalesi 
benefit  that  can  be  reaped  from  the  study  of  hi-story. 

First,  should  any  man  promise  himself  permanent  good  fortune,  after  he  has 
considered  the  fate  of  Regulus  ?  That  general,  insolent  with  victory,  inexora- 
ble to  the  conquered,  and  deaf  to  all  their  remonstrances,  saw  himself  a  lew 
days  after  vanquished  by  them,  and  made  their  prisoner.  Hannibal  suggested 
the  same  reflection  to  Scipio,  when  he  exhorted  him  not  to  be  dazzled  with 
the  success  of  his  arms.  Regulus,  said  he,  would  have  been  recorded  among 
the  few  instances  of  valour  and  felicity,  had  he,  after  the  victory  obtained  in 
this  very  country,  granted  our  fathers  the  peace  which  they  su^  for.  But, 
putting  no  bounds  to  his  ambition  and  the  insolence  of  success,  tbe  greater  his 
prosperity,  the  more  ingnominious  was  his  fall. J 

In  the  second  place,  the  truth  of  the  saying  of  Euripides  is  here  seen  in  its 
full  extent,  That  one  wise  head  is  worth  a  great  many  hands. ^  A  single  man 
here  changes  the  whole  face  of  affairs.  On  one  hand,  he  defeats  troops  which 
were  thought  invincible  ;  on  the  other,  he  revives  the  courage  of  a  city  and 
an  army,  whom  he  had  found  in  consternation  and  despair. 

Such,  as  Polybi  js  observes,  is  the  use  which  ought  to  be  made  of  the  study  of 
history.  For  there  being  two  ways  of  acquiring  improvement  and  instiuction, 
first,  by  one's  own  experiencxi,  and,  secondly,  by  that  of  other  men  ;  it  is  much 
more  wise  and  useful  to  improve  by  other  men's  miscarriages  than  by  our  own. 

I  return  to  Regulus,  that  I  may  here  finish  what  relates  to  him  ;  Polybius, 
to  our  great  disappointment,  taking  no  farther  notice  of  that  general.ll 


*^  This  perfidious  action,  as  it  is  related  by  Appian,  may  possibly  be  true,  when  "we  consider  the  charac> 
ier  of  the  Carthag-inians,  who  were  certainly  a  cruel  and  treacherous  peoi;!^.  But  if  it  be  fact,  "ne  would 
•render  why  Polybius  should  reserve  for  another  occasion,  Ih*?  relation  of  an  incident,  which  comes  in  most 
properly  here,  as  it  finishes  at  once  the  character  and  life  of  Xanthippus.  Hie  silence  tVierefore  in  thia 
place,  makes  me  think  that  he  intended  to  brin^  Xanthippus  again  upon  the  stage,  and  to  exhibit  him  to  the 
reader  in  a  different  light  from  that  in  which  he  is  placed  by  Appian.  To  this  let  me  add,  that  it  showed 
no  great*depth  of  policy  in  the  Carthaginians,  to  take  this  method  of  despatching  him,  when  so  many  other* 
offered,  which  were  less  liable  to  censure.  In  thin  scheme  formed  for  his  destruction,  not  only  himself,  bu> 
all  his  followers,  were  to  be  murdered,  without  the  pretence  of  even  a  storm,  or  loss  of  one  single  Cartha 
^inian,  to  cover  or  excuse  the  perpetration  of  so  horrid  a  crime. 

t  Lib.  i.  p.  36,  37.  • 

X  Inter  pauca  felicitatis  virtutisque  exempla,  M.  Atilius  quondam  in  h|.c  eadem  terra,  fuisset,  si  victo<_ 
paccm  petentibus  dedisset  patribus  nostris.    Sed  non  statuendo  tandem  felicitati  modum,  nec  cohibendr 
ifferentem  se  fortunam,  quanto  altids  elatus  erat,  eo  fcedifis  corruit. — Liv.  1.  xxx.  n.  30. 

5  *Qr  IV  (T0(p6v  ^ovKeviia  tolj  rroKKas  xfTf  ay  vixa.  Itroay  not  be  improper  to  tswe  notice  in  this  place, 
as  it  was  forgotten  before,  of  a  mistake  of  the  learned  Cssaubon,  in  his  translation  of  a  passage  of  Poly- 
bius, concerning  Xanthippus.  The  passage  is  this,  *Ev  oXs  xa{  ScivhvTr6v  Tiva  AaxcJaifK^viov  &vdfa  tt)< 
Aaxcovixriy  &yi>3jT\s  |ifT£xnx6Ta.  xat  tJi^tiv  iv  roTs  iroKefXixoXs  Ixo^Ta  (ru|Li|ifTf ov-  which  is  thus  rendered 
by  Casaubon  :  In  queis  [militibus  sc.  Graecia  allatis]  Xanthippus  quidam  fuit  Lacedxmoniuf,  vir  disciplinS 
LaconicSl  imbutus,  et  qui  rei  mililaris  usum  mediocrem  habebat.  Whereas,  agreeably  with  the  whole  cha- 
racter and  conduct  ot  Xanthippus,  I  take  the  sense  of  the  passage  to  be,  a  man  formed  by  the  Spartan  di»- 
cipl  ne,  and  proportionably  [not  moderately]  skilled  in  military  affaii*. 

11  This  silence  of  Polybius  has  prejudiced  a  great  many  learned  men  against  many  of  the  stories  told  of 
Regulus'  barbarous  treatL lent,  after  he  was  taken  by  the  Carthaginians.  Mr.  Rollin  speaks  no  farther^ 
this  matter,  and  therefore  I  shall  give  my  reader  the  substance  of  what  is  brought  against  the  general  b»- 
lief  of  the  Roman  writers,  (as  well  historians  as  poets,)  and  of  Appian,  on  this  subject.  First,  it  is  urged 
that  Polybius  was  very  sensible  that  the  story  of  these  cruelties  was  false  ;  and  therefore,  that  he  migH 
not  disoblige  the  Romans,  by  contradicting  so  general  a  belief,  he  chose  rather  to  be  silent  concerning  Re- 
gulus after  he  was  taken  prisoner,  than  to  violate  the  truth  of  history,  of  which  he  was  so  strict  an  obsenret. 
This  opinion  is  farther  strengthened,  say  the  adversaries  of  this  belief,  by  a  fragment  of  Diodorus,  which 
»ays,  that  the  wife  of  Regulus,  exasperated  at  the  death  of  her  husband  at  Carthage,  occasioned,  ai  th« 
iftiHgined,  by  barbarous  usage,  persuaded  her  sons  to  reveng*.  the  fate  of  their  father,  by  the  cruel  treatment 
of  two  Carthaginian  captives,  (thought  to  be  Bostar  and  Hamilcar,)  taken  in  the  sea-fight  against  Sicily,  a^- 
ter  the  misfortune  of  Regulus,  and  put  into  her  hands  for  the  redemption  of  her  husband.  One  of  these  died 
by  the  severity  of  his  imprisonment;  and  the  other,  by  the  care  of  the  senate,  who  detested  the  cruelty, 
survived,  and  was  restored  to  health.  This  treatment  of  the  captives,  and  the  resentment  of  the  senate 
OQ  that  account,  form  a  third  argument  or  presumption  against  the  truth  of  this  story  of  Regulus,  which  is 
thus  argued  • — Regulus  dying  in  his  captivity,  by  the  usual  course  of  nature,  his  wife,  thus  frustrated  of  hftf 
kopM  of  redttcmiog  him  by  the  exchange  of  her  captives,  treated  them  with  the  u'-'  *•  barbarity,  in  cr**** 


CARTHAGINIANI!. 


19.1 


After  being  kept  some  years  in  prison,  he  was  sent  to  Rome,  to  propose  an 
exchange  of  prisoners.*  He  had  been  obliged  to  take  an  oath,  that  he  would 
return  in  case  he  proved  unsuccessful.  He  then  acquainted  the  senate  with 
the  subject  of  his  voyage  ;  and  being  invited  by  them  to  give  his  opinion  freely, 
he  answered  that  he  could  no  longer  do  it  as  a  senator,  having  lost  both  this 
quality,  and  that  of  a  Roman  citizen,  from  the  time  that  he  had  fallen  into  tlie 
hands  of  his  enemies ;  but  he  did  not  refuse  to  offer  his  thoughts  as  a  private 
person.  This  was  a  very  delicate  affair.  Every  one  was  touched  with  the 
misfortunes  of  so  great  a  man.  He  needed  only,  says  Cicero,  to  have  spoker, 
one  word,  and  it  would  have  restored  him  to  his  liberty,  his  estate,  h's  di^. 
nity,  his  wife,  his  children,  and  his  country ;  but  that  word  appeared  to  nnn 
contrary  to  the  honour  and  welfare  of  the  state.  He  therefore  plainly  de- 
clared that  an  exchange  of  prisoners  ought  not  to  be  so  much  as  thought  of  ; 
that  such  an  example  would  be  of  fatal  consequence  to  the  republic ;  that 
citizens,  wl^^had  so  basely  surrendered  their  arms  and  persons  to  the  enemy, 
were  unworthy  of  the  least  compassion,  and  incapable  of  serving  their  coun- 
try ;  that  with  regard  to  himself,  as  he  was  so  far  advanced  in  years,  his  death 
ought  to  be  considered  as  nothing,  whereas  they  had  in  their  hands  several 
Carthaginian  generals,  in  the  flower  of  their  age,  and  capable  of  doing  their 
country  great  services  for  many  years.  It  was  with  difficulty  that  the  senate 
complied  with  so  generous  and  unexampled  a  counsel. 

The  illustrious  exile  therefore  left  Rome,  in  order  to  return  to  Carthage, 
unmoved  either  with  the  deep  affliction  of  his  friends,  or  the  tears  of  his 
wife  and  children,  although  he  knew  but  too  well  the  grievous  torments  which 
were  prepared  for  him.j  And,  indeed,  the  moment  his  enemies  saw  him 
returned  without  having  obtained  the  exchange  of  prisoners,  they  put  him  to 
every  kind  of  torture  their  barbarous  cruelty  could  invent.  They  imprisoned 
him  for  a  long  time  in  a  dismal  dungeon,  whence,  after  cutting  off  his  eye- 
lids, they  drew  him  at  once  into  the  sun,  when  its  beams  darted  the  strongest 
heat.  They  next  put  him  into  a  kind  of  chest  stuck  full  of  nails,  whose  points 
wounding  him,  did  not  allow  him  a  moment's  ease  either  day  or  night.  Lastly, 
aftar  having  been  long  tormented  by  being  kept  for  ever  awake  in  this  dread- 
ful torture,  his  merciless  enemies  nailed  him  to  a  cross,  their  usual  punish- 
ment, and  left  him  to  expire  on  it.  Such  was  the  end  of  this  great  maji.  His 
enemies,  by  depriving  him  of  some  days,  perhaps  years  of  life,  brought  eter- 
nal infamy  on  themselves. 

The  blow  which  the  Romans  had  received  in  Africa  did  not  discourage 
them.  They  made  greater  preparations  than  before  to  recover  their  loss ;  and 
sent  to  sea,  the  following  campaign,  three  hundred  and  sixty  vessels.J  The 
Carthaginians  sailed  out  to  meet  tliem  with  two  hundred,  but  were  beat  in  an 
engagement  fought  on  the  coast  of  Sicily,  and  a  hundred  and  fourteen  of  their 
ships  were  taken  by  the  Romans.  These  sailed  into  Africa,  to  take  in  the 
few  soldiers  who  had  escaped  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  after  the  defeat  of 
Regulus,  and  had  defended  themselves  vigorously  in  Clupeaj§  where  thej 
had  been  unsuccessfully  besieged. 

Here  again  we  are  astonished  that  the  Romans,  after  so  considerable  a  vic- 
tory, and  with  solai^e  a  fleet,  should  sail  into  Africa,  only  to  bring  from  thenc* 

small  garrison ;  whereas  they  might  have  attempted  the  conquest  of 
•incc  Regulus  with  much  fewer  forces,  had  almost  completed  it. 

The  Romans  were  overtaken  by  a  storm  in  their  return,  which  almost  de- 


quence  of  her  belief  of  the  ill  usa^e  which  Re^ulushad  received.  The  senate  being  ang"T  with  herfoi 
H,  to  give  tcme  colour  to  her  cruelties,  she  gave  out  among  her  acquaintance  and  kindred,  that  her  husbari 
^ied  in  the  way  generally  related.  This,  like  all  other  reports,  increased  gradually  ;  and,  from  the  national 
hatred  between  the  Carthaginians  and  Romans,  was  easily  and  generally  belie v^.d  by  the  latter.  How 
far  this  is  conclusive  against  the  testimonies  of  two  such  weighty  authors  as  Cicero  and  Seneca,  (to  my 
•othing  of  the  poets,)  is  left  to  the  judgment  of  the  reader. 

*  A.  M.  3755.  A.  Rome.  499.  Appian  de  Bello  Pun.  p.  2,  3.  Cic.  de  Off.  I.  iii.  n.  99, 100.  Aid.  M 
I  ri.  c.  4.  Senec.  Ep.  99. 

t  Horat.  \.  iii  Od.3.  ♦  P©!yb.  1.  riii.  p.  ?7.  {  Of  C)ype«, 

Vol.  h 


i94 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


Btroyed  their  whole  fleet.*  The  like  nii;;fortune  be  fell  them  aI«othe  followfnj 
year.t  However,  they  consoled  themselves  for  this  doubl'j  loss,  by  a  victory 
which  they  gained  over  Asdrubal,  from  whom  they  took  near  a  hundred  and 
forty  elephants.  This  news  being  brought  to  Rome,  it  filled  the  whole  c  ity 
with  joy,  not  only  because  the  strength  of  the  enemy's  army  was  considera- 
bly diminished  by  the  loss  of  their  elephants,  but  chiefly  because  this  victory 
had  inspired  the  land  forces  with  fresh  courage,  who  since  the  defeat  of  Rp- 
gulus,  had  not  dared  to  \enture  upon  an  engagement,  so  great  was  the  terror 
with  which  those  formidable  animals  had  filled  the  minds  of  all  the  soldiers.  It 
was  therefore  judged  proper  to  make  a  greater  effort  than  ever,  in  order  to 
(jnish,  if  possible,  a  war  which  had  continued  fourteen  years.  The  two  con- 
suls set  sail  with  a  fleet  of  two  hundred  ships,  and  arriving  in  Sicily,  formed 
the  bold  design  of  besieging  Lilybaeum.  This  was  the  strongest  town  which 
the  Carthaginians  possessed  in  Sicily  ;  and  the  loss  of  it  would  be  attended 
with  that  of  every  part  of  the  island,  and  open  to  the  Romans  a  tke  passage 
into  Africa. 

The  reader  will  suppose  that  the  utmost  ardour  was  shown  both  in  the  as- 
sault and  defence  of  the  place.J  Imilcon  was  governor  there,  with  ten  thou- 
sand regular  forces,  exclusive  of  the  inhabitants  ;  and  Hannibal,  son  of  HamJI- 
cai,  soon  brought  him  as  many  more  frcm  Carthage,  he  having,  with  the  m.ost 
intrepid  courage,  forced  his  way  through  the  enemy's  fleet,  and  arrived  hap- 
pily in  the  port.  The  Romans  had  not  lost  any  time.  Having  brought  for 
ward  their  engines,  they  beat  down  several  towers  with  their  battering  rams, 
and  gaining  ground  daily,  they  made  such  progress  as  gave  the  besieged, 
who  were  now  closely  pressed,  some  fears.  The  governor  saw  plainly  that 
there  was  no  other  way  left  to  save  the  city,  but  by  firing  the  engines  of  the 
besiegers.  Having  therefore  prepared  his  forces  for  this  enterprise,  he  sent 
them  out  at  day -break,  with  torches  in  their  hands,  tow,  and  all  kinds  of  com- 
bustible matters,  and  at  the  same  time  attacked  all  the  engines.  The  Ro- 
mans strove,  with  unparalleled  bravery,  to  repel  them,  and  the  engagement 
was  very  bloody.  Every  man,  assailant  as  well  as  defendant,  stood  to  his 
post,  and  chose  to  die  rather  than  to  quit  it.  At  last,  after  a  long  resistance, 
and  dreadful  slaughter,  the  besieged  sounded  a  retreat,  and  left  the  Rom.ans 
in  possession  of  their  works.  This  scene  being  over,  Hannibal,  embarking 
in  the  night,  and  concealing  his  departure  from  the  enemy,  sailed  for  Drepa- 
num,  where  Adherbal  commanded  for  the  Carthaginians.  Drepanum  was 
advantageously  situated,  having  a  commodious  port,  and  lying  about  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty  furlongs  from  Lilybseum  ;  and  was  of  so  much  consequence- 
to  the  Carthaginians,  that  they  had  been  always  very  desirousof  preserving  it. 

The  Romans,  animated  by  their  late  success,  renewed  the  attack  with  greater 
vigour  than  ever,  the  besieged  not  daring  to  venture  a  second  time  to  burn 
th-eir  machines,  because  of  the  ill  success  they  had  met  with,  in  their  first  at- 
tempt. But  a  furious  wind  rising  suddenly,  some  mercenary  soldiers  repre- 
sented to  the  governor,  that  now  was  the  favourable  opportunity  for  them  to 
fire  the  engines  of  the  besiegers,  especially  as  the  wind  blew  full  against  them, 
and  they  offered  themselves  for  the  enterprise.  The  offer  tvhs  accepted,  and 
accordingly  they  were  furnished  with  every  thing  necessary.  In  a  moment  the 
fire  catcned  on  all  the  engines,  and  the  iSomans  could  not  possibly  extinguish 
3i,  because  the  flames  being  instantly  spread  cveiy  where,  the  wind  carried 
the  sparks  and  smoke  full  into  their  eyes,  so  that  they  could  not  see  where  to 
apply  relief,  whereas  their  enemies  saw  clearly  where  to  aim  their  strokes,  and 
throw  their  fire.  This  accident  made  the  Romans  lose  all  hopes  of  bein^  ever 
able  to  carry  the  place  by  force.  They  therefore  turned  the  siege  into  a 
blockade,  raised  a  line  of  contravallation  round  the  town,  and  dispersing  their 
army  in  every  pail  of  the  neighbourhood,  resolved  to  effect  by  time,  what  they 
tbund  themselves  absolutely  unable  to  perform  in  any  other  way. 


Polyb.  I.  rii.  p.  38  -4<l 


t  Polyb.  1.  vii.  p.  41,  4% 


I  Polyb.  I.  i.  p.  44  m 


t  aRPHAGINIANS. 


196 


the  transactions  of  the  siege  of  Lil^rbaeum,  and  the  loss  of  part  of 
ehe  forces,  were  known  at  Rome,  the  citizens,  so  far  from  desponding  at  thi? 
ill  news,  seemed  to  be  fired  with  new  vigour.*  Every  man  strove  to  be  fore- 
most in  the  muster-roll ;  so  that,  in  a  very  little  time,  an  army  of  ten  thousanc 
men  was  raised,  who,  crossing  the  strait,  marched  by  land  to  join  the  besiegers. 

At  the  same  time,  P.  Claudius  Pulcher,  the  consul,  formed  a  design  of  at- 
tacking Adherbal  in  Drepanum.t.  He  thought  himself  sure  of  surprising  him 
because,  after  the  loss  lately  sustained  by  the  Romans  at  Lilyba^um,  the  ene- 
my could  not  imagine  that  they  would  venture  out  again  at  sea.  Flushed  with 
these  hopes,  he  sailed  out  w  th  his  fleet  in  the  night,  the  better  to  conceal  his 
design.  But  he  had  to  do  with  an  active  general,  whose  vigilance  he  could 
not  elude,  and  who  did  not  even  give  him  time  to  draw  up  his  ships  in  line 
of  battle,  but  fell  vigorously  upon  him,  while  his  fleet  was  in  disorder  and  con- 
fusion. Th^arthaginians  gained  a  complete  victory.  Of  the  Roman  fleet, 
only  thirty  vessels  got  off*,  which  being  in  company  with  the  consul,  fled  with 
him,  and  got  away  in  the  best  manner  they  could,  along  tlie  coast.  All  the 
rest,  amounting  to  fourscore  and  thirteen,  with  the  men  on  board  them,  were 
taken  by  the  Carthaginians;  a  few  soldiers  excepted,  who  had  escaped  froni 
the  shipwreck  of  their  vessels.  This  victory  displayed  as  murh  the  prudence 
and  valour  of  Adherbal,  as  it  reflected  shame  and  ignominy  on  the  Roman 
consul. 

Junius,Jhis  colleague,  was  neither  more  prudent  nor  more  fortunate  than 
hi-^self,  but  lost  almost  his  whole  fleet  by  his  ill  conduct.  Endeavouring  to 
atone  for  his  misfortune  by  some  considerable  action,  he  held  a  secret  corres- 
pondence with  the  inhabitants  of  Eryx,§  and  by  that  means  got  the  city  surren- 
dered to  him.  On  the  summit  of  the  mountain  stood  the  temple  of  Venus  Ery- 
cina,  which  was  certainly  the  most  beautiful,  as  well  as  the  richest  of  all  the 
Sicilian  temples.  The  city  stood  a  little  below  the  summit  of  this  mountain, 
and  the  road  that  led  to  it  was  very  long,  and  of  difficult  access.  Junius  post- 
ed one  part  of  his  troops  upon  the  top,  and  the  remainder  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain,  imagining  that  he  now  had  nothing  to  fear  ;  but  Hamilcar,  surnamed 
Barcha,  father  of  the  famous  Hannibal,  found  means  to  get  mto  the  city,  which 
lay  between  the  two  camps  of  the  enemy,  and  there  fortified  himself.  From 
this  advantageous  post,  he  harassed  the  Romans  incessantly  for  two  years. 
One  can  scarce  conceive  how  it  was  possible  for  the  Carthaginians  to  defend 
therhselves,  when  thus  attacked  from  both  the  summit  and  foot  of  the  moun- 
tain, and  unable  to  get  provisions,  but  from  a  little  port,  which  was  the  only 
one  open  to  them.  By  such  enterprises  as  these,  the  abilities  and  prudent 
courage  of  a  general  are  as  well,  or  perhaps  better  discovered,  than  by  the 
winning  of  a  battle. 

For  five  years,  nothing  memorable  was  performed  on  either  side.||  The 
Romans  were  Oiice  of  opinion,  that  their  land  forces  would  alone  be  capable 
of  finishing  the  siege  of  Lilybaeum  :  but  the  war  being  protracted  beyond  their 
expectation,  they  returned  to  their  first  plan,  and  made  extraordinary  efforts 
to  fit  out  a  new  fleet.  The  public  treasury  wcs  at  a  low  ebb  ;  but  this  want 
ivas  supplied  by  private  purses,  so  ardent  was  he  love  which  the  Romans 
bore  to  their  country.  Every  man,  according  to  his  circumstances,  contributed 
to  the  common  expense ;  and  upon  public  security,  advanced  money,  without 
the  least  scruple,  for  an  expedition  on  which  the  glory  and  safety  of  Rome 
depended.  One  man  fitted  out  a  ship  at  his  own  charge  ;  another  was  equip' 
ped  by  the  contributions  of  two  or  three  ;  so  that  in  a  very  little  time,  two 
hundred  were  ready  for  sailing.  The  command  was  given  to  Lutatius  the  con- 
sul, who  immediately  put  to  sea. IT  The  enemy's  fleet  had  retired  into  Africa, 
by  which  means  the  consul  easily  seized  upon  all  the  advantageous  posts  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Lilybaeum  :  and  foreseeing  that  he  should  soon  be  forced 

*  Pclyb.  lib.  i.  p.  50.  ♦  A.  M.  3756.    A.  Rome,  500.    Polj^b.  I.  i.  p.  51. 

t  Polyb.  1.  i.  p.  54 — 59.  {  A  city  and  mountain  of  StcilT. 

0  Polyb.  1  i.  p.  59—62.  ,  A.  M.  3768.    A.  Rome,  5fff. 


196 


HISTORY  OF  THB 


lo  fight,  he  did  all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  assure  himself  of  success,  and  em- 
ployed the  interval  in  exercising  his  soldiers  and  seamen  at  sea. 

He  was  soon  informed  that  the  Carthaginian  fleet  drew  near,  under  the 
command  of  Hanno,  who  landed  in  a  small  island  called  Hiera,  opposite  to 
Drepanum.  His  design  was  to  reach  Eryx  undiscovered  by  the  Romans,  in 
order  to  supply  the  army  there  ;  to  reinforce  his  troops,  and  take  Barcha  on 
board  to  assist  him  in  the  expected  engagement.  But  the  consul,  susi)ecting 
his  intention,  was  beforehand  with  him  ;  and  having  assembled  all  his  best 
forces,  sailed  for  the  small  island  ^Egusa,*  which  lay  near  the  other.  He  ac- 
quainted his  officers  with  the  design  he  had  of  attacking  the  enemy  on  the  mor- 
row. Accordingly,  at  day-break,  he  prepared  to  engage;  unfortunately  the 
wind  was  favourable  for  the  enemy,  whicii  made  him  hesitate  whether  he  should 
give  them  battle.  But  considering  that  the  Carthaginian  fleet,  when  unloaded 
of  its  provisions,  would  become  lighter  and  more  fit  for  action^nd  besides 
would  be  considerabl}'  strengthened  by  the  forces  and  presence  Barcha,  he 
came  to  a  resolution  at  once  ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  foul  weather,  made 
directly  to  the  enemy.  The  consul  had  choice  forces,  able  seamen,  and  ex- 
cellent ships,  built  after  the  model  of  a  galley  that  had  been  lately  taken  from 
the  enemy  ;  and  which  was  the  most  complete  of  its  kind  that  had  ever  been 
seen.  The  Carthaginians,  on  the  other  hand,  were  destitute  of  all  these  ad- 
vantages. As  they  had  been  the  entire  masters  at  sea  for  some  years,  and  the 
Romans  did  not  once  dare  to  face  them,  they  had  them  in  the  highest  con- 
tempt, and  looked  upon  themselves  as  invincible.  On  the  first  report  of  the 
enemy  being  in  motion,  the  Carthaginians  had  put  to  sea  a  fleet  fitted  out  in 
haste,  as  appeared  from  every  circumstance  of  it :  the  soldiers  and  seamen 
being  all  mercenaries,  newly  levied,  without  the  least  experience,  resolution, 
or  zeal,  since  it  was  not  for  their  own  country  they  were  going  to  fight.  This 
soon  appeared  in  the  engagement.  They  could  not  sustain  the  first  attack. 
Fifty  of  their  vessels  were  sunk,  and  seventy  taken,  with  their  whole  crews. 
The  rest,  favoured  by  a  wind  which  rose  very  seasonably  for  them,  made  the 
best  of  their  way  to  the  little  island  from  whence  they  had  sailed.  There 
were  upwards  of  ten  thousand  taken  prisoners.  The  consul  sailed  immediately 
for  Lilybaeum.,  and  joined  his  forces  to  those  of  the  besiegers. 

When  the  nev/s  of  this  defeat  arrived  at  Carthage,  it  occasioned  so  much 
the  gresUer  surprise  and  terror,  as  it  was  less  expected.  The  senate,  however, 
did  not  lose  their  courage,  though  they  saw  themselves  quite  unable  to  continue 
the  war.  As  the  Romans  were  now  masters  of  the  sea,  it  was  impossible  for 
the  Carthaginians  to  send  either  provisions  or  reinforcements  to  the  armies  in^ 
Sicily.  An  express  was  therefore  'mmediately  despatched  to  Barcba,  the  gene- 
ral there,  empowering  him  to  act  as  he  should  think  proper.  Barcha,  so  long 
as  he  bad  room  to  entertain  the  least  hopes,  had  done  every  thing  that  could 
be  expected  from  the  most  intrepid  courage,  and  the  most  v^onsummate  wis- 
dom. But  having  now  no  resource  left,  he  sent  a  deputation  to  the  consul,  in 
order  to  treat  about  a  peace.  Prudence,  says  Polybius,  consists  in  knowing 
how  to  resist  or  to  yield  at  a  seasonable  conjuncture.  Lutatius  was  not  insen- 
sible how  tired  the  Romans  Avere  grown  of  a  war,  which  had  exhausted  them 
both  of  men  and  money  ;  and  the  dreadful  consequences  which  had  attended  on 
the  inexorable  and  imprudent  obstinacy  of  Regulus  was  fresh  in  his  memory. 
He  fhierefore  complied  without  difficulty,  and  dictated  the  following  treaty : 

^  There  shall  bs  peace  between  Rome  and  Carthage  {In  case  the  Roman  people 
approve  of  it^  on  the  following  conditions  :  The  Carthaginians  shall  entirely 
evacuate  all  Sicily ;  shall  no  longer  make  war  upon  Hiero,  the  Syracusans,  or 
their  allies;  they  shall  restore  to  the  Romans  without  ransom^  all  the  prisoner* 
which  they  have  taken from  them ;  and  pay  them,  within  twenty  years,  two  thou^ 
tand  two  hundred  Euhoic  talents  of  silver       It  is  worth  the  reader's  remark* 


*  They  are  now  culled  JKgates. 
t  YhU  turn  amounts  to  near  six  millions  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  French  livres,  or  ^2,2S6,6M> 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


11^,  by  the  way,  the  simple,  exact,  and  clear  terms  in  which  this  treaiy  is 
expressed :  that,  in  so  short  a  compass,  adjusts  the  interests,  both  by  sea  and 
land,  of  two  powerful  republics  and  their  allies. 

When  these  conditions  were  brought  to  Rome,  the  people,  not  approving 
of  them,  sent  ten  commissioners  to  Sicily,  to  terminate  the  affair.  These 
made  no  alteration  as  to  the  substance  of  the  treaty  ;  only  shortening  the  time 
appointed  for  the  payment,  reducing  it  to  ten  years :  a  thousand  talents  were 
added  to  the  sum  that  had  been  stipulated,  which  was  to  be  paid  immediately  : 
and  the  Carthaginians  were  required  to  depart  from  all  the  islands  situated 
between  Italy  and  Sicily.*  Sardinia  was  not  comprehended  in  this  treaty,  but 
they  gave  it  up  by  another  treaty  some  years  after. 

Such  was  the  conclusion  of  this  war,  the  longest  mentioned  in  history,  since 
it  continued  twenty-four  years  withojit  intermission.!  The  obstinacy,  in  dis- 
puting for  empire,  was  equal  on  either  side ;  the  same  resolution,  the  same 
greatness  of  soul,  in  forming  as  well  as  in  executing  projects,  being  conspicu- 
ous on  both  sides.  The  Carthaginians  had  the  superiority  with  regard  to  ex- 
perience in  naval  affairs ;  in  the  strength  and  swiftness  of  their  vessels  ;  the 
working  of  them;  the  skill  and  capacity  of  the  pilots;  the  knowledge  (^i 
coasts,  shallows,  roads,  and  winds;  and  in  the  inexhaustible  fund  of  wealth, 
which  furnished  all  the  expenses  of  so  long  and  obstinate  a  war.  The  Rom  i»  s 
had  none  of  these  advantages  ;  but  their  courage,  zeal  for  the  public  go(  h 
love  of  their  country,  and  a  noble  emulation  of  glory,  supplied  all  other  <  •<  - 
ficiencies.  We  are  astonished  to  see  a  nation,  so  raw  and  inexperience- 1  •  . 
naval  affairs,  not  only  disputing  the  sea  with  a  people  who  w^ere  oest  skilic  1 
in  them,  and  more  powerful  than  any  that  had  ever  been  before ;  but  e\  en 
gaining  several  victories  over  them  at  sea.  No  difficulties  or  calamities  couM 
discourage  them.  They  certainly  would  not  have  thought  of  peace,  in  t);'^' 
circumst  mces  under  which  the  Carthaginians  demanded  h.  One  unfortunnie 
campaig  I  dispirits  the  next;  whereas  the  Romans  were  not  shaken  by  a  suc- 
cession c  f  them. 

As  to  the  soldiers  there  was  no  comparison  between  those  of  Rome  and  oi 
Carthage,  the  former  being  infinitely  supeibr  in  point  of  courage  ;  among  the 
Generals  who  commanded  in  this  war,  Hamilcar,  surnamed  Barcha,  was  doubt- 
less the  most  conspicuous  for  his  braveiy  and  prudence. 

THE  LIBYAN  W^AR,  OR  WAR  AGAINST  THE  MERCENARIES. 

The  war  which  the  Carthaginians  waged  against  the  Romans  was  succeeded 
immediately  by  another. J  The  very  same  year,§  which,  though  of  much 
shorter  continuance,  was  infinitely  more  dangerous ;  as  it  was  carried  on  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  republic,  and  attended  with  such  cruelty  and  barbarity, 
3s  scarcely  to  be  paralleled  in  history  ;  I  mean  the  war  which  the  Carthagi- 
nians were  oblrg:e.d  to  sustain  against  their  mercenary  troops,  who  had  ser\  ed 
jnder  them  in  Sicily,  and  commonly  called  the  African  or  Libyan  war.ll  It 
continued  only  three  years  and  a  half,  but  was  a  veiy  bloody  one.  The  only 
occasion  of  it  was  this  : 

As  soon  as  the  treaty  was  concluded  with  the  Romans,  Hamilcar  haviisir 
carried  to  Lilybaeum  the  forces  which  were  in  Eryx,  resigned  his  commissioji. 
and  left  to  Gisco,  governor  of  the  place,  the  care  of  transporting  these  forcfs 
into  Africa.H  Gisco,  as  though  he  had  foreseen  what  would  happen,  did  \)r,[ 
ship  them  all  off'  at  once,  but  in  small  and  separate  parties  ;  in  order  th;i^ 
those  who  came  first  might  be  paid  off",  and  sent  home,  before  the  arrival  of 
the  '-est.  This  conduct  evinced  great  forecast  and  wisdom,  but  was  not  seconded 
equally  at  Carthage.  As  the  republic  had  been  exhausted  by  the  expen«;e  of 
a  long  war,  and  the  payment  of  nearly  three  millions  French  livres  to  the  Ro^ 


♦  Poljb.  1.  ni.  p.  182.  I  A.  M.  373{3.    A.  Carfh.  (m.     A.  Rome,  507.     Ant.  J.  C.  S4L 

X  Polrb.  1.     p.  6S— 89.  5  The  same  year  that  the  drst  Punic  war  eoit^ 

9  And  gometimes  fcvmiv.  or  Uie  war  wUh  the  inerRen-rir-s,  IT  Polyb  1.  i.  o.  65> 


193  MinORY  OF  THE 

mails  on  signi  ig  the  peace,  the  forces  were  not  paid  off  in  propoition  as  ibey 

arrived ;  hut  it  was  thought  proper  to  wait  for  the  rest,  in  the  hopes  of  obtain 
ing  from  them,  when  they  should  be  all  together,  a  remission  of  some  part  of 
their  arrears.    This  was  the  first  oversight. 

Here  we  discover  the  genius  of  a  state  composed  of  merchants,  who  knoiv 
the  full  value  of  money,  but  do  not  estimate  suniciently  the  merit  of  sol- 
diers ;  who  b^argain  for  blood  as  if  it  were  an  article  of  trade,  and  always  go 
to  the  cheapest  market.  In  such  a  republic,  when  an  exigency  is  once  an- 
swered, the  merit  of  services  is  no  longer  remembered. 

These  ,«oldiers,  most  of  whom  came  to  Carthage,  being  long  accustomed  to 
a  licentious  life,  caused  great  disturbances  in  the  city;  to  remedy  which,  it 
K%'as  proposed  to  their  officers,  to  march  them  all  to  a  little  neighbouring  tomi 
called  Sicca,  and  there  supply  them  with  whatever  was  necessary  for  their 
subsistence,  till  the  arrival  of  the  rcot  of  their  comcanions  ;  and  that  then 
the}'  should  all  be  paid  off,  and  sent  home.    This  was  a  second  m'ei sight. 

A  third  was,  the  refusing  to  let  them  leave  their  baggage >  their  wives  and 
children,  in  Carthage,  as  they  desired,  and  the  forcing  them  to  remove,  these 
to  Sicca ;  whereas,  had  they  staid  in  Carthage,  they  would  have  been  in  a 
manner  so  many  hostages. 

Being  all  met  together  at  Sicca,  they  began,  having  little  else  to  do,  to 
compute  the  arrears  of  their  pay,  which  they  made  much  more  than  was 
really  due  to  them.  To  this  computation  they  added  the  mighty  promises 
which  had  been  made  them,  at  different  times,  as  an  encouragement  for  them 
to  do  their  duty  ;  and  pretended  that  these  likewise  ought  to  be  placed  to  ac- 
count. Hanno,  who  was  then  governor  of  Africa,  and  had  been  sent  to  thern 
from  the  magistrates  of  Carthage,  proposed  to  these  soldiers  some  remission 
of  their  arrears ;  and  desired  that  they  would  content  themselves  with  re- 
ceiving a  part  in  consideration  of  the  great  distress  to  v^hich  the  common- 
wealth was  reduced,  and  its  present  unhapp]^  circumstances.  The  reader 
will  easily  guess  how  such  a  proposal  was  received.  Complaints,  murmurs, 
seditious  and  insolent  clamours,  were  every  where  heard.  These  troops  b^ing 
composed  of  different  nations,  who  were  strangers  to  one  another's  language, 
were  incapable  of  hearing  reason  when  they  once  muti-nied.  Spaniards, 
Gauls,  Ligurians,  inhabitants  of  the  Balearic  isles,  Greeks,  the  greatest  pari 
of  them  slaves  or  deserters,  and  a  very  great  number  of  Africans,  composed 
these  mercenary  forces.  Transported  with  rage,  they  immediately  break  up, 
march  towards  Carthage,  being  upwards  of  twenty  thousand,  and  encamp  at 
Tunis,  not  far  from  that  metropolis. 

The  Carthaginians  too  late  discovered  their  error.  There  was  no  compli- 
ance, how  grovelling  soever,  to  which  they  did  not  stoop,  to  sooth  these  exas- 
erated  soldiers  ;  who  on  their  side  practised  eveiy  knavish  art  which  could 
e  thought  of,  in  order  to  extort  money  from  them.  When  one  point  was 
gained,  they  immediately  had  recourse  to  a  new  artifice,  on  which  to  ground 
gome  new  demand.  Was  their  pay  settled  beyond  the  agreement  made  with 
them,  they  still  would  be  reimbursed  for  the  losses  w^hich  they  pretended  tc 
have  sustained,  either  by  the  death  of  horses,  or  by  the  excessive  price  which 
at  certain  times  they  had  paid  for  bread-corn  ;  and  still  insisted  on  the  recom- 
pense whiclvhad  been  promised  them.  As  nothing  could  be  fixed,  the  Car- 
thaginians, with  great  difficulty,  prevailed  on  them  to  refer  themselves  to  the 
opinion  of  some  gereral  who  had  commanded  in  Sicily.  Accordingly,  they 
pitched  upon  Gisco,  who  had  always  been  very  acceptable  to  them.  This  gen- 
eral harangued  them  in  a  mild  and  insinuating  manner ;  recalled  to  their  memo- 
ries the  long  time  they  had  been  in  the  Carthaginian  service  ;  the  consider- 
able sums  they  had  received  from  the  republic  ;  and  granted  almost  all  theif 
demands. 

The  treaty  was  upon  the  point  of  being  concluded,  when  two  mutineers  oc^ 
casioned  a  ^iimult  in  eveiy  part  of  the  camp.  One  of  these  was  Spendius, 
a  Capuari,  who  had  been  a  slave  at  Rome,  and  fled  to  the  Carthaginians. 


0  A IITII  AG  IN  I  AN  »-  ]  ^ 

tall,  stout,  and  bold.  The  fear  he  was  under  of  falling  into  the  hands  of 
his  old  master,  by  whom  he  was  sure  to  be  hanged,  as  was  the  custom,  prompt- 
ed him  to  break  off  the  accommodation.  He  was  seconded  by  one  Matho,* 
who  had  been  very  active  in  forming  the  conspiracy.  These  two  represenleri 
.0  the  Africans,  that  the  instant  after  their  companions  should  be  discharged 
.ind  sent  home,  they,  being  thus  left  alone  in  their  own  country,  would  fall  a 
sacrifice  to  the  rage  of  t'le  Carthaginians,  who  would  take  vengeance  upon  them 
for  the  common  rebellion.  This  v/as  sufficient  to  raise  them  to  fury.  They 
iinmediately  made  choice  of  Spendius  and  Matho  for  their  chiefs.  Jso  remori- 
strances  were  heard  ;  and  whoever  offered  to  make  any,  was  immediately  put 
to  death.  They  ran  to  Gisco's  tent,  plundered  it  of  the  money  designed  for 
the  payment  of  the  forces  ;  dragged  even  that  general  himself  to  prison,  witb 
all  his  attendants,  after  having  treated  them  with  the  utmost  indignities.  Ai! 
the  cities  of  Africa  to  whom  they  had  sent  deputies,  to  exhort  them  to  recover 
their  liberty,  came  over  to  them,  Utica  and  Hippacra  excepted,  which  they 
thoirefore  besieged. 

Carthage  had  never  before  been  exposed  to  such  imminent  danger.  The 
citizens  of  it,  to  a  man,  drew  their  particular  subsistence  from  the  rents  and 
revenues  of  their  lands,  and  the  public  expenses  from  the  tribute  paid  from  Af- 
rica. But  all  this  was  stopped  at  once,  and,  a  much  worse  circumstance,  was 
turned  against  them.  They  found  themselves  destitute  of  arms  and  forces 
either  for  sea  or  land  ;  of  all  necessary  preparations  either  for  the  sustaining 
of  a  siege  or  the  equipping  of  a  fleet ;  and,  to  complete  their  misfortunes, 
without  any  nopes  of  foreign  assistance,  either  from  their  friends  or  allies. 

They  might  in  some  sense  accuse  themselves  for  the  distress  to  which  they 
were  reduced.  During  the  last  war,  they  had  treated  the  African  nations  with 
the  utmost  rigour,  by  imposing  excessive  tributes  on  them,  in  the  exaction  of 
which,  no  allowance  was  made  forpoverty  and  extreme  misery  ;  and  governors, 
!uch  as  Hanno,  were  treated  with  the  greater  respect,  the  more  severe  they 
had  been  in  levying  those  tributes.  So  that  these  Africans  were  easily  prcvai.- 
5d  upon  to  engage  in  this  rebellion.  At  the  very  first  signal  that  was  made, 
it  broke  out,  and  in  a  moment  became  general.  The  women,  who  had  often, 
with  the  deepest  affliction,  seen  their  husbands  and  fathers  dragged  to  prison 
for  non-payment,  were  more  exasperated  than  the  men,  auvl  with  pleasure  gave 
up  all  their  ornaments  towards  the  expenses  of  the  war ;  so  that  the  chiefs  ol 
the  rebels,  after  paying  all  they  had  promised  the  soldiers,  found  themselves, 
still  in  the  midst  of  plenty.  An  instructive  lesson,  says  Polybius,  to  ministers  ; 
as  it  teaches  them  to  look,  not  only  to  the  present  occasion,  but  to  extend  theii 
views  to  futurity. 

The  Carthaginians,  notwithstanding  their  present  distress,  did  not  despond, 
but  made  the  most  extraordinary  efforts  for  their  defence.  The  command  of  the 
army  was  given  to  Hanno.  Troops  were  levied  by  land  and  sea,  horse  as  well 
as  foot.  All  citizens,  capable  of  bearing  arms,  were  mustered,  mercenaries 
were  invited  from  all  parts,  and  all  the  ships  which  the  republic  had  left  were 
refitted. 

The  rebels  discovered  no  less  ardour.  We  related  before,  that  they  had 
besieged  two  cities  which  refused  to  join  them.  Their  army  was  now  in- 
creased to  seventy  thousand  men.  After  detachments  had  been  drawn  from  it 
to  cany  on  these  sieges,  they  pitched  their  camp  at  Tunis,  and  thereby  held 
Carthage  in  a  kind  of  blockade,  filling  it  with  perpetual  alarms,  and  frequent- 
ly advancing  up  to  its  very  walls,  by  day  as  well  as  by  night. 

Hanno  had  marched  to  the  relief  of*^  Utica,  and  gained  a  considerable  ad- 
vantage^  which,  had  he  made  a  proper  use  of  it,  might  have  proved  decisive  » 


*  Matho  was  an  African,  and  free-born  ;  but  ns  he  had  been  active  in  raising  the  rebellion,  an  accoM^ 
■lodation  would  have  ruined  him.  He  therefore,  despairing;  of  a  pardon,  embraced  the  interest  of  SpeoduH 
rith  more  zeal  than  any  of  the  rebels ;  and  first  insinuated  to  the  Africans  the  dang-er  of  concluding  a 
Mace,  a«  thia  would  leave  them  alone,  and  exposed  to  the  rage  of  their  old  masters.- -Polyb.  p.  93.  KdW 


500  HISTORY  OF  THIS 

but  entering  the  ciiy,  and  only  diverting  himself  there,  the  nicrcenaries,  whe 
were  posted  on  a  neighbouring  hill  covered  with  trees,  hearing  how  careless 
the  enemy  were,  poured  down  upon  them,  found  the  soldiers  every  where  off 
their  duty,  took  and  plundered  the  camp,  and  seized  upon  all  their  provisions, 
&c.  brougfit  from  Carthage  to  succour  the  besieged.  Nor  was  this  the  only 
eiror  committed  by  Hanno  ;  and  errors,  on  such  occasions,  are  by  much  thV 
most  fatal.  Hamilcar,  surnamed  Earcha,  was  therefore  appointed  to  succeed 
him.  This  general  answered  the  idea  which  had  been  entertained  of  him  * 
and  his  first  success  was  in  obliging  the  rebels  to  raise  the  siege  of  Utica. 
He  then  marched  against  their  army,  which  was  encamped  near  Carthag«, 
defeated  part  of  it,  and  seized  almost  all  their  advantageous  posts.  These 
successes  revived  the  courage  of  the  Carthaginians. 

The  arrivtJ  of  a  young  Numidian  nobleman,  Naravasus  by  name,  who,  out 
of  his  esteem  for  the  person  and  merit  of  Barcha,  joined  him  with  two  thou- 
sand Numidians,  and  was  of  great  service  to  that  general.  Animated  by  this  rein- 
forcement, he  fell  upon  the  rebels,  who  had  enclosed  him  in  a  valJey,  killed 
ten  thousand  of  them,  and  took  four  thousand  prisoners.  The  young  Numidian 
distinguished  himself  greatlyin  his  battle.  Barcha  received  among  his  troops 
as  many  of  the  prisoners  as  were  desirous  of  being  enlisted,  and  gave  the  rest 
liberty  to  go  wherpver  they  pleased,  on  condition  that  they  should  never  take 
up  arms  again  against  the  Carthaginians  :  otherwise,  that  every  man  of  them 
who  was  taken  should  be  put  to  death.  This  conduct  proves  the  wisdom  of 
liiat  general.  He  thought  this  a  better  expedient  than  extreme  severity. 
And  indeed,  where  a  multitude  of  mutineers  are  concerned,  the  greatest  part 
of  whom  were  drawn  in  by  the  persuasion  of  the  most  hot-headed,  or  through 
fear  of  the  most  furious,  clemency  seldom  fails  of  being  successful. 

Spendius,  the  chief  of  the  rebels,  fearing  that  this  affected  lenity  of  Barcha 
might  occasion  a  defection  among  his  troops,  thought  the  only  expedient  left 
him  to  prevent  it  would  be,  to  put  them  upon  some  signal  action,  in  order  to 
deprive  them  of  all  hopes  of  being  ever  reconciled  to  the  enemy.  With  this 
view,  after  having  read  to  them  some  fictitious  letters,  by  which  advice  was 
given  him  of  a  secret  design,  concerted  between  some  of  their  comrades  and 
Gisco,  for  the  rescuing  him  out  of  prison,  where  he  had  been  so  long  detained, 
he  brought  them  to  the  barbarous  resolution  of  murdering  him  and  all  the  rest 
of  the  prisoners ;  and  any  man  who  durst  offer  any  milder  counsel  was  imme- 
diately sacrificed  to  their  fury.  Accordingly,  this  unfortunate  general,  and 
seven'  hundred  prisoners,  who  were  confined  with  him,  were  brought  out  to 
the  head  of  the  camp,  where  Gisco  fell  the  first  sacrifice,  and  afterwards  all 
the  rest.  Their  hands  were  cut  off,  their  thighs  broke,  and  their  bodies,  still 
breathing,  were  thrown  into  a  hole.  The  Carthaginians  sent  a  herald  to  de- 
mand their  remains,  in  order  to  pay  them  the  last  sad  office,  but  were  refu- 
sed ;  and  the  herald  was  further  told,  that  whoever  presumed  to  come  upon 
the  like  errand,  should  meet  with  Gisco's  fate.  And  indeed  the  rebels  imme- 
diately came  to  this  unanimous  resolution,  viz.  to  treat  all  such  Carthaginians 
as  should  fall  into  their  hands  in  the  same  barbarous  manner ;  and  decreed 
further,  that  if  any  of  their  allies  were  taken,  they  should,  after  their  hands 
were  cut  off,  be  sent  back  to  Carthage.  This  bloody  resolution  was  but  too 
strictly  executed. 

The  Carthaginians  were  now  just  beginning  to  breathe,  as  it  were,  and  re- 
cover their  spirits,  when  a  number  of  unlucky  accidents  plunged  them  again 
into  fresh  dangers.  A  division  arose  among  their  generals :  and  the  provi- 
sions,of  which  they  were  in  extreme  necessity,  coming  to  them  by  sea,  were 
all  cast  away  in  a  storm.  But  their  most  grievous  misfortune  was,  the  sud- 
den defection  of  the  two  only  cities  which  till  then  had  preserved  their  alle- 
g:iance,  and  in  all  times  adhered  inviolably  to  the  commonwealth.  These 
were  Utica  and  Hippacra.  These  cities,  without  the  least  reason,  or  even  to 
much  as  a  pretence,  went  over  at  once  to  the  rebels,  and,  transported  witk 
the  like  rage  and  fury,  murdered  the  governor,  with  the  garrison  sent  to  theif 


CAKTIIAGINIAJTS 


201 


Itiipf;  and  carried  their  inhumanity  so  far,  as  to  refuse  their  dead  bodies  t« 
^e  Cirtnaginians,  Avho  demanded  them  for  burial. 

The  rebels, animated  hy  so  much  success,  laid  sieg'e  to  Carthage,  but  were 
ftbliged  immediately  to  raise  it.  They  nevertheless  continued  the  war.  Ha- 
ving drawn  together  into  one  body  all  their  own  troops  and  those  of  the  allies, 
making  upwards  of  fifty  thousand  men  in  all,  they  watched  the  motions  ol 
Hamilcar's  army,  but  carefully  kept  their  ow^n  on  the  hills,  and  avoided  com- 
ing down  into  the  plains,  because  the  enemy  would  there  have  been  so  much 
superior  to  them,  on  account  of  their  elephants  and  horses.  Hamilcar,  more 
skilful  in  the  art  of  w^ar  than  they,  nevef  e^i^posed  himself  to  any  of  their  at- 
tacks ;  but,  taking  advantage  of  their  oversight,  often  dispossessed  them  of 
their  posts,  if  their  soldiers  straggled  ever  so  little,  and  harassed  them  a  thou- 
sand ways.  Such  of  them  as  fell  into  his  hands  were  thrown  to  wild  beasts. 
At  last,  he  surprised  them  at  a  time  when  they  least  expected  it,  and  shut 
them  up  in  a  post,  which  was  so  situated  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to 
^ei  out  of  it.  Not  daring  to  venture  a  battle,  and  being  unable  to  get  off, 
iiey  began  to  fortify  their  .camp,  and  surrounded  it  with  ditches  and  en- 
trenchments. But  an  enemy  within  themselves,  and  which  v/as  much  more 
formidable,  had  reduced  them  to  the  greatest  extremity  ;  this  was  hunger, 
which  was  so  raging,  that  they  at  last  ate  one  another;  Divine  Providence, 
says  Polybius,  thus  revenging  upon  themselves  the  barbarous  cruelty  they  had 
exercisea  on  others.  They  now  had  no  resource  left,  and  knew  but  too  well 
the  punishments  wnich  would  be  inflicted  on  them,  in  case  they  should  fall 
alive  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  After  such  bloody  scenes  as  had  been 
acted  by  them,  thev  did  not  so  much  as  think  of  peace,  or  of  coming  to  an 
accommodaiion.  i  hey  had  sent  to  their  forces,  encamped  at  Tunis,  for  as 
sistance,  but  with  no  success.  In  the  mean  time  the  famine  increased  daily. 
They  had  first  eaten  their  prisoners,  then  their  slaves,  and  now,  their  fellow- 
citizens  only  were  left  to  be  devoured.  Their  chiefs,  no  longer  able  to  resist 
the  complaints  and  cries  of  the  multitude,  who  threatened  to  cut  all  their 
throats  if  they  did  not  surrender,  w^ent  themselves  to  Hamilcar,  after  having 
obtained  a  safe  conduct  from  him.  The  conditions  of  the  treaty  were,  that 
die  Carthaginians  should  select  any  ten  of  the  rebels,  to  treat  them  as  they 
should  think  fit,  and  that  the  rest  should  be  dismissed  with  only  one  suit  of 
clothes  for  each.  When  the  treaty  was  signed,  the  chiefs  themselves  were 
arrested,  and  detained  by  the  Carthaginians,  who  plainly  show^ed,  on  this  ec- 
casion,  that  they  were  not  over-scrupulous  in  point  of  honesty.  The  rebels, 
hearing  that  their  chiefs  w^ere  seized,  and  knowing  nothing  of  the  convention, 
suspected  that  they  were  betrayed,  and  thereupon  immediately  took  up 
arms.  But  Hamilcar,  having  surrounded  them,  brought  forward  his  ele- 
phants, and  either  trod  them  all  under  foot,  or  cut  them  to  pieces,  they  being 
upwards  of  forty  thousand. 

The  consequence  of  this  victory  w^as,  the  reduction  of  almost  all  the  cities 
of  Africa,  w^hich  immediately  returned  to  their  allegiance.  Hamilcar,  without 
loss  of  time,  marched  against  Tunis,  which,  ever  since  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  had  been  the  asylum  of  the  rebels,  and  their  deposit  of  arms.  He  invested 
it  on  one  side,  while  Hannibal,  who  was  joined  in  the  command  with  him, 
besieged  it  on  the  other.  Then  advancing  near  the  w^al!s,  and  ordering  crosses 
to  be  set  up,  he  hung  Spendius  on  one  of  them,  and  his  companions  who  had 
been  seized  with  him  on  the  rest,  where  they  all  expired.  Matho,  the  other 
chief,  who  commanded  in  the  city,  saw  plainly  by  this  what  he  himself  might 
expect,  and  for  that  reason  was  much  more  attentive  to  his  own  defence.  Per' 
ce:ving  that  Hannibal,  as  being  confident  of  success,  was  very  negligent  in  ?/! 
things,  he  made  a  sally,  attacked  his  quarters,  killed  many  of  his  n:en,  to  ik 
•everal  prisoners,  among  whom  w^as  Hannibal  himself,  and  plundered  his  camp 

Then  taking  Spendius  from  the  cross,  he  put  Hannibal  in  his  place,  aftei 
having  made  him  suffer  inexpressible  torments,  and  sacrificed  round  the  body 
of  Spendius  thirty  citizens  of  the  first  rank  in  Carthage,  as  so  many  victims 


202 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


of  his  vengeance.  One  wouM  conclude  that  there  had  been  a  mutual  enuia- 
f  ion  between  the  contenuing  parties,  which  of  them  should  outdo  the  otlier  io 

acts  of  the  most  barbarous  cruelty. 

Barcha  being  at  a  distance  from  his  colleague,  it  was  som.e  time  before  his 
misfortune  reached  him  ;  and,  besides,  the  road  lying  between  the  two  camps 
being  impracticable,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  advance  hastily  to  his  assist- 
ance. This  unlucky  accident  caused  a  great  consternation  in  Carthage.  The 
reader  may  have  observed,  in  the  course  of  this  war,  a  continual  vicissitude 
)f  prosperity  and  adversity,  of  security  and  fear,  of  joy  and  grief;  so  various 
nd  inconstant  were  the  events  on  either  side. 

In  Carthage  it  was  thought  adviseable  to  make  one  bold  effort.  Accordingly, 
U  the  youth  capable  of  bearing  arms  were  pressed  into  the  service.  Hanno 

"as  sent  to  join  Hamilcar,  and  thirty  senators  were  deputed  to  conjure  those 
^  nerals,  in  the  name  of  the  republic,  to  forget  past  quarrels,  and  sacrifice 
t.  >ir  resentments  to  their  country's  welfare.  This  was  immediately  complied 
u  Ih  ;  they  mutually  embraced,  and  were  reconciled  sincerely  to  one  another, 

r^Vom  this  time  the  Carthaginians  were  uniformly  successful  ;  and  Matho, 
Wi  in  every  succeeding  attempt,  came  off  with  disadvantage,  at  last  thought 
biiiV>elf  obliged  to  hazard  a  battle  ;  this  was  just  what  the  Carthaginians 
wajilod.  The  leaders  on  both  sides  animated  their  troops,  as  going  to  fight  a 
battlo  which  would  for  ever  decide  their  fate.  An  engagement  ensued.  Vic- 
tory was  not  long  in  suspense,  for  the  rebels  every  where  giving  ground, 
nearly  all  the  Africans  were  slain,  and  the  rest  surrendered.  Matho  was  taken 
alive,  and  carried  to  Carthage.  All  Africa  returned  immediately  to  its  alle- 
giance, except  the  two  perfidious  cities  .which  had  lately  revolted ;  they 
were  however  soon  forced  to  surrender  at  di&cretion. 

The  victorious  army  now  returned  to  Carthage,  and  was  there  received 
with  shouts  of  joy,  and*the  congratulations  of  the  whole  city.  Matho  and  his 
soldiers,  after  having  adorned  the  public  triumph,  were  led.  to  execution,  and 
finished,  by  a  painful  and  ignominious  death,  a  life  that  had  been  polluted  with 
the  blackest  treasons,  and  unparalleled  barbarities.  Such  was  the  conclusion 
of  the  war  against  the  mercenaries,  after  having  lasted  three  years  and  four 
months.  ItTurnished,  says  Polybius,  an  ever-memorable  lesson  to  all  nations 
not  to  employ  in  their  armies  a  greater  num.ber  of  mercenaries  than  citizens  : 
nor  to  rely,  for  the  defence  of  their  state,  on  a  body  of  men  who  are  not  at- 
tached to  it,  either  by  interest  or  affection. 

I  have  hitherto  purposely  deferred  taking  notice  of  such  transactions  in  Sar- 
dinia, as  passed  at  the  time  I  have  been  speaking  of,  and  whfl5h  were,  in  some  ^ 
measure,  dependent  on,  and  resulting  from,  the  war  waged  in  Africa  against 
the  mercenaries.  They  exhibit  the  same  violent  methods  to  promote  rebel- 
lion, the  same  excesses  of  cruelty,  as  if  the  wind  had  carried  the  same  s*)irit 
of  discord  and  fury  from  Africa  into  Sardinia. 

When  the  news  was  brought  there  of  what  Spendius  and  Matho  were  doing 
in  Africa,  the  mercenaries  in  that  island  also  shook  off  the  yoke,  in  imitation 
of  those  incendiaries.  They  began  by  the  murder  of  Bostar  their  general, 
and  of  all  the  Carthaginians  under  him.  A  successor  was  sent,  but  all  the 
forces  which  he  carried  with  him  went  over  to  the  rebels,  hung  the  general  on 
a  cross,  and,  throughout  the  whole  island,  put  all  the  Carthaginians  to  the  sword, 
after  having  made  them  suffer  inexpressible  torments.  They  then  besieged  all 
the  cities  one  after  another,  and  soon  got  possession  of  the  whole  country.  But 
feuds  arising  between  them  and  the  natives,  the  mercenaries  were  driven  en- 
tirely out  of  the  island,  and  took  refuge  in  Italy.  Thus  the  Carthaginians  lost 
Sardinia,  an  island  of  great  importance  to  them,  on  account  of  its  extent,  ita 
fertility,  and  the  great  number  of  its  inhabitants. 

The  Komdns,  ever  since  their  treaty  with  the  Carthaginians,  had  behaved 
towards  them  with  great  justice  and  moderation.  A  slight  quarrel,  on  account 
of  some  Roman  merchants  who  were  seized  at  Carthage  for  their  having  sup- 
plied the  enemy  with  provisions,  had  embroiled  them  a  little.    But  these  mer- 


ch&nts  being"  restored  on  the  first  complaint  made  to  the  senate  of  Carthage, 
the  Romans,  who  prided  themselves  upon  their  juciiice  and  generosity  on  all 
occasions,  made  the  Carthaginians  a  return  of  their  former  friendship  ;  served 
them  to  the  utmost  of  their  power,  forbade  their  merchants  to  furnish  any  other 
nation  with  provisions,  and  even  refused  to  listen  to  proposals  made  by  the  Sar- 
dinian rebels,  when  invited  by  them  to  take  possession  of  the  island. 

But  these  scruples  and  delicacy  wore  off  by  degrees,  and  Caesar's  advantage- 
ous testimony,  in  Sallust,  of  their  honesty  and  plain  dealing,  could  not,  with 
any  propriety,  be  applied  here  :  although"  says  he,  "in  all  the  Punic  wars, 
the  Carthaginians,  both  in  peace  and  during  truces,  had  committed  a  numbei 
of  detestable  actions,  the  Romans  could  never  (however  inviting  the  oppcj-tM- 
nity  might  be,)  be  prevailed  upon  to  retaliate  such  usage,  being  more  atten- 
tive to  their  own  glory,  than  to  the  revenge  they  might  have  justly  taken  on 
such  perfidious  enemies."* 

The  mercenaries,  who,  as  was  observed,  had  retired  into  Italy,  brought  the 
Romans  at  last  to  the  resolution  of  sailing  over  into  Sardinia,  to  render  them- 
selves masters  of  it.t  The  Carthaginians  were  deeply  afflicted  at  the  news, 
under  the  idea  that  they  had  a  more  just  title  to  Sardinia  than  the  Romans  ; 
they  therefore  put  themselves  in  a  posture  to  take  a  speedy  and  just  revenge 
on  those  who  had  excited  the  people  of  that  island  to  take  up  arms  against  them. 
But  the  Romans,  pretending  that  these  preparartions  were  made,  not  against 
Sardinia,  but  their  state,  declared  war  against  the  Carthaginians.  The  latter, 
quite  exhausted  in  every  respect,  and  scarcely  beginning  to  breathe,  were  in  no 
condition  to  sustain  a  war.  The  necessity  of  the  times  was  therefore  to  be 
complied  with,  and  they  were  forced  to  yield  to  a  more  pow^erful  rival.  A 
fresh  treaty  was  thereupon  made,  by  which  they  gave  up  Sardinia  to  the  Romans, 
and  obliged  themselves  to  a  new  payment  of  twelve  hundred  talents,  to  avoid 
the  war  with  which  they  were  menaced.  This  injustice  of  the  Romans  was 
the  true  cause  of  the  second  Punic  war,  as  will  appear  in  the  sequel. 

ARTICLE  II. — THE  SECOND  PUNIC  WAR. 

The  second  Punic  war,  which  I  am  about  to  relate,  is  one  of  the  most  memo 
rable  recorded  in  history,  and  most  worthy  of  the  attention  of  an  inquisitive, 
reader :  whether  we  consider  the  boldness  of  the  enterprises ;  the  wisdom  em- 
ployed in  the  execution ;  the  obstinate  efforts  of  two  rival  nations,  and  the 
ready  resources  they  found  in  tfieir  lowest  ebb  of  fortune  ;  the  variety  of  un- 
common events,  and  the  uncertain  issue  of  so  long  and  bloody  a  war ;  or  lastly.^ 
the  assemblage  of  the  most  perfect  exam.ples  of  every  kind  of  merit,  and  the 
most  instructive  lessons  that  occur  in  history,  either  with  regard  to  war,  policy, 
or  government,}:  Never  did  two  more  powerful,  or  at  least  more  w^arlike  states 
or  nations,  make  war  against  each  other,  and  never  had  these  in  question  seen 
tiiemselves  raised  to  a  more  exalted  pitch  of  power  and  glory.  Rome  and 
Carthage  were,  doubtless,  at  that  time,  th  j  two  first  states  of  the  world.  Hav- 
ing already  tried  their  strength  in  the  fi^  st  Punic  war,  and  thereby  made  an 
essay  of  each  other's  power,  they  knew  perfectly  well  what  either  could  do. 
In  this  second  war,  the  fate  of  arms  was  so  equally  balanced,  and  the  success 
so  intermixed  with  vicissitudes  and  varieties,  that  that  party  triumphed  which 
had  been  most  in  danger  of  ruin.  Great  as  the  forces  of  these  two  nationa 
Were,  it  may  almost  be  said,  that  their  mutual  hatred  was  still  greater.  The 
Romans,  on  one  side,  could  not  without  indignation  sq^  the  vanquished  presum- 
ing to  attack  them  ;  and  the  Carthaginians,  on  the  other,  were  exasperated  at 
the  equally  rapacious  and  harsh  treatment  which  they  pretended  to  have  re- 
ceived from  the  victor. 


*  Bellls  Punicis  omnibufl,  cum  sajpe  Garth aginienses  et  in  pace  et  per  inducias  multa  nefanda  facioon 
eclsseut,  numquam  ipsi  per  occasionem  talia  fecere :  mag'ts  quod  se  digfnum  feret,  quam  quod  in  illof  jort 
eri  potset,  quaerebanL — Sallust.  in  Bell.  Galilin. 

t  A  M.  8767.    A.  Carth.  609.    A.  Rome,  ill.    Ant.  J.  C.  33T  J  Lir.  1.  ui.  ft.  I. 


204 


(lijf'lORV  OF  THE 


The  plan  which  I  have  laid  down  does  not  permit  me  to  enter  into  a  minute 
detail  of  this  war,  whereof  Italy,  Sicily,  Spain,  and  Africa,  were  the  several 
S(3ats,  and  which  has  a  still  closer  connexion  with  the  Roman  histoiy  than  with 
that  1  am  now  writing.  I  shall  confine  myself,  therefore,  principally  to  such 
transactions  as  relate  to  the  Carthaginians,  and  endeavour,  as  far  as  I  am  able, 
to  give  my  reader  an  idea  of  the  genius  and  character  of  Hannibal,  who  per- 
haps was  the  greatest  warrior  of  antiquity. 

THE  REMOTE  AND  MORE  IMMEDIATE  CAUSES  OF  THE  SECOND  PUNIC  WAR. 

Before  1  come  to  speak  of  the  declaration  of  war  between  the  Romans  and 
Carthaginians,  1  think  it  necessary  to  explain  the  true  causes  of  it,  and  to  point 
out  by  what  steps  the  rupture  between  these  two  nations  was  so  long  prepar 
ing,  before  it  openly  broke  out. 

That  man  would  be  grossly  mistaken,  says  Polybius,*  who  should  look  upon 
the  taking  of  Saguntum  by  Hannibal  as  the  true  cause  of  the  second  Punic  v/ai*. 
The  regret  of  the  Carthaginians,  for  having  so  tamely  given  up  Sicily,  by  the 
treaty  which  terminated  the  first  Punic  war,  the  injustice  and  violence  of  the 
Romans, who  took  advantage  of  the  troubles  excited  in  Africa,  to  dispossess 
the  Carthaginians  of  Sardinia,  and  to  impose  a  new  tribute  on  them,  and  the 
success  and  conquests  of  the  latter  in  Spain,  were  the  true  causes  of  the  viola- 
tion of  the  treaty,  as  Livy,  agreeing  herein  with  Polybius,  insinuates  in  few 
words,  in  the  beginning  of  his  history  of  t^e  second  Punic  war.j 

And  indeed  Hamilcar,  sumamed  Barcha,  was  highly  exasperated  on  account 
of  the  last  treaty  which  the  necessity  of  the  times  had  compelled  the  Cartha- 
ginians to  submit  to,  and  therefore  meditated  the  design  of  taking  just,  though 
distant  measures,  for  breaking  it,  the  first  favourable  opportunity  that  should 
offer.J 

When  the  troubles  of  Africa  were  appeased,  he  was  sent  upon  an  expedition 
against  the  Numidians  ;  in  whichj  giving  fresh  proofs  of  his  courage  and  abili- 
ties, his  merit  raised  him  to  the  command  of  the  army  which  was  to  act  in 
Spain.  Hannibal  his  son,  at  that  time  but  nine  years  of  age,  begged  with  the 
utmost  importunity  to  attend  him  on  this  occasion ;  and  for  that  purpose  em- 
ployed all  the  soothir^  arts  so  common  to  children  of  his  age,  and  which  have 
so  much  power  over  a  tender  father.§  Hamilcar  could  not  refuse  him  ;  and 
after  having  made  him  swear  upon  the  altars,  that  he  would  declare  himself 
an  enemy  to  the  Romans  as  soon  as  his  age  would  allow  him  to  do  it,  took 
his  son  with  him. 

Hamilcar  possessed  all  the  qualities  which  constitute  the  great  general.  To 
an  invincible  courage,  and  the  most  consummate  prudence,  he  added  a  most 
popular  and  insinuating  behaviour.  He  subdued,  in  a  very  short  time,  the 
greatest  part  of  the  nations  of  Spain,  either  by  the  terror  of  his  arms,  or  his 
engaging  conduct ;  and,  after  enjoying  the  command  there  nine  years,  came  to 
an  end  worthy  of  his  exalted  character,  by  dying  gloriously  in  arms  for  the 
cause  of  his  country. 

The  Carthaginians  appointed  Asdrubal,  his  son-in-law,  to  succeed  him.l! 
This  general,  to  secure  the  country,  built  a  city,  which,  by  the  advantage  of 
its  situation,  the  commodiousness  of  its  harbour,  its  fortifications,  and  opulence 
occasioned  by  its  great  commerce,  became  one  of  the  most  considerable  cities 
jn  the  world.  It  was  called  New  Carthage,  and  to  this  day  is  known  by  the 
Bame  of  Carthagena.  ^ 

From  the  icTcral  steps  of  these  two  great  generals,  it  was  easy  to  {)erceive 
that  they  were  meditating  some  mighty  design,  which  they  had  always  in  view, 


*  Lib.  iii.  p.  162—168. 

I  Anj^ebant  in^entei  tpiritOs  yiruirt  Sicilia  Sardioia^ue  amissee  :  Nam  et  Sicli'mm  n^mis  celeri  despera* 
tioM  reruHl  coac«Main  ;  et  Sardinian,  inter  raotum  Afncse  fraude  Romanorum,  stipeodio  etiam  lupertmp* 
•itOt  iaierceptam. — Liv.  1.  xxi.  a.  1. 

1  P»lrb.  1.  ii.  p.  90.  |  Polyb.  1.  iii.  p.  127     Liy.  1.        b.  1. 

I  4.  M.  3T76.   A.  Rome.  550.    Polyb  J.  ii.  p  |0l. 


CAIM  liAfJlMAiNg 


and  laid  their  schemes  at  a  great  liistance  for  putting  it  in  execution.  The 
Romans  were  sensible  of  this,  and  reproached  themselves  for  their  indolence 
and  sloth,  which  had  thrown  them  into  a  kind  of  lethargy,  at  a  time  when  the 
enemy  were  rapidly  pursuing  their  victories  in  Spain,  which  might  oue  clay  be 
turned  against  them.''  They  would  have  been  very  well  pleased  to  attack 
them  by  open  force,  and  to  wrest  their  conquests  out  of  their  hands ;  but  the 
fear  of  "another  not  less  formidable  enemy,  the  Gauls  kept  theni  from  showing 
their  resentments.  They  therefore  had  recourse  to  negotiation ;  and  con- 
cluded a  treaty  with  Asdrubal,  in  which,  >v1thout  taking  any  notice  of  the  rcsv 
of  Spain,  they  contented  themselves  with  introducing  an  article,  by  which  the 
Carthaginians  w^ere  not  allowed  to  make  any  conquests  beyond  the  Iberus. 

Asdrubal,  in  the  mean  time,  still  pushed  on  his  conquests,  but  took  care  nv.i 
lo  pass  beyond  the  limits  stipulated  by  the  treaty  ;  and  sparing  no  endeavoui  s 
to  win  the  chiefs  of  the  several  nations  by  a  courteous  and  engaging^  behaviour, 
he  brought  them  over  to  the  interest  of  Carthage,  more  by  persuasive  methods 
than  force  of  arms.*  But  unhappily,  after  having  governed  Spain  eight  yea-'s, 
he  was  treacherously  murdered  by  a  Gaul,  who  took  so  barbarous  a  revenge 
for  a  private  enmity  he  bore  him.t 

Three  years  be-fore  his  death,  he  had  written  to  Carthage,  to  desire  that 
Hannibal,  then  twenty-two  years  of  age,  might  be  sent  to  him. J  The  propo- 
sal met  with  some  difficulty,  as  the  senate  was  divided  between  two  powerful 
factions,  which,  from  Hamilcar's  time,  had  begun  to  follow  opposite  views  in 
the  administration  and  affairs  of  the  state.  One  faction  was  headed  by  Hanno, 
whose  birth,  merit,  and  zeal  for  the  public  welfare,  gave  him  great  influence  in 
the  public  deliberations.  This  faction  proposed,  on  every  occasion,  the  cor- 
eluding  of  a  safe  peace,  and  the  preserving  the  conquests  in  Spain,  as  being 
preferable  to  the  uncertain  events  of  an  expensive  war,  which  they  foresa\T 
would  one  day  occasion  the  ruin  of  Carthage.  The  other,  called  the  Barci 
#iian  faction,  because  it  supported  the  interests  of  Barcha  and  his  family,  had, 
to  it§  ancient  merit  and  credit  in  the  city,  added  the  reputati^^n  which  the  sig- 
nal exploits  of  Hamilcar  and  Asdrubal  had  given  it,  and  declared  openly  loi 
war.  When,  therefore,  Asdrubal's  demand  came  to  be  debated  in  the  senate, 
Hanno  represented  the  danger  of  sending  so  early  into  the  field  a  young  man, 
who  had  all  the  haughtiness  and  imperious  temper  of  his  father ;  and  who 
ought,  therefore,  rather  to  be  kept  a  long  time,  and  very  carefully,  under  the 
eye  of  the  magistrates,  and  the  power  of  the  laws,  that  he  might  learn  obedi- 
ence, and  a  modesty  which  should  teach  him  not  to  think  himself  superior  to 
all  other  men.  He  concluded  with  saying,  that  he  feared  this  spark,  which 
was  then  kindling,  would  one  day  rise  to  a  conflagration.  His  remonstrances 
were  not  heard,  so  that  the  Barcinian  faction  had  the  superiority,  and  Hanni- 
bal set  out  for  Spain. 

The  moment  of  his  arrival  there,  he  drew  upon  himself  the  eyes  of  the  whole 
army,  who  fancied  they  saw  his  father  Hamilcar  revive  in  him.  He  seemed 
to  dart  the  same  fire  from  his  eyes;  the  same  martial  vigour  displayed  itsell 
in  the  air  of  his  countenance,  with  the  same  features  and  engaging  deportment. 
But  his  personal  qualities  endeared  him  still  more.  He  possessed  almost 
every  talent  that  constitutes  the  great  man.  His  patience  in  labour  was  invin- 
cible, his  temperance  w^as  surprising,  his  courage  in  the  greatest  dangers  in- 
trepid, and  his  presence  of  L  ind  in  the  heat  of  battle  admirable  ;  and,  a  still 
niore  wonderful  circumstance,  his  disposition  and  cast  of  mind  w^ere  so  flexible, 
that  nature  had  formed  him  equally  for  commanding  or  obeying ;  so  that  it 
was  doubtful  whether  he  w^as  dearer  to  the  soldiers  or  the  generals.  He 
•erved  three  campaigns  under  Asdrubal. 

'  *  Polyb.  1.  ii.  p.  123.  Liv.  1.  xxi.  n.  2. 

t  The  Tiurdier  was  an  effect  of  the  extraordinary  fidelity  of  this  G?,ul,  whose  master  had  fallen  by  the 
hand  of  Asdrubal.  It  ^ras  perpetrated  in  public  ;  and  the  murderer  being  seized  by  the  guards,  and  put 
to  the  lorture,  expressed  so  strong  a  satisfaction  in  the  thoughts  of  his  having  executed  his  revenge  9o  suc- 
ce»ffuUy»that  he  seeme<5  to  laugh  at  the  pain  of  his  tormentf.  Eo  fuit  habitu  oris,  ut  suparante  laititiR  i» 
lortn,  ridfcntis  etiam  speciem  prrebuerit. — Liv.  1.  xxi.  n.  1. 

J;  A.  M  .173=?.    A.  lioms,  590.    Lir.  I  ixi.  n.  5,  4. 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


Upon  the  death  of  that  general,  the  suffrages  of  both  the  army  aiul  peo|;le. 
concurred  in  raising  Flannibal  to  the  supreme  command.*  I  know  not  whether 
it  was  not  even  then,  or  about  that  time,  that  the  republic,  to  heighten  his  in- 
fluence and  aulhurity,  appointed  him  one  of  its  sutfetes,  the  first  dignity  of  the 
Btate,  which  was  sometimes  conferred  on  generals.  It  is  from  Corneiius  Ne- 
post  that  we  have  borrowed  this  circumstance  of  his  life,  wiio,  speaking  of 
the  praetorship  bestowed  on  Hannibal,  upon  his  return  to  Carthage,  and  the 
conclusion  of  the  peace,  says,  that  this  was  twenty-two  years  after  he  had 
beer  nominated  king.| 

The  moment  he  was  created  general,  Hannibal,  as  if  Italy  had  been  allotted 
to  him,  and  he  was  even  then  appointed  to  make  war  upon  ihe  Romans,  se- 
cretl}^  turned  his  whole  views  on  that  side  and  lost  no  time,  for  fear  of  being  pre 
vented  by  death,  as  his  father  and  brother-in-law  had  been.  In  Spain  he  took 
several  strong  towns,  and  conquered  many  nations  :  and  although  the  Spaniards 
greatly  exceeded  him  in  the  number  of  forces,  their  army  amounting  to  up- 
wards of  one  hundred  thousand  men,  yet  he  chose  his  time  and  posts  so  judi- 
ciously, that  he  entirely  defeated  them.  After  this  victory  every  thing  sub- 
mitted to  his  arms.  j3ut  he  still  forbore  laying  siege  to  Saguntum,§  care- 
fully avoiding  every  occasion  of  a  rupture  with  the  Romans,  till  he  should  be 
furnished  with  all  things  necessary  for  so  important  an  enterprise,  pursuant  to 
the  advice  given  by  his  father.  He  applied  himself  particularly  to  engage 
the  affections  of  the  citizens  and  allies,  and  to  gain  their  confidence,  by  gene- 
rously allotting  them  a  large  share  of  the  plunder  taken  from  the  enemy,  and 
by  scrupulously  payir^  them  all  their  arrears  :!1  a  wise  step,  which  never  fails 
of  producing  its  advantage  at  a  proper  season. 

The  Saguntines,  on  their  side,  sensible  of  the  danger  with  which  they  were 
threatened,  informed  the  Romans  of  the  progress  of  Hannibal's  conquests.^ 
Upon  this,  deputies  were  nominated  by  the  latter,  and  ordered  to  go  and  ex- 
amine the  state  of  affairs  upon  the  spot ;  they  were  also  to  lay  their  com- 
plaints before  Hannibal,  if  it  should  be  thought  proper  ;  and  in  case  he  should 
refuse  to  do  justice,  they  should  then  go  directly  to  Carthage,  and  make  the 
same  complaints. 

In  the  mean  time  Hannibal  laid  siege  to  Saguntum,  promising  himself  great 
advantages  from  the  taking  of  this  city.  He  was  persuaded,  that  this  would 
deprive  the  Romans  of  all  hopes  of  carrying  their  war  into  Spain  ;  that  thi  i  new 
conquest  would  secure  those  he  had  already  made  ;  that  as  no  enemy  \rou.M 
be  left  behind  him,  his  march  wouid  be  more  secure  and  unmolested  ;  that  he 
should  find  money  enough  in  it  for  the  execution  of  his  designs  ;  that  the  plun- 
der of  the  city  would  inspire  his  soldiers  with  greater  ardour,  and  m.ake 
them  follow  him  more  cheerfully  ;  that,  lastly,  the  spoils  which  he  st^ould 
send  to  Carthage,  would  gain  him  the  favour  of  the  citizens.  Animated  by 
these  motives,  he  carried  on  the  siep;e  with  the  utmost  vigour.  He  himself 
set  an  example  to  his  troops,  was  present  at  all  the  works,  and  exposed  him- 
s<'If  to  the  greatest  dangers. 

News  was  soon  carried  to  Rome  that  Saguntum  was  besieged.  But  the 
Romans,  instead  of  flying  to  its  relief,  lost  their  time  in  fruitless  debates,  and 
equally  insignificant  deputations.  Hannibal  sent  word  to  the  Roman  deputies^ 
that  he  was  not  at  leisure  to  hear  them  ;  they  therefore  repaired  to  Carthage, 
but  met  with  no  better  reception,  the  Barcinian  faction  having  prevailed  over 
tiie  complaints  of  the  Romans,  and  all  the  remonstrances  of  Hanno. 

During  all  these  voyages  and  negotiations,  the  siege  was  carried  on  with 
great  vigour.    The  Saguntines  were  now  reduced  to  the  last  extremitj,  and 


*  A  M.  3784.    A.  Garth.  626.    A.  Rome,  5'28.    Polyb.  1.  iii.  p.  178,  179.    Liv.  1.  xxi.  n.  3—6, 

*  In  Vit.  Anoib.  c.  li 
X  Hie  utredill  praetor  factus  est,  postquam  rex  fuerat  anno  7;ecundo  et  vigesimo. 
{  This  city  Isty  on  the  Carthaginian  side  of  the  Iberus,  very  near  the  mouth  of  that  river,  and  in  a  ceoo- 
try  whp.re  the  Carthaginians  were  allowed  to  make  war;  but  Saguntum,  as  an  ally  of  the  Romans,  wai 
excepted  from  all  hostilities,  by  virtue  of  the  late  treaty. 

n  Ibi  largd  partiendo  praedam,  stipendia  praateritn  cum  fide  exsolvendo,  cnnctot  civium  socionuoque  ar 
\bio»  i»  <«  firfrtavW. —  I.iv.  I  xkj.  n  Ft.  ^  V>olyh.  1.  iii  p.  170.  iTl.    JJr.  1.  »ri.  u-  6—15 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


907 


In  want  of  all  things.  An  accommodation  was  thereupon  proposed  ;  but  th« 
conditions  on  which  it  was  offered  appeared  so  harsh,  that  the  Saguntines  could 
not  prevail  upon  themselves  to  accept  them.  Before  they  gave  their  final  an- 
swer, the  principal  senators,  bringing  their  gold  and  silver,  and  that  cf  the 
•rjblic  treasury,  into  the  market-place,  threw  both  into  a  fire  lighted  for  that 
purpose,  and  afterwards  rushed  headlong  into  it  themselves.  At  the  same 
time  a  tower,  which  had  been  long  assaulted  by  the  battering  rams,  falling 
with  a  dreadful  noise,  the  Carthaginians  entered  the  city  by  the  breach,  soon 
made  themselves  masters  of  it,  and  cut  to  pieces  all  the  inhabitants  who  were 
ot  pge  to  bear  arm?.  But,  notwithstanding  the  fire,  the  Carthaginians  got  a 
very  great  booty.  Hannibal  did  not  reserve  to  himself  any  part  of  the  spoils 
gained  by  his  victories,  but  applied  them  solely  to  carrying  on  his  enter- 
prises. ^  Accordingly  Polybius  remarks,  that  the  taking  of  Saguntum  was 
of  service  to  him,  a«s  it  awakened  the  ardour  of  his  soldiers,  by  the  sight  of 
the  rich  booty  which  they  had  just  obtained,  and  by  the  hopes  of  more  ;  and 
it  reconciled  all  the  principal  persons  of  Carthage  to  Hannibal,  by  the  large 
presents  he  made  to  them  out  of  the  spoils. 

Words  could  never  express  the  grief  and  consternation  with  which  the  me- 
lancholy news  of  the  capture  and  the  cruel  fate  of  Saguntum  was  received  at 
Rome.*  Compassion  for  this  unfortunate  city  ;  shame  for  having  failed  to  suc- 
cour such  faithful  allies ;  a  just  indignation  against  the  Carthaginians,  the  au- 
thors of  all  these  calamities  ;  a  strong  alarm  raised  by  the  successes  of  Han- 
nibal, whom  the  Romans  fancied  they  saw  already  at  theiv  gates  ;  all  these 
sentiments  caused  so  violent  an  emotion,  that,  during  the  first  moments  of 
their  agitation,  the  Romans  were  unable  to  come  to  any  resolution,  or  do  any 
thing,  but  give  way  to  the  torrent  of  their  passion,  and  sacrificed  floods  ot 
tears  to  the  memory  of  a  city,  which  fell  the  victim  of  its  inviolable  fidelity  ! 
to  the  Romans,  and  had  been  betrayed  by  their  unaccountable  indolence  and 
imprudent  delays.  When  they  were  a  little  recovered,  an  assembly  of  the 
people  was  called,  and  war  was  unanimously  decreed  against  the  Carthaginians. 

WAR  PROCLAIMED. 

That  no  ceremony  might  be  wanting,  deputies  were  sent  to  Carthage,  to 
inquire  whether  Saguntum  had  been  besieged  by  order  of  the  republic,  and 
if  so,  to  declare  war  ;t  or,  in  case  this  siege  haa  been  undertaken  solely  hy 
the  authority  of  Hannibal,  to  require  that  he  should  be  delivered  up  to  the 
Romans.  The  deputies  perceiving  that  the  senate  gave  no  direct  answer  to 
their  demands,  one  of  them  taking  up  the  fold  of  his  robe,  /  bring  here,  says 
he,  in  a  haughty  tone,  either  peace  or  war ;  the  choice  is  left  to  yourselves.  The 
senate  answering,  that  they  left  the  choice  to  him,  I  give  you  war  then,  says  he, 
unfolding  his  robe  :  and  we,  replied  the  Carthaginians,  with  the  same  hai*^hti- 
ness,  as  heartily  accept  it,  and  are  resolved  to  prosecute  it  with  the  same  cheer' 
fulness.  Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  second  Funic  war. 

If  the  cause  of  this  war  should  be  ascribed  to  the  taking  of  Saguntum, §  the 
whole  blame,  says  Polybius,  lies  upon  the  Carthaginians,  who  could  not,  with 
any  colourable  pretence,  besiege  a  city  that  w^as  in  alliance  with  Rome,  and 
as  such,  comprehended  in  the  treaty,  which  forbade  either  party  to  make  war 
u\'*oxi  the  allies  of  the  other.    But,  should  the  origin  of  this  war  be  traced 
higher,  and  carried  back  to  the  time  when  the  Carthaginians  were  dispossess- 
^  ed  of  Sardinia  by  the  Romans,  and  a  new  tribute  was  so  unreasonably  impo- 
j  sed  on  them  ;  it  must  be  confessed,  continues  Polybius,  that  the  co^iduct  of 
[  lue  Romans  is  entirely  unjustifiable  on  these  two  points,  as  being  founded 
merely  on  violence  and  injustice  ;  and  that,  had  the  Carthaginians,  without 
havir^  recourse  to  ambiguous  and  frivolous  pretences,  plainly  demanded 


•  Polyb.  p.  174,  175.    Lir.  1.  xxi.  n.  16,  17. 

\  Sanctitate  discIplinaB,  qua  fidem  socialem  usque  acl  peraiciem  »uam  coluerunt  Liv.  1.  xii.  T 

t  Polyb.  X  I2r     Liy.  1.  xjci.  n.  18,  19.  |  Pol^b.  1.  iii.  p.  184,  185. 


TllS  i  ORY  OF  THE 


satisfaction  upon  these  two  grievances,  and  upon  their  beine  refused  it,  had 
declared  war  against  Rome,  in  that  case  reason  and  justice  had  been  entirely 
on  their  side. 

The  interval  between  the  conclusion  of  the  first,  and  the  beginning  of  th^ 
second  Punic  war,  was  tvv^enty-four  years. 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  SECOND  PUNIC  WAR. 

When  war  was  resolved  upon  and  proclaimed  on  both  sides,  Hannibal,  who 
was  then  twenty-six  or  twentv-seven  years  of  a^e,  before  he  discovered  his 
grand  design,  thought  it  incumbent  on  him  to  provide  for  the  security  of  Spain 
and  Africa.*  With  this  view,  he  marched  the  forces  out  of  the  one  into  the 
other,  so  that  the  Africans  served  in  Spain,  and  the  Spaniards  in  Africa.  He 
was  prompted  to  this  from  a  persuasitn,  that  these  soldiers,  being  thus  at  a  dis* 
tance  from  their  respective  countries,  would  be  fitter  for  service,  and  more 
firmly  attached  to  him,  as  they  would  be  a  kind  of  hostages  for  each  other'i 
fidelity.  The  forces  which  he  left  in  Africa  amounted  to  about  forty  inousand 
men,  twelve  hundred  whereof  were  cavalry  :  those  of  Spain  were  somewhat 
more  than  fifteen  thousand,  of  which  two  thousand  five  hundred  and  fiftv  were 
cavalry.  He  left  the  command  of  the  Spanish  forces  to  his  brother  As3rubal, 
With  a  fleet  of  about  sixty  ships  to  guard  the  coast ;  and  at  the  same  time  gave 
liim  the  wisest  counsel  for  his  conduct,  both  with  regard  to  the  Spaniards  or 
the  Romans,  in  case  they  should  attack  him. 

Livy  observes,  that  Hannibal,  before  he  set  forward  on  this  expedition,  went 
to  Cadiz  to  discharge  his  vows  made  to  Hercules  ;  and  that  he  engaged  him- 
self by  new  ones,  in  order  to  obtain  success  in  the  war  he  was  entering  upon. 
Polybius  gives  us,  in  few  words,  a  very  clear  idea  of  the  distance  of  the  seve- 
ral places  through  which  Hannibal  was  to  march  in  his  way  to  Italy.j  From 
New  Carthage,^  whence  he  set  out  to  the  Iberus,  was  computed  two  thousand 
two  hundred  furlongs. §  From  the  Iberus  to  Emporium,  a  small  maritime 
town,  which  separates  Spfjm  from  the  Gauls,  according  to  StraboH  was  six- 
teen hundred  furlongs.^  From  Emporium  to  the  pass  of  the  Rhone,  the  like 
distance  of  sixteen  hundred  furlongs.**  From  the  pass  of  the  Rhone  to  the 
Alps  fourteen  hundred  furlongs.jt  From  the  Alps  to  the  plains  of  Italy,  twelve 
hundred  furlongs.JJ  Thus,  from  New  Carthage  to  the  plains  of  Italy,  were 
eight  thousand  furlongs. §5 

Hannibal  had,  long  before,  taken  all  proper  measures  to  discover  the  na 
ture  and  situation  of  the  places  through  which  he  was  to  pass  to  know  how 
the  Gauls  were  affected  to  the  Romans  ;  to  win  over  their  chiefs,  whom  he 
knew  to  be  very  greedy  of  gold,  by  his  bounty  to  them  ;iriF  and  to  secure 
to  himself  the  affection  and  fidelity  of  a  part  of  the  nations  through  whose 
country  he  w^as  to  mar^.h.  He  was  not  ignorant,  that  the  passage  of  the  Alps 
would  be  attended  with  great  difficulties,  but  he  knew  they  were  not  insur- 
mountable, and  that  was  enough  for  his  purpose. 

Hannibal  began  his  march  early  in  the  spring,  from  New  Carthage,  where  he 
had  wintered.!*  His  army  then  consisted  of  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  men, 
of  which  twelve  thousand  were  cavalry,  and  he  had  nearly  forty  elephants.  Ha* 
ring  crossed  the  Iberus,  he  soon  subdued  the  several  nations  which  opposed  him 
in  his  march,  but  lost  \  considerable  part  of  his  army  in  this  expedition.  He  left 
Hanno  to  command  all  the  country  lying  between  the  Iberus  and  the  Pyrenean 
hills,  with  eleven  thousand  men,  who  were  appointed  to  guard  the  baggage  of 


•  A.  M.  3787.    A.  Carth.  629.    A.  Rome,  531.  Ant.  J.  C.  217.    Polyb.  1.  iii.  p.  187.    Liv.  1.  xxi.  n.  21,22.  j 
f  Polyb.  I.  iii.  p.  192,  193.  %  Two  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles.  1 

^  Polybius  makes  the  distance  from  New  Carthage  to  be  2600  furlongs  ;  consequently  the  whole  number . 
furlongs  will  be  8400,  or,  allowing  625  feet  to  the  furlong,  994  English  miles,  and  almost  one  third.— Set 
Myb.  Edit.  Gronov.  p.  267. 
U  Polyb.  1. iii.  p.  199.       ITSOOmiles.       **2G0miles.       tt  1'''5 miles.       J+iSOmiles.  lOOOmiltf. 

||)|  Polyb.  1.  iii.  p.  188,  189.  ^IT  Polyb.  1.  iii.  p.  190.    Liv.  1.  xxi.  n.  22—24. 

t*  Audicrunt  praeoccupatos  jam  ab  Annlbale  Gallorum  animos  esse  ;  sed  ne  illi  quidem  ipsi  satii  mitM  1 
fenteiu  fore,  d'  subinde  auro,  cujus  avidissirna  gciis  est,  principum  animi  concUientur — Liv.  1.  jri  a.  90  | 


CAKTHAGINIANS. 


(h(>9Q  who  were  to  follow  liiin.  He  dismissed  the  like  numljer,  sending  tfesa 
back  fo  their  respective  countries ;  thus  securing  to  himself  their  affection  when 
he  should  want  recruits,  and  assuring  the  rest  that  ihey  should  be  allowed  to  re- 
turn whenever  they  should  desire  it.  He  passed  the  Pyrenean  hills  and  ad- 
vanced as  far  as  the  banks  of  the  Rhone,  at  the  head  of  fifty  thousand  foot, 
and  nine  thousand  horse  ;  a  formidable  army,  but  less  so  from  the  number,  than 
from  the  valour  of  the  troops  that  composed  it ;  troops  who  had  served  several 
years  in  Spain,  and  learned  the  art  of  war,  under  the  ablest  captains  that  Car- 
thage could  ever  boast. 

PASSAGE  OF  THE  RHONE. 

Hannibal*  being  arrived  within  about  four  days  march  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Rhone.t  attempted  to  cross  it,  because  the  river,  in  this  place,  took  up  only 
tlie  breadth  of  its  channel.  He  brought  up  all  the  ship  boats  and  small  vessels 
he  could  meet  with,  of  which  the  inhabitants  had  a  great  number,  because  of 
their  commerce.  He  likewise  built  with  great  diligence  a  prodigious  number 
of  boats,  small  vessels,  and  rafts.  On  his  arrival,  he  found  the  Gauls  encamped 
on  the  opposite  bank,  and  prepared  to  dispute  the  passage.  There  was  no 
possibility  of  his  attacking  them  in  front.  He  therefore  ordered  a  considerable 
detachment  of  his  forces,  under  the  command  of  Hanno,  the  son  of  Bomilcar, 
to  pass  the  river  higher  up  ;  and,  in  order  to  conceal  his  march,  and  the  design 
he  had  in  view,  from  the  enemy,  he  obliged  them  to  set  out  in  the  night.  All 
things  succeeded  as  he  desired  ;  and  the  river  was  passed  the  next  day  without 
the  least  opposition.]: 

They  passed  the  rest  of  the  day  in  refreshing  themselves,  and  in  the  night 
they  advanced  silently  towards  the  enemy.  In  the  morning,  when  the  signals 
agreed  upon  had  been  given,  Hannibal  prepared  to  attempt  the  passage.  Part 
of  his  horses,  completely  harnessed,  were  put  into  boats,  that  their  riders  might, 
on  their  landing,  immediately  charge  the  enemy.  The  rest  of  the  horses  swam 
ever  on  both  sides  of  the  boats,  from  which  one  single  man  held  the  bridles 
of  three  or  four.  The  infantry  crossed  the  river,  either  on  rafts,  or  in  small 
boats,  and  in  a  kind  of  gondolas,  which  were  only  the  trunks  of  trees  they 
tliemselves  had  made  hollow.  The  large  boats  were  drawn  up  in  a  line  at  the 
top  of  the  channel,  in  order  to  break  the  force  of  the  waves,  and  facilitate  the 
passage  to  the  rest  of  the  fleet.  When  the  Gauls  saw  it  advancing  on  the 
river,  they,  according  to  their  custom,  broke  into  dreadful  cries  and  bowlings, 
and,  clashing  their  bucklers  over  their  heads,  one  against  the  other,  let  fly  a 
shower  of  darts.  But  they  were  prodigiously  astonished,  when  they  heard  a 
great  noise  behind  them,  saw  their  tents  on  fire,  and  themselves  attacked  both 
in  front  and  rear.  They  now  had  no  way  left  to  save  themselves  but  by  flight, 
and  accordingly  retreated  to  their  respective  villages.  After  this,  the  rest  of 
the  troops  crossed  the  river  quietly,  and  without  any  opposition. 

The  elephants  were  still  behind,  and  occasioned  a  great  deal  of  trouble. 
They  were  wafted  over  the  next  day  in  the  following  manner :  From  the  bank 
of  the  river  was  thrown  a  raft,  two  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  fifty  in  breadth 
this  was  strongly  fixed  to  the  banks  by  large  ropes,  and  quite  covered  over 
with  earth,  so  that  the  elephants,  deceived  by  its  appearance,  thought  them- 
selves upon  firm  ground.  From  this  first  raft  they  proceeded  to  a  second, 
which  was  built  in  the  same  form,  but  only  a  hundred  feet  long,  and  fastened 
to  the  former  by  chains  that  were  easily^  loosened.  The  female  elephants 
were  put  upf  n  the  first  raft,  and  the  males  followed  after  ;  and,  when  they  were 
got  upon  thr  second  raft,  it  was  loosened  from  the  first,  and  by  the  help  of 
small  boats  .owed  to  the  opposite  shore.  After  this,  it  was  sent  back  to  letch 
those  whicti  were  behind.  Some  fell  into  the  v/ater,  but  they  at  last  got  safe 
shore,  and  not  a  single  elephant  was  drowned. 


*  Poiyb.  1.  iii.  p.  270— -271.   Erlit.  Gronov.    Liv.  1  xxi.  n.  26 — 9S. 
\  lUtl«  abcve  Avignon.  1  II  is  thont:'"*  ♦his  wasbetweeu  Roqup-naure  aod  Pont  St.  Cipric 

Vol.  I. 


trio 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


THE  MARCH  AFTER  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  RHONE. 

The  two  Roman  consuls  had,  in  the  beginning  of  the  spring,  set  out  for  th€ii 
respective  provinces;  P.  Scipio  for  Spain  with  sixty  ships,  two  Roman  legions, 
fourteen  thousand  foot,  an  d  twelve  hundred  horse  of  the  allies  ;  Tiberius  Sem- 
pronius  for  Sicily,  with  a  hundred  and  sixty  ships,  two  legions,  sixteen  thou- 
sand foot,  and  eighteen  hundred  horse  of  the  allies.*  The  Roman  legion  con- 
Bisted,  at  that  time,  of  four  thousand  foot,  and  three  hundred  horse.  Sempro- 
nius  had  made  extraordinary  preparations  at  Lilybaeum,  a  seaport  town  in  Si- 
cily, with  the  design  of  crossing  over  directly  into  Africa.  Scipio  was  equally 
confident  that  he  should  find  Hannibal  still  in  Spain,  and  make  that  country 
the  seat  of  war.  But  he  was  greatly  astonished,  when,  on  his  arrival  at  Mar- 
seilles, advice  was  brought  hira  that  Hannibal  was  upon  the  banks  of  the  Rhone, 
and  preparing  to  cross  it.  He  then  detached  three  hundred  horse,  to  view 
the  posture  of  the  enemy ;  and  Hannibal  detached  five  hundred  Numidian 
horse  for  the  same  purpose,  during  which  some  of  his  soldiers  were  employed 
in  transporting  the  elephants. 

At  the  same  time  he  gave  audience,  in  the  presence  of  his  whole  arm}^  to 
ne  of  the  princes  of  that  part  of  Gaul  which  is  situated  near  the  Po,  who 
!tssured  hirn,  by  an  interpreter,  in  the  name  of  his  subjects,  that  his  arrival 
was  impatiently  expected  ,  that  the  Gauls  were  ready  to  join  him,  and  march 
against  the  Romans  ;  that  he  himself  would  conduct  his  army  through  places 
where  they  should  meet  with  a  plertiful  supply  of  provisions.  vVhen  the 
prince  was  withdrawn,  Hannibal,  in  a  speech  to  his  troops,  magnified  ex- 
tremely this  deputation  from  the  Gauls  ;  extolled  with  just  praises,  the  braveiy 
which  his  forces  had  shown  hitherto,  and  exhorted  them  to  sustain  to  the  last 
their  reputation  and  glory.  The  soldiers,  inspired  with  fresh  ardour  and  cou 
rage,  declared,  with  uplifted  hands,  their  readiness  to  follow^  wherever  he 
should  lead  the  way.  Accordingly  he  appointed  the  next  day  for  his  march  ; 
and  after  offering  up  vows,  and  making  supplications  to  the  gods  for  the  safety 
of  his  troops,  he  dismissed  them,  desiring,  at  the  same  time,  that  they  would 
take  necessary  refreshments. 

While  this  was  doing  the  Numidians  returned.  They  had  met  with  and 
chained  the  Roman  detachment ;  the  conflict  was  very  obstinate,  and  the 
slaughter  great,  considering  the  small  number  of  combatants.  A  hundred 
and  sixty  of  the  Romans  were  left  dead  upon  the  spot,  and  more  than  two 
hundred  of  their  enemies.  But  the  honour  of  this  skirmish  fell  to  the  Romans, 
the  Numidians  having  retired,  and  left  them  the  field  of  battle.  This  first 
action  was  interpreted  as  an  omen  of  the  fate  of  the  whole  war,  and  seemed 
to  promise  success  to  the  Romans,  but  which,  at  tbe  same  time,  would  be 
dearly  bought,  and  strongly  contested.!  On  both  sides,  those  who  had  sur- 
vived this  engagement,  and  who  had  been  engaged  in  reconnoitering,  returned 
to  inform  their  respective  generals  of  what  they  had  discovered. 

Hannibal,  as  he  had  declared,  decamped  the  next  day,  and  crossing  through 
the  midst  of  Gaul,  advanced  northward  ;  not  that  this  was  the  shortest  way  to 
the  Alps,  but  only  as  it  led  him  from  the  sea,  it  prevented  his  meeting  Scipio,* 
and,  by  that  means  favoured  the  design  he  had  of  marching  all  his  forces 
into  Italy,  without  lessening  them  by  fighting 

Though  Scipio  marched  with  the  utmost  expedition,  he  did  not  reach  the 
place  where  Hannibal  had  passed  the  Rhone,  till  three  days  after  he  had  set 
out  from  it.  Despairing  therefore  to  overtake  him,  he  returned  to  his  fleet, 
and  reimbarked,  fully  resolved  to  wait  for  Hannibal  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps. 
But,  in  order  that  he  might  not  leave  Spain  defenceless,  he  sent  his  brothel 
Cneiut  thither,  with  the  greatest  part  of  his  army,  to  make  head  against  At* 


*  Polyb.  1.  iii.  p.  2C0— 202,  &c.    lAv.  1.  xxi.  n.    1,  32. 
t  Roc  principium  simulque  omen  hrlli,  ut  sumnia  rerum  prosperua  -jvenluin,  ita  hand  sand  inCRtSDl.^' 
v^\^\\Hx\}i<&  oertaminis  victoriajac  Roinanis  portendil.— L*'      xxi.  a.  'i. 


CAaTJJAGlAlA.\». 


211 


(tftibal ;  and  himself  set  forvvaids  immediately  for  Genoa,  with  the  intention  of 
opposing  the  army  which  was  in  Gaul,  near  the  Po,  to  that  of  Hannibal. 

The  latter,  after  four  days  march,  arrived  at  a  kind  of  island,  formed  by  the 
conflux  of  two  rivers,  which  unite  their  streams  at  this  place.^  Here  he  was 
choser  umpire  between  two  brothers,  who  disputed  their  right  to  the  kingdom. 
He  to  whom  Hannibal  decreed  it,  furnished  his  whole  army  with  provisions, 
clothes  and  arms.  This  was  the  country  of  the  Allobroges,  the  people  who 
inhabited  the  present  districts  of  Geneva,  Vienne,t  and  Grenoble.  His  march 
was  not  much  interrupted  till  he  arrived  at  the  Durance,  and  from  thence 
he  reached  the  foot  of  the  Alps  without  any  opposition. 

THE  PASSAGE  OVER  THE  ALPS. 

The  sight  of  these  mountains,  whose  tops  seemed  to  touch  the  skies,  and 
were  covered  with  snow,  and  where  nothing  appeared  to  the  eye  but  a  few 
pitiful  cottages,  scattered  here  and  there,  on  the  sharp  tops  of  inaccessible 
rocks ;  nothing  but  meagre  flocks,  almost  perishing  with  cold,  and  hairy  men 
of  a  savage  and  fierce  aspect;  this  spectacle  renewed  the  terror  which 
tlie  distant  prospect  had  raised,  and  chilled  with  fear  the  hearts  of  the 
soldiers. J  When  they  began  to  climb  up,  they  perceived  the  mountaineers, 
who  had  seized  upon  the  highest  cliffs,  and  prepared  to  oppose  their  passage. 
They  therefore  were  forced  to  halt.  Had  the  moun^? Sneers,  says  Polybius, 
only  lain  in  ambuscade,  and  suffered  Hannibal's  troops  to  4rike  into  some 
narrow  passage,  and  then  charged  them  on  a  sudden,  the  Carthaginian  army 
would  have  been  irrecoverably  lost.  Hannibal,  being  informed  that  they 
kept  those  posts  only  in  the  day  time,  and  quitted  them  in  the  evening,  pos- 
sessed himself  of  them  by  night.  The  Gauls,  returning  early  in  the  morning, 
were  very  much  surprised  to  find  their  posts  in  the  enemy's  hands  ;  but  still 
they  were  not  disheartened.  Being  used  to  climb  up  those  rocks,  they  at- 
tacked the  Carthaginians  who  were  upon  their  march,  and  harassed  them 
on  all  sides.  The  latter  were  obliged,  at  the  same  time,  to  engage  with 
the  enemy,  and  struggle  with  the  ruggedness  of  the  paths  of  the  mountains, 
where  they  could  hardly  stand.  But  the  greatest  disorder  was  caused  by  the 
horses  and  beasts  of  burden  laden  with  the  baggage,  that  were  frighted  by 
the  cries  and  howling  of  the  Gauls,  w^hich  echoed  dreadfully  among  the  moun- 
tains ;  and  being  sometimes  wounded  by  the  mountaineers,  came  tumbling 
on  the  soldiers,  and  dragged  them  headlong  with  them  down  the  preci- 
ices  which  skirted  the  road.  Hannibal,  being  sensible  that  the  loss  of  his 
aggage  alone  w^as  enough  to  destroy  his  army,  ran  to  the  assistance  of  his 
troops  who  were  thus  embarrassed,  and  having  put  the  enemy  to  flight,  con- 
tinued his  march  without  molestation  or  danger,  and  came  to  a  castle,  which 
was  the  most  important  fortress  in  the  whole  country.  He  possessed  himself 
of  U,  and  of  all  the  neighbouring  villages,  in  which '^he  found  a  lai^e  quantity 
of  corn,  and  sufficient  cattle  to  subsist  his  army  for  three  days. 

Although  their  march  was  for  a  short  time  uninterrupted,  the  Carthaginians 
were  to  encounter  a  new  danger.  The  Gauls,  feigning  to  take  advantage  of 
the  misfortunes  of  their  neighbours,  who  had  suffered  for  opposing  the  passage 
of  Hannibal's  troops,  came  to  pay  their  respects  to  that  general,  brought 
him  provisions,  offered  to  be  his  guides,  and  left  him  hostages,  as  pledges  of 
their  fidelity.  Hannibal,  however,  placed  no  great  confidence  in  them.  The 
elephants  and  horses  marched  in  the  front,  while  himself  followed  with  the 
main  body  of  his  foot,  keeping  a  vigilant  eye  over  all.    They  came  at  length 


*  The  text  of  Polybius.  as  it  has  been  transmitted  to  us.  and  that  of  Livy,  place  this  island  at  the  meet- 
in?  of  the  Saone  and  the  Rhone,  that  is,  in  that  part  where  the  city  of  Lyons  stands.  But  this  is  a  maJtt^ 
fest  error.  It  was  Sxco^ay  in  the  Greek,  instead  of  which  6  "A^a^oi  has  besn  substituted.  J.  GroBorias 
•ays,  that  he  had  read,  in  a  manuscript  of  Livy,  Bisarar,  which  shows  that  we  are  to  read  Isara  Rhoda^' 
osque  amnes,  instead  of  Arar  Rhodanusque  ;  and  thai  the  island  in  question  is  formed  bv  the  con3ux  of  th^ 
2ra*aaod  the  Rhone.  The  situation  of  the  Allobroges,  here  spdken  of,  proves  this  evidently. 
In  Danphui6  t  Polyb.  1.  iii.  p.  203-  90«     Liv.  1.  xxi.  n.  32—3^. 


«||^  HISTORY  OF  THE 

to  a  very  steep  and  narrow  pass,  which  was  commanded  by  an  eminence, 
where  the  Gauls  had  placed  an  ambuscade.  These  rushing  out  on  a  sudden^ 
assailed  the  Carthaginians  on  every  side,  rolling  down  stones  upon  them  of  a 
prodigious  size.  The  army  would  have  been  entirely  routed,  nad  not  Han« 
nibal  exerted  himself,  in  an  extraordinary  manner,  to  extricate  them  out  of  this 
difficulty. 

At  last,  on  the  ninth  day,  they  reached  the  summit  of  the  Alps.  Here  the 
army  halted  two  days,  to  rest  and  refresh  themselves  after  their  fatigue,  aftei 
which  they  continued  their  march.  As  it  was  now  autumn,  a  great  quantity  ol' 
snow  had  lately  fallen,  and  covered  all  the  roads,  which  caused  a  consternation 
among  the  troops,  and  disheartened  them  very  much.  Hannibal  perceived  it 
and  halting  on  a  hill,  from  v/hence  there  was  a  prospect  of  all  Italy,  he  showec- 
them  the  fruitful  plains  of  Piedmont,  watered  by  the  river  Po,  which  ihey 
had  nearly  reached,  adding  that  they  had  but  one  more  effort  to  make,  before 
they  an'ived  at  them.  He  represented  to  them,  that  a  battle  or  two  would  put 
a  glorious  period  to  their  toils,  and  enrich  them  forever,  by  giving  them  pos- 
session of  the  capital  of  the  Roman  empire.  This  speech,  full  of  such  pleas- 
ing hopes,  and  enforced  by  the  sight  of  Italy,  inspired  the  dejected  soldiers 
with  fresh  vigour  and  alacrity.  They  therefore  pursued  their  march.  But 
still  the  road  was  more  craggy  and  troublesome  than  ever,  and  as  they  were 
now  on  a  descent,  the  difficulty  and  danger  increased.  For  the  ways  were  nar- 
row, steep,  and  slippery,  in  most  places  ;  so  that  the  soldiers  could  neither 
keep  their  feet  as  they  marched,  nor  recover  themselves  when  they  made  a 
false  step,  but  stumbled,  and  beat  down  one  another. 

They  were  now  come  to  a  place  worse  than  any  they  had  yet  met  with. 
This  was  a  path  naturally  very  steep  and  craggy,  which  being  made  more  so  by 
the  late  falling  in  of  the  earth,  terminated  in  a  frightlul precipice  more  than  a 
thousand  feet  deep.  Here  the  cavalry  stopped  short.  Hannibal,  wondering 
at  this  sudden  halt,  ran  to  the  place,  and  saw  that  it  would  really  be  impossible 
for  the  troops  to  advance.  He  therefore  was  for  making  a  circuitous  route* 
but  this  also  was  found  impracticable.  As  upon  the  old  snow,  which  was 
growing  hard  by  lying,  there  was  some  lately  fallen  that  was  of  no  great  depth, 
the  feet,  at  first,  by  their  sinking  into  it,  found  a  firm  support ;  but  this  snov? 
being  soon  dissolved  by  the  treading  of  the  foren.ost  troops  and  beasts  of  bur- 
den, the  soldiers  marched  on  nothing  but  ice,  which  was  so  slippery  that  they 
had  no  firm  footing  ;  and  where,  if  they  made  the  least  false  step,  or  endea- 
voured to  save  themselves  with  their  hands  or  knees,  there  were  no  boughs  or 
roots  to  catch  hold  of.  Besides  this  difficulty,  the  horses,  striking  their  feet 
forcibly  into  the  ice  to  keep  themselves  from  falling,  could  not  draw  them  out 
again,  but  were  caught  as  in  a  gin.  They  therefore  were  forced  to  seek  some 
other  expedient. 

Hannibal  resolved  to  pitch  his  camp,  and  to  give  his  troops  some  days  rest, 
on  the  summit  of  this  hill,  which  was  of  a  considerable  extent,  after  they  should 
have  cleared  the  ground,  and  removed  all  the  old  as  well  as  the  new  fallen 
snow^,  which  was  a  work  of  immense  labour.  He  afterwards  ordered  a  path 
to  be  cut  into  the  rock  itself,'  and  this  was  carried  on  with  amazing  patience 
and  labour.  To  open  and  enlarge  this  path,  all  the  trees  thtireabout  were  cut 
down,  and  piled  round  the  rock,  and  there  set  on  fire.  The  wind,  fortunately 
blowing  hard,  a  fierce  flame  soon  broke  out,  so  that  the  rock  glowed  like  the 
very  coals  with  which  it  was  surrounded.  Then  Hannibal,  i?  Livy  may  be 
creaited,  for  Polybius  says  nothing  of  this  matter,  caused  a  great  quantity 
of  vinegar  to  be  poured  on  the  rock,*  which  piercing  into  the  veins  of  it,  that 
were  now  cracked  by  the  intense  heat  of  the  fire,  calcined  and  softened  it. 

*  Many  reject  this  incident  as  fictitious.  Pliny  takes  notice  of  a  remarkable  quality  in  vineg-ar,  viz.  its 
being  able  to  break  rocks  and  stones. — Saxa  rumpit  infusum,  quas  noQ  ruperit  ig-nis  antecedens,  1.  xxiii.c.  t 
He  therefore  calls  it,  Succus  rerum  domitor,  1.  xxxiii,  c.  2.  Dion,  speaking-  of  the  siege  of  Eleuthra,  says, 
that  the  walls  of  it  were  made  to  fall  by  the  force  of  vinegar,  1.  xxxvi.  p.  8.  Probably  the  circumfttuie* 
tant  seems  improbable  on  this  occasion,  is  the  difficulty  of  Hannibal's  procuring:,  in  thoie  mountainf*  a  quav 
lity  ftf  vinegar  sufficient  for  this  purpose. 


CARTIIAGIMAM*. 


213 

In  tfiii  manner,  making  a  large  circjit,  in  oider  that  the  descent  might  he 
eapier,  they  cut  a  way  along  the  rock,  which  opened  a  free  passage  to  tiie 
forces,  the  baggage,  and  even  to  the  elephants.  Four  days  were  employ 
c'd  in  this  work,  during  which  the  beasts  of  burden  had  no  provender,  theie 
[  being  no  food  for  them  on  mountains  buried  under  eternal  snows.  At  last  they 
,  came  into  cultivated  and  fruitful  spotn,  which  yielded  plenty  of  forage  for  the 
hor:»es,  and  all  kinds  of  food  for  the  soldiers. 

HANNIBAL  ENTERS  ITALY. 

Whkn  Hannibal  marched  into  Italy,  his  army  was  far  less  numerous  than 
when  he  left  Spain,  where  we  find  it  amounted  to  nearly  sixty  thousand  men.* 
He  had  sustained  great  losses  during  the  march,  either  in  the  battles  he  was 
forced  to  fight,  or  in  the  passage  of  rivers.  At  his  departure  from  the  Rhone, 
it  ci)nsisted  of  thirty-eight  thousand  foot,  and  above  eight  thousand  horse. 
The  march  over  the  Alps  destroyed  nearly  half  this  number,  so  that  Hannil»a] 
had  now  remaining  only  twelve  thousand  Africans,  eight  thousand  Spanisi) 
(oot,  and  six  thousand  horse.  This  account  he  himsel«f  caused  to  be  engraved 
on  a  pillar  near  the  promontory  called  Licinium.  It  was  five  months  and  a 
half  since  his  first  setting  out  from  New  Carthage,  including  the  forlnigbt  he 
pmployed  in  marching  over  the  Alps,  when  he  set  up  his  standard  in  the  plains 
of  the  Po,  at  the  entrance  of  Piedmont.   It  might  then  have  been  September. 

His  first  care  was  to  give  his  troops  some  rest,  which  they  very  much  want- 
ed. When  he  perceived  that  they  were  fit  for  action,  the  inhabitants  of  all 
the  territories  of  Turint  refusing  to  conclude  an  alliance  with  him,  he  marched 
Rnd  encamped  before  their  chief  city,  carried  it  in  three  days,  and  put  all  who 
had  opposed  him  to  the  sword.  This  expedition  struck  the  barbarians  with 
so  much  dread,  that  they  all  came  voluntarily  and  surrendered  at  discretion. 
The  rest  of  the  Gauls  would  have  done  the  same,  had  they  not  been  awed  by 
[he  terror  of  the  Roman  arms,  which  were  now  approaching.  Hannibal 
thought,  therefore,  that  he  had  no  time  to  lose  ;  that  it  was  his  interest  to 
march  up  into  the  country,  and  attempt  some  great  exploit,  such  as  might  in- 
duce those  who  should  have  an  inclination  to  join  him  to  rely  on  his  valour. 

The  rapid  progress  which  Hannibal  h?d  made  greatly  alarmed  Rome,  and 
caused  the  utmost  consternation  throughout  the  city.  Sempronius  was  ordered 
to  leave  Sicily,  and  hasten  to  the  relief  of  his  country  ;  and  P.  Scipio,  the  other 
consul  advanced  with  the  utmost  diligence  towards  the  enemy,  crossed  th*» 
Po,  and  pitched  his  camp  near  the  Ticinus.J 

BATTLE  OF  THE  CAVALRY  NEAR  THE  TICINUS. 

The  armies  being  now  in  sight,  the  generals  on  each  side  made  a  speech  to 
their  soldiers,  before  they  engaged  in  battle.§  Scipio,  after  having  represent- 
ed to  .lis  forces  the  glory  of  their  country,  and  the  noble  achievements  of  their 
ancestors,  observed  to  them,  that  victory  was  in  their  hands,  since  they  were 
to  combat  only  with  Carthaginians,  a  people  who  had  been  so  often  defeated 
by  them,  as  well  as  forced  to  be  their  tributaries  for  twenty  years,  and  long 
accustomed  to  be  almost  their  slaves :  that  the  advantage  they  had  gained 
over  the  flower  of  the  Carthaginian  horse,  was  a  sure  omen  of  their  success 
during  the  rest  of  the  war :  that  Hannibal,  in  marching  over  the  Alps,  had  just 
oetore  lost  the  best  part  of  his  army,  and  that  those  who  survived  were  ex- 
hausted  with  hunger,  cold,  and  fatigue  :  that  the  bare  sight  of  the  Romans 
was  suthcieut  to  put  to  flight  a  parcel  of  soldiers,  who  had  the  aspect  of  ghosts 
rather  than  of  men  :  m  a  word,  that  victory  was  become  necessary,  not  only 
to  secure  Italjr,  but  to  save  Rome  itself,  whose  fate  the  present  battle  would 
decide,  that  city  havmg  no  other  army  wherewith  to  oppose  the  enemy. 

Hannibal,  that  his  words  might  make  the  stronger  impression  on  the  rude 
mmds  ol  his  soldiers,  addressed  himself  to  their  eyes,  before  he  addressed 

*  Polyb.  1.  iii.  p.  209  &  212-214.    Liv.  1  xxi.  n.  39.  t  Taurini. 

I  A  imall  nrer.  now  called  Tesiuo.  in  Lorahardy        J  Polyb.  1.  iii,  p.  214—218.    Lir.  1.  xx\.  d.  3§— 47 


9\A 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


their  cars ;  and  did  not  attempt  to  persuade  them  by  aii^ments,  till  he  had 
first  moved  them  by  the  following  spectacle.  He  armed  some  of  the  prison- 
ers  he  had  taken  in  the  mountains,  and  obliged  them  to  fight,  two  and  two,  in 
sight  of  his  army,  promising  to  rew^ard  the  conquerors  with  their  libeny  and 
rich  presents.  The  alacrity  and  vigour  w^herewilh  these  barbarians  engaged 
upon  these  mo,Mves,  gave  Hannibal  an  occasion  of  exhibiting  to  his  soldiers  s 
lively  image  of  their  present  condition  ;  which,  by  depriving  them  of  all  meani 
©f  returning  back,  put  them  under  an  absolute  necessity  either  of  conquering 
or  dying,  in  order  to  avoid  the  endless  evils  prepared  for  those  that  should  be 
so  base  and  cowardly  as  to  submit  to  the  Romans.  He  displayed  to  them  the 
ffreatness  of  their  reward,  viz.  the  conquest  of  all  Itai^ ;  the  plunder  of  the 
rich  and  wealthy  city  of  Rome  ;  an  illustrious  victory,  and  immortal  glory. 
He  spoke  contemptibly  of  the  Roman  power,  the  false  lustre  of  which  he  ob- 
served, ought  not  to  dazzle  such  warriors  as  themselves,  who  had  marched 
from  the  pillars  of  Hercules,  through  the  fiercest  nations  into  the  very  centre  of 
Italy.  As  for  his  own  part,  he  scorned  to  compare  himself  with  Scipio,  a  gene- 
ral of  but  six  months  standing  :  himself,  who  was  almost  born,  at  least  brought 
up,  in  the  tent  of  Hamilcar  his  father  ;  the  conqueror  of  Spain,  of  Gaul,  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Alps,  and,  what  was  still  more  remarkable, of  the  Alps  them- 
selves. He  roused  their  indignation  against  the  insolence  of  the  Romans,  who 
had  dared  to  demand  that  himself,  and  the  rest  who  had  taken  Saguntum,  should 
be  delivered  up  to  them ;  and  excited  their  jealousy  against  the  intolerable 
pride  of  those  imperious  masters,  w  ho  imagined  that"  all  things  ought  to  obey 
them,  and  that  they  had  a  right  to  give  laws  to  the  w^orld. 

After  these  speeches,  both  sides  prepared  for  battle.  Scipio,  having  thrown 
a  bridge  across  the  Ticinus,  marched  his  troops  over  it.  Two  ill  omens  had 
filled  his  army  with  consternation  and  dread.*  As  for  the  Carthaginians,  they 
w^e re  inspired  with  the  boldest  courage.  Hannibal  animated  them  with  fresh 
promises  ;  and  cleaving  with  a  stone  the  skull  of  the  lamb  he  was  sacrificing, 
he  prayed  to  Jupiter  to  dash  his  head  in  pieces  in  like  manner,  in  case  he  did 
not  give  his  soldiers  the  rewards  be  had  promised  them. 

Scipio  posted  in  the  first  line,  the  troops  armed  with  missile  weapons,  and 
the  Gaulish  horse  ;  and  forming  his  second  line  of  the  flower  of  the  confederate 
cavalry,  he  advanced  slowly.  Hannibal  advanced  with  his  whole  cavaliy,  irj 
the  centre  of  which  he  had  posted  the  troopers  who  rode  with  bridles,  ana  the 
Numidian  horse  on  the  wings,  in  order  to  surround  the  enemy .j  The  offi* 
cers  and  cavalry,  being  eager  to  engage,  the  battle  commenced.  At  the  first 
onseL  Scipio's  light-armed  soldiers  discharged  their  darts,  but  frightened  at 
the  Carthaginian  cavalry,  which  came  pouring  upon  them,  and  fearing  lest 
they  should  be  trampled  under  the  horses'  feel,  Xhej  gave  w^ay,  and  retired 
through  the  intervals  of  the  squadrons.  The  fi.ght  continued  a  long  time  with 
equal  success.  Many  troopers  on  both  sides  dismounted  ;  so  that  the  battle 
was  carried  on  between  infantry  as  well  as  cavalry.  In  the  mean  time,  the 
Numidians  surrounded  the  enemy,  and  charged  the  rear  of  the  light-armed 
troops,  who  at  first  had  escaped  the  attack  of  the  cavalry,  and  trod  them  under 
their  horses'  feet.  The  centre  of  the  Roman  forces  had  hitherto  fought  with 
great  bravery.  Many  were  killed  on  both  sides,  and  even  more  on  that  of  the 
Carthaginians.  But  the  Roman  troops  were  thrown  into  disorder  by  the  Numi- 
dians, v'ho  attacked  them  in  the  rear :  and  especially  by  a  wound  the  consul 
received,  which  disabled  him.  This  general,  however,  was  rescued  out  of  the 
enemy's  hands  by  the  bravery  of  his  son,  then  but  seventeen  years  old,  and 
who  afterw^ards  was  honoured  with  the  surname  of  Africanus,  for  having  put  a 
gloxious  period  to  this  war. 

The  consul,  though  dangerously  wounded,  retreated  in  good  order,  and  waa 
conveyed  to  his  camp  by  a  body  of  horse  who  covered  him  with  their  arms 

*  These  two  ill  omens  were,  first,  a  wolf  had  stole  into  the  camp  of  the  Romans,  and  cruelly  mangled 
•one  x>i  the  soldiers,  without  receiving  the  least  harm  from  those  who  endeavoured  to  kill  it ;  and,  secondij. 
•  9«rann  of  bees  bad  pitched  upon  a  tree  near  the  prstorium,  or  general's  tent. — Liv.  I.  xxi.  c.  46 
t  The  Numidians  used  to  ride  without  saddle  or  bridle. 


rARTIIAGINIANi. 


wk!  bodies  :  the  rest  of  t^e  army  followed  lum  llnther.  He  hasteoed  to  tt>f 
Po,  which  he  crossed  with  his  army,  and  then  broke  down  the  bridge,  whercbj 
he  prevented  Hannibal  tVom  overtaking  him. 

It  was  agreed,  that  Hannibal  owed  this  first  victory  to  his  cavalry  ;  and  it 
was  judged  from  thenceforth,  that  the  main  strength  of  his  army  consisted  in 
his  horse  ;  and  therefore,  that  it  would  be  proper  for  the  Romans  to  avoid  large 
open  plains  like  those  between  the  Po  and  the  Alps. 

Immediately  after  the  battle  of  the  Ticinus,  all  the  neighbouring  Gauls  seem- 
ed to  contend  who  should  submit  themselves  first  to  llannibal,  furnish  him  with 
ammunition,  and  enlist  in  his  army.  And  this,  as  Polybius  has  observed,  was 
what  chiefly  induced  that  wise  and  skilful  general,  notwithstanding  the  small 
number  and  weakness  of  his  troops,  to  hazard  a  battle  ;  which  he  indeed  was 
now  obliged  to  venture,  from  the  impossibility  of  marching  back  whenever  he 
should  desire  to  do  it,  because  nothing  but  a  battle  would  oblige  the  Gauls  to 
declare  for  him  :  their  assistance  being  the  only  refuge  he  then  had  left. 

BATTLE  OF  TREBIA. 

Semprovius  the  consul,  upon  the  orders  he  had  received  from  the  senate, 
was  returned  from  Sicily  to  Ariminum.*  From  thence  he  marched  towards 
Trebia,  a  small  river  of  Lombardy,  which  falls  into  the  Po  a  little  above  Pia- 
centia,  where  he  joined  his  forces  to  those  of  Scipio.  Hannibal  advanced  to- 
wards the  camp  of  the  Romans,  from  which  he  was  separated  only  by  that 
small  river.  The  armies  lying  so  near  one  another,  gave  occasion  to  frequent 
skirmishes,  in  one  of  which  Sempronius,  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  horse,  gained 
lut  a  very  small  advantage  over  a  party  of  Carthaginians,  which  neverthejess 
/ery  much  increased  the  good  opinion  this  general  naturally  entertained  ol^'his 
own  merit. 

This  inconsiderable  success  seemed  to  him  a  complete  victory.  He  boasted 
his  having  vanquished  the  enemy  in  the  same  kind  of  fight  in  which  his  colleague 
had  been  defeated,  and  that  he  thereby  had  revived  the  courage  of  the  dejected 
Romans.  Being  now  resolutely  bent  to  come,  as  soon  as  possible,  to  a  decisive 
battle,  he  thought  it  proper,  for  decency  sake,  to  consult  Scipio,  whom  he 
found  to  be  of  a  quite  different  opinion  from  himself.  Scipio  represented,  that 
in  case  time  should  be  allowed  for  disciplining  the  new  levies  during  the  win- 
ter, they  would  be  much  more  fit  for  service  in  the  ensuing  campaign  ;  that 
the  Gauls,  who  were  naturally  fickle  and  inconstant,  would  disengage  them- 
selves insensibly  from  Hannibal ;  that  as  soon  as  his  wounds  should  be  healed, 
his  presence  might  be  of  some  use  in  an  affair  of  such  general  concern  ;  in  a 
word,  he  besought  him  earnestly  not  to  proceed  any  farther. 

These  reasons,  though  so  just,  made  no  impression  upon  Sempronius.  He 
saw  himself  at  the  head  of  sixteen  thousand  Romans,  and  twenty  thousand  allies, 
exclusive  of  cavalry,  which  number,  in  those  ages,  formed  a  complete  anny, 
when  both  consuls  joined  their  forces.  The  troops  of  the  enemy  amounted 
to  near  the  same  number.  He  thought  the  juncture  extremely  favourable  for 
hini.  He  declared  publicly,  that  all  the  officers  and  soldiei-s  were  desirous  of 
a  battle,  except  his  colleague,  whose  mind,  he  observed,  being  more  affected 
by  his  wound  than  his  body,  could  not  for  that  reason  bear  to  hear  of  an  en- 
gagement. But  still,  continued  Sempronius,  is  it  just  to  let  the  whole  army 
droop  and  languish  with  him  ?  What  could  Scipio  expect  more  ?  Did  he  flatter 
himself  with  the  hopes  that  a  third  consul,  and  a  new  army,  would  come  to 
his  assistance  ?  Such  were  the  expressions  he  employed,  both  among  the  sol- 
diers, and  even  about  Scipio's  tent.  The  time  for  the  election  of  new  generals 
drawing  near,  Sempronius  was  afraid  a  successor  would  be  sent  before  he  had 
nut  an  end  to  the  war ;  and  therefore  it  was  his  opinion,  that  he  ought  V)  take 
advantage  of  his  colleague's  illness  to  secure  the  whole  honour  of  the  rictory 
to  himself.   As  he  had  no  regard,  says  Polybius,  to  the  time  proper  for  action, 


Polyb  I.  xxiii.  f,  ?20— 227.    Liv.  1.  xii.  n.  51— 56w 


216 


HISTORY  L^F  THE 


and  oniy  to  that  which  he  thought  suited  his  ovm  interest,  he  could  not  fail  of 
taking  wrong  measures.  He  therefore  ordered  his  army  to  prepare  for  hattle, 
This  was  the  very  thing  Hannibal  desired,  holding  it  for  a  maxim,  that  when 
a  general  has  entered  a  foreign  country,  or  one  possessed  by  the  enemy,  and 
has  formed  some  great  design,  that  such  an  one  has  no  other  refuge  left,  but 
continually  to  raise  the  expectation  of  his  allies  by  sonie  fresh  exploits.  Be- 
sides, knowing  that  he  should  have  to  deal  only  with  new-levied  and  inexperi- 
enced troops,  he  was  desirous  of  taking  eveiy  advantage  possible  of  the  ardour 
of  the  Gauls,  who  were  extremely  desirous  of  fighting ;  and  of  Scipio's  ab- 
sence, who,  by  reason  of  his  wound,  could  not  be  present  in  the  battle.  Mago 
was  therefore  ordered  to  lie  in  ambush  with  two  thousand  men,  consisting  of 
horse  and  foot,  on  the  steep  banks  of  a  small  rivulet,  which  ran  between  the 
two  camps,  and  to  conceal  himself  among  the  bushes,  that  were  yery  thick  tliere» 
An  ambuscade  is  often  safer  in  a  smooth  open  country,  but  full  of  thickets,  ai 
this  was,  than  in  woods,  because  such  a  spot  is  less  apt  to  be  suspected.  He 
afterwards  caused  a  detachment  of  Numidian  cavalry  to  cross  the  Trebia,  with 
orders  to  advance  at  break  of  day  as  far  as  the  very  barriers  of  the  enemy's 
camp,  in  order  to  provoke  them  to  fight ;  and  then  to  retreat  and  repass  the 
river,  in  order  to  draw  the  Romans  after  them.  What  he  had  foreseen,  came 
exactly  to  pass.  The  fiery  Sempronius  immediately  detached  his  whole  ca- 
valry against  the  Numidians,  and  then  six  thousand  light-armed  troops,  who 
were  soon  followed  by  the  rest  of  the  army.  The  Numidians  fled  designedly ; 
upon  which  the  Romans  pursued  them  with  great  eagerness,  and  crossed  the 
Trebia  without  resistance,  but  not  without  gieat  difficulty,  being  forced  to  wade 
up  to  their  very  arm-pits  through  the  rivulet,  which  was  swollen  with  the  tor- 
rents that  had  fallen  in  the  night  from  the  neighbouring  mountains.  It  was 
then  about  the  winter-solstice,  that  is,  in  December.  It  happened  to  snow  that 
day,  and  the  cold  was  excessively  piercing.  The  Romans  had  left  their  camp 
fasting,  and'  without  taking  the  least  precaution  ;  whereas  the  Carthaginians 
had,  by  Hannibal's  order,  eat  and  drank  plentifully  in  their  tents ;  had  got  their 
horses  in  readiness,  rubbed  themselves  with  oil,  and  put  on  their  armour  by 
the  fire-side. 

They  were  thus  prepared  when  the  fight  began.  The  Romans  defended 
themselves  valiantly  for  a  considerable  time,  though  they  were  half  spent  with 
hunger,  fatigue,  and  cold ;  but  their  cavalry  was  at  last  broken  and  put  to 
flight  by  that  of  the  Carthaginians,  which  much  exceeded  theirs  in  numbers  an(f 
strength.  The  infantry  also  were  soon  in  great  disorder.  The  soldiers  in  ambus- 
cade  sallying  out  at  a  proper  time,  rushed  suddenly  upon  their  rear,  and  com- 
pleted the  overthrow.  A  body  of  about  ten  thousand  men  fought  their  way 
resolutely  through  the  Gauls  and  Africans,  of  whom  they  made  a  dreadful  slaugh- 
ter ;  but  as  they  could  neither  assist  their  friends,  nor  return  to  their  camp» 
the  way  to  it  being  cut  off  by  the  Numidian  horse,  the  river  and  the  rain,  they 
retreated  in  good  order  to  Placentia.  Most  of  the  rest  lost  their  lives  on 
the  banks  of  the  river,  being  trampled  to  pieces  by  the  elephants  and  horses. 
Those  who  escaped,  joined  the  body  above  mentioned.  The  next  night  Scipio 
also  retired  to  Placentia.  The  Carthaginians  gained  a  complete  victory,  and 
Iheir  loss  was  inconsiderable,  except  that  a  great  number  of  their  horses  were 
destroyed  by  the  cold,  the  rain,  and  the  snow ;  and  that,  of  all  their  elephants, 
they  saved  but  one. 

In  Spain,  the  Romans  had  better  success,  in  this  and  the  following  campaign,* 
for  Cn.  Scipio  extended  his  conquests  as  far  as  the  river  Iberus,t  defeated  Han* 
no,  and  made  him  prisoner. 

Hannibal  took  the  opportunity,  while  he  was  in  winter  quarters,  to  refresh 
his  troops,  and  gain  the  affection  of  the  natives.  For  this  purpose,  after  ha- 
ving declared  to  the  prisoners  he  had  taken  from  the  Roman  allies,  that  he  wai 
n»t  come  with  the  view  of  making  war  upon  them,  but  to  restore  the  Italiani  to 

•  f  6lyb.  \.  Ml.  p.  228,  '>29.    Liv.  1,  xxi.  n.  61).  61.  t  Or  Ebro 


CARfHAGIMANS.  2P 

Iheir  liberty,  anti  protect  them  against  the  Romans,  he  sent  them  all  hone  H 
their  own  countries,  without  requiring  the  least  ransom.* 

The  winter  was  no  sooner  over,  than  he  set  off  towards  Tuscany,  vvhithei 
he  hastened  his  march  for  two  important  reasons.t  First,  to  avoid  the  ill  ef- 
fects which  would  arise  from  the  ill-will  of  the  Gauls,  w^ho  were  tired  with  the 
long  stay  of  the  Carthaginian  army  in  their  territories ;  and  impatient  of 
bearing  the  whole  burden  of  a  war,  in  which  they  had  engaged  with  no  other 
view^,  than  to  carry  it  into  the  country  of  their  common  enemy.  Secondly, 
that  he  might  increase,  by  some  bold  exploit,  the  reputation  of  his  arms  in 
the  minds  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  Italy,  by  carrying  the  war  to  the  very  gated 
of  Rome,  and  at  the  same  time,  reanimate  his  troops,  and  the  Gauls  his  allies, 
by  the  plunder  of  the  enemy's  territories.  But  in  his  march  over  the  Appe- 
iiines,  he  was  overtaken  with  a  dreadful  storm,  which  destroyed  great  num- 
bers of  his  men.  The  cold,  the  rain,  the  wind,  and  hail,  seemed  to  conspire 
his  ruin  ;  so  that  the  fatigues  which  the  Carthagini.-xns  had  undergone  in  cross- 
ing the  Alps,  seemed  less  dreadful  than  these  they  now  suffered.  He  there- 
fore marched  back  to  Placentia,  where  he  again  fought  Sempronius,  who  had 
returned  from  Rome.    The  loss  on  both  sides  was  very  nearly  equal. 

While  Hannibal  was  in  these  winter  quarters,  he  hit  upon  a  stratagem  truly 
Carthaginian.t  He  was  surrounded  with  fickle  and  inconstant  nations  ;  the 
friendship  he  had  contracted  w^ith  them  was  but  of  recent  date.  He  had  rea- 
son to  apprehend  a  change  in  their  disposition,  and  consequently  that  atteni])ts 
would  be  made  upon  his  life.  To  secure  himself,  therefore,  he  got  perukes 
made,  and  clothes  suited  to  every  age.  Of  these  he  sometimes  wore  one, 
sometimes  another;  and  disguised  himself  so  often,  that  not  only  those  who  saw 
him  transiently,  but  even  his  intimate  acquaintance,  cculd  scarcely  know  him. 

At  Rome,  Cn.  Servilius  and  C.  Flaminius  had  been  appointed  consuls. § 
Hannibal,  having  advice  that  the  latter  was  advanced  alreadv  as  far  Arretium, 
a  town  of  Tuscany,  resolved  to  go  and  engage  him  as  soon  as  possible.  Two 
ways  being  shown  him,  he  chose  the  shortest,  though  the  most  troublesome, 
nay,  almost  impassable,  by  reason  of  a  fen  which  he  w^as  forced  to  go  through. 
Here  the  army  suffered  incredible  hardships.  During  four  days  and  three 
nights,  they  marched  half  leg  deep  in  water,  and  consequently  could  not  get 
a  moment  s  sleep.  Hannibal  himself,  who  rode  upon  the  only  elephant  he 
had  left,  could  hardly  get  through.  His  long  want  of  sleep,  and  the  thfck  va- 
pours which  exhaled  from  that  marshy  place,  together  with  the  unhealthful- 
ness  cf  the  season,  cost  him  one  of  his  eyes. 

BATTLE  OF  THRASYMENE. 

Hannibal  thus  extricated,  almost  unexpectedly,  out  of  this  dangerous  situa- 
tion, refreshed  his  troops,  and  then  marched  and  pitched  his  cainp  between 
Arretium  and  Fesulse,  in  the  richest  and  most  fruitful  part  of  Tuscany.'!  His 
first  endeavours  were,  to  discover  the  genius  and  character  of  Flaminius,  in 
order  that  he  might  take  advantage  of  his  errors,  which,  according  to  Foly- 
bius,  ought  to  be  the  chief  study  of  a  general.  He  was  told,  that  "Flaminius 
was  very  self-conceited,  bold,  enterprising,  rash,  and  fond  of  glory.  T« 
plunge  him  the  deeper  into  these  excesses,  to  which  he  was  naturally  prone,ir 
be  inflamed  his  impetuous  spirit,  by  laying  waste  and  burning  the  whole  coun- 
try in  his  sight. 

Flaminius  was  not  of  a  disposition  to  remain  inactive  in  his  camp,  though 
Hannibal  should  have  lain  still.  But  when  he  saw  the  territories  oi  his  allies 
laid  waste  before  his  eyes,  he  thought  it  would  reflect  dishonour  upon  him 
should  he  suffer  Hannibal  to  ravage  Italy  without  controul,  and  even  advance 


*  Polyb.  1.  iii.  p.  229.  f  Lir.  1.  xxi.  n.  68. 

X  Polyb.  1.  xxi.    Liv.  1.  xxii.  n.  1.    Appian.  in  Bell.  Annib.  p.  316. 
I  A.  M.  3783.    A.  Rome,  532.    Polyb.  p.  230,  231.    Liv.  I.  xxii.  n.  2.        ||  Polyb.  1.  Wi.  p.  251— 2St. 
%  Apparebat  ferociter  omnia  ac  pncprofcrfi  actiiri:m.    Q,iJoquc  pronior  esset  in  sua  Titia,  agitart  •«§ 
It^ii  irritarc  Pncnus  pariit. — Liv.  1.  xxii.  n  3. 


mSTORYOFTMB 

to  the  very  y^^]h  of  Rome,  without  meeting  any  resistance.  He  rejected  witk 
fcom  the  prudent  counsels  of  those  who  advised  him  to  wait  the  arrival  of 
his  colleague  ;  and  to  be  sati«iied  for  the  present  with  putting  a  stop  to  the 
devastation  of  the  enemy. 

In  the  mean  time  Hannibal  was  still  advancing  towards  Rome,  having  Cor- 
lona  on  the  left  hand,  and  the  lake  Thrasymene  on  his  right.  When  he  sa\^ 
that  the  consul  followed  close  after  him,  with  the  design  to  give  him  battle, 
bj  stopping  him  in  his  march  ;  having  observed  that  the  ground  was  ccnve 
niont  for  that  purpose,  he  also  began  to  prepare  himself  for  battle.  The  lake 
Thrasymene  and  the  mountains  of  Cortona  form  a  narrow  defile,  which  leadg 
into  a  lai^e  valley,  lined  on  both  sides  with- hills  of  considerable  height,  and 
closed  at  the  outlet  by  a  steep  hill  of  difficult  access.  On  this  hill,  Hannibal, 
tfter  having  crossed  the  valley,  came  and  encamped  with  the  main  body  of 
his  army  ;  posting  his  light-armed  infantry  in  ambuscade  upon  the  hills  on  the 
right,  and  part  of  his  cavalry  behind  those  on  the  left,  as  far  almost  as  the  en- 
trance of  the  defile,  through  which  Flaminius  was  obliged  to  pass.  Accord- 
ingly, this  general,  who  followed  him  very  eagerly,  with  the  resolution  to  fight 
him,  having  reached  the  defile  near  the  lake,  was  forced  to  halt,  because  night 
was  coming  on  ;  but  he  entered  it  the  next  morning  at  day-break. 

Hannibal  having  permitted  him  to  advance  with  all  his  forces  more  than  half 
ivay  through  tha  valley,  and  seeing  the  Roman  van-guard  pi etty  near  him,  he 
founded  the  chaise,  and  commanded  his  troops  to  come  out  of  their  ambus- 
cade, that  he  might  attack  the  enemy,  at  the  same  time,  from  all  quarters. 
The  reader  may  guess  at  the  consternation  with  which  the  Romans  were  seized. 

They  were  not  yet  drawn  up  jn  order  of  battle,  neither  had  they  got  their 
arms  ^n  readiness,  when  they  found  themselves  attacked  in  front,  in  rear,  and 
in  flank.  In  a  moment,  all  the  ranks  were  put  in  disorder.  Flaminius,  alone 
undaunted  in  so  universal  a  consternation,  animated  his  soldiers  both  wi*:h 
his  hand  and  voice  ;  and  exhorted  them  to  cut  themselves  a  passage,  with 
their  swords,  through  the  midst  of  the  enemy.  But  the  tumult  which  reigned 
every  where,  the  dreadful  shouts  of  the  enemy,  and  a  heavy  fog  prevented  his 
being  seen  or  heard.  When  the  Romans,  however,  saw  themselves  surrounded 
on  all  sides,  either  by  the  enemy  or  the  lake,  and  the  impossibility  of  saving 
their  lives  by  flight,  it  roused  their  courage,  and  both  parties  began  the  fight^ 
with  astonishing  animosity.  Their  fury  was  so  great,  that  not  a  soldier  in 
either  army  perceived  an  earthquake  which  happened  in  that  country,  and 
buried  whole  c  ies  in  ruins.  In  this  confusion,  Flaminius  being  slain  by  one 
of  the  Insubrian  Gauls,  the  Romans  began  to  give  ground,  and  at  last  turned 
and  fled.  Great  numbers,  to  save  themselves,  leaped  into  the  lake  ;  while 
others,  directing  their  course  to  the  mountains,  fell  into  the  enemy's  hands 
whom  they  strove  to  avoid.  Only  six  thousand  cut  their  way  through  the  con- 
querors, and  retreated  to  a  place  of  safety ;  but  the  noxt  day  they  were  taken 
prisoners.  In  this  battle  fifteen  thousand  Romans  were  killed,  and  about  ten 
thousand  escaped  to  Rome,  by  different  roads.  Hannibal  sent  back  the  Latins, 
who  were  allies  of  the  Romans,  into  their  own  country,  without  demanding  the 
ifeast  ransom.^  He  commanded  search  to  be  made  for  the  body  of  Flaminius, 
in  order  to  give  it  burial,  but  it  could  not  be  found.  He  afterwards  put  his 
troops  into  quarters  of  refreshment,  and  solemnized  the  funerals  of  thirty 
of  his  chief  officers,  who  were  killed  in  the  battle.  He  lost  in  all  but  fifteen 
hundred  men,  most  of  whom  were  Gauls. 

Immediately  after,  Hannibal  despatched  a  courier  to  Carthage,  with  the 
news  of  his  success  in  Italy.  This  caused  the  greatest  joy  for  the  present, 
raised  the  most  promising  hopes  with  regard  to  the  future,  and  revived  the 
courage  of  all  the  citizens.  They  now  prepared,  with  incredible  ardour,  to 
send  into  Italy  and  Spain  all  necessary  succours. 

Rome,  on  the  contrary,  was  filled  with  universal  grief  and  alarm,  as  soop 
JUi  the  praetor  had  pronounced  from  the  rostra  the  following  words.  We  hav 
kmiagreat  battle.    The  senate,  studious  of  nothing  but  the  public  welfare, 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


SIS 


tfaouf^t  that  ill  so  great  a  calamity,  and  so  imminent  a  da^er,  recourse  must 
be  had  to  extraordinary  remedies.  They  therefore  appoii  ted  Quintus  Fabius 
dictator,  a  person  as  conspicuous  for  his  wisdom  as  his  birth.  It  was  the  cus- 
tom at  Rome,  that  the  moment  a  dictator  was  nominated,  all  authority  ceased, 
that  of  the  tribunes  of  the  people  excepted.  M.  Minucius  was  appointed  his 
g^eneral  of  hor^e.    We  are  now  in  the  second  year  of  the  war. 

HANNIBAI^'S  CONDUCT  WITH  RESPECT  TO  FABIUS.  . 

Hannibal,  after  th<  battle  of  Thrasymene,  not  thinking  it  yet  proper  to 
march  directly  to  Rome,  contented  himself,  in  the  mean  time,  with  laying 
waste  the  country.*  He  crossed  Umbria  and  Picenum  ;  and  after  ten  days 
march,  arrived  in  the  territory  of  Adria.j  He  got  a  very  considerable  booty 
in  this  march.  Out  of  his  implacable  enmity  to  the  Romans,  he  commanded, 
that  all  who  were  able  to  bear  arms  should  be  put  to  the  sword  ;  and  meeting 
no  obstacle  any  where,  he  advanced  as  far  as  Apulia,  plundering  the  countries 
which  lay  in  his  way,  and  carrying  desolation  wherever  he  came,  in  order  to 
compel  the  nations  to  disengage  themselves  from  their  alliance  with  the  Ro- 
mans, and  to  show  all  Italy,  that  Rome  itself,  now  quite  dispirited,  yielded 
him  the  victory. 

Fabius,  followed  by  Minucius  and  four  legions,  had  marched  from  Rome  in 
quest  of  the  enemy,  but  with  a  firm  resolution  not  to  let  him  take  the  least 
advantage,  nor  to  advance  one  step,  till  he  had  first  reconnoitered  every  place  ; 
nor  hazard  a  battle,  till  he  should  be  sure  of  success. 

As  soon  as  both  armies  were  in  sight,  Hannibal,  to  terrify  the  Roman  forces, 
offered  them  battle,  by  advancing  almost  to  the  intrenchments  of  their  camp. 
But  finding  every  thing  quiet  there,  he  retired ;  blaming  in  appearance  the 
outward  cowardice  of  the  enemy,  whom  he  upbraided  with  having  at  last  lost 
tliat  valour  so  natural  to  their  ancestors ;  but  fretting  inwardly,  to  find  he  had 
to  act  with  a  general  of  so  different  a  genius  from  Sempronius  and  Flaminius  ; 
and  that  the  Romans,  instructed  by  their  defeat,  had  at  last  made  choice  of  a 
commander  capable  of  opposing  Hannibal. 

From  this  moment  he  perceived  that  the  dictator  would  not  be  formidable 
to  him  by  the  boldness  of  his  attacks,  but  by  the  prudence  and  regularity  of 
his  conduct,  which  might  perplex  and  embarrass  him  very  much.  The  only 
circumstance  he  now  wanted  to  know  was,  whether  the  new  general  had  reso- 
lution enough  to  pursue  steadily  the  plan  he  seemed  to  have  laid  down.  He 
endeavoured,  therefore,  to  rouse  him,  by  his  frequent  removals  from  place  to 
place,  by  laying  waste  the  lands,  plundering  the  cities,  and  burning  the  vil- 
lages and  towns.  He,  at  one  time,  would  raise  his  camp  with  the  utmost  pre- 
cipitation ;  and  at  another,  stop  short  in  some  valley  out  of  the  common  route, 
to  try  whether  he  could  not  surprise  him  in  the  plain.  However,  Fabius  still 
kept  his  troops  on  the  hills,  but  without  losing  sight  of  Hannibal ;  never  ap- 
pioaching  near  enough  to  come  to  an  engagement,  nor  yet  keeping  at  such  a 
distance,  as  might  give  him  an  opportunity  of  escaping  him.  He  never  suf- 
fered his  soldiers  to  stir  out  of  the  camp,  except  to  forage,  and  not  even  on 
those  occasions  without  a  numerous  convoy.  If  ever  he  engaged,  it  was  only 
in  slight  skirmishes,  and  so  very  cautiously,  that  his  troops  had  always  the  ad. 
vantage.  This  conduct  revived,  by  insensible  degrees,  the  courage  of  the  sol- 
diers, which  the  loss  of  three  battles  had  entirely  damped  ;  and  enabled  ihem 
to  rely,  as  they  had  formerly  done,  on  their  valour  and  success. 

Hannibal,  having  got  immensely  rich  spoils  in  Campania,  where  he  had  re 
lided  a  considerable  time,  left  there  with  his  army,  that  he  might  not  consume 
Ihe  provisions  he  had  laid  up,  and  which  he  reserved  for  the  winter  season. 
Besides  he  could  no  longer  continue  in  a  country  of  gardens  and  vineyards, 
which  were  more  agreeaole  to  the  eye,  than  useful  for  the  subsistence  of  an 
army ;  a  country  where  he  would  have  been  forced  to  take  up  his  winter-quarters 


*  Pciyb.  I.  xxiii.  p.  239 — ^255.    Li  v.  1.  xxii.  n.  f  —30. 
t  A  small  town,  which  ^avc  nwnr  to  the  Adriatic  se«. 


220 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


among  qiar&hes,  rocks,  and  sands  ;  whereas  the  Romans  would  have  drawn  pleift* 
iiful  supplies  from  Capua,  and  the  richest  parts  of  Italy.  He  therefore  resolved 
to  settle  elsev/hcre. 

Fabius  naturally  supposed  that  Hannibal  would  he  obliged  to  return  the 
same  way  he  came,  and  that  he  might  easily  annoy  him  during  his  march.  He 
began  by  throAving  a  considerable  body  of  troops  into  Casilinum,  thereby  se 
curing  that'SSnall  town,  situated  on  the  Vulturnus,  which  separated  the  territorie? 
of  Falernum.  Item  those  of  Capua  ;  he  afterwards  detached  four  thousand  men, 
to  seize  the  only  narrow  pass  through  which  Hannibal  could  come  out ;  and 
then,  according  to  his  usual  custom,  posted  himself  with  the  remainder  of  the 
army  on  the  hills  adjoining  the  road. 

The  Carthaginiaufs  arrived,  and  encamped  in  the  plain  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tains. And  now,  the  crafty  Carthaginian  fell  into  the  same  snare  he  had  laid 
for  Flaminius  at  the  defile  of  Thrasymene  ;  and  it  seemed  impossible  for  him 
e^er  to  extricate  himself  out  of  this  difficulty,  there  being  but  one  outlet,  of 
which  the  Romans  were  possessed.  Fabius,  fancying  himself  sure  of  his  prey, 
was  only  contriving  how  to  seize  it.  He  flattered  himself  with  the  probable 
hopes  of  putting  an  end  to  the  w^ar  by  this  single  battle.  Nevertheless,  he 
Ihought  fit  to  defer  the  attack  till  the  next  day. 

Hannibal  perceived  that  his  own  artifices  were  now  employed  against  him.* 
h  is  in  such  junctures  as  these,  that  a  general  has  need  of  great  presence  of 
mind,  and  unusual  fortitude,  to  view  danger  in  its  utmost  extent,  without  being 
struck  with  the  least  dread  ;  and  to  find  out  sure  and  instant  expedients,  with- 
out deliberating.  The  Carthaginian  general  immediately  caused  two  thousand 
oxen  to  be  collected,  and  ordered  small  bundles  of  vine  branches  to  be  tied 
to  their  horns;  He  then  commanded  the  branches  to  beset  on  fire  in  the  dead 
of  night,  and  the  oxen  to  be  driven  with  violence  to  the  top  of  the  hills,  where 
the  Romans  were  encamped.  As  soon  as  those  creatures  felt  the  flame,  the 
pain  putting  them  in  a  rage,  they  flew  up  and  down  on  all  sides,  and  set  fire  to 
the  shrubs  and  bushes  they  met  in  their  way.  This  squadron,  of  a  new  kind, 
was  sustained  by  a  good  number  of  light-armed  soldiers,  who  had  orders  to 
seize  upon  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  and  to  charge  the  enemy  in  case  they 
should  meet  them.  All  things  happened  which  Hannibal  had  foreseen.  The^ 
Romans,  who  guarded  the  defile,  seeing  the  fires  spread  over  the  hills  which 
were  above  them,  and  imagining  that  it  was  Hannibal  making  his  escape  by 
torch-light,  quit  their  posts  and  run  to  the  mountains  to  oppose  his  passage. 
The  main  body  of  the  army  not  knowing  what  to  think  of  all  this  tumult,  and 
Fabius  himself  not  daring  to  stir,  as  it  was  excessively  dark,  for  fear  of  a  sur- 
prise, waited  for  the  return  of  the  day.  Hannibal  seized  this  opportunity- 
marched  his  troops  and  the  spoils  through  the  defile,  which  was  now  unguarded, 
arid  rescued  his  army  out  of  a  snare,  in  which,  had  Fabius  been  but  a  little  more 
vigorous,  it  would  either  have  been  destroyed,  or  at  least  very  much  weaken- 
ed. It  is  glorious  for  a  man  to  turn  his  very  errors  to  his  advantage,  and  make 
them  subservient  to  his  reputation. 

The  Carthaginian  army  returned  to  Apulia,  still  pursued  and  harassed  by 
the  Romans.  The  dictator  being  obliged  to  take  a  journey  to  Rome,  on  ac- 
count of  some  religious  ceremonies,  earnestly  entreated  his  general  of  horse, 
before  his  departure,  not  to  fight  during  his  absence.  Minucius  however  did 
not  regard  either  his  advice  or  his  entreaties,  but  the  very  first  opportunity  he 
had,  while  part  of  Hannibal's  troops  were  foraging,  charged  the  rest,  and 
gained  some  advantage.  He  iir.mediately  sent  advice  of  this  to  Rome,  as  if  he 
had  obtained  a  considerable  victory.  The  news  of  this,  with  what  had  just 
before  happened  at  the  passage  of  the  defile,  raised  complaints  and  murmurs 
against  the  slow  and  timorous  circumspection  of  Fabius.  In  a  word,  matters 
were  carried  so  far,  that  the  Roman  people  gave  his  general  of  horse  an  equal 
authority  with  him  ;  a  thing  unheard  of  before.  The  dictator  was  upon  the 
road  when  he  received  advice  of  this,  for  he  had  left  Rome,  that  he  might  noi 

N»c     nn-bal^rn  fef«'Hit  sui?  sc  artibus  poti. — I/iv.  ^ 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


221 


be  an  eye-witness  of  wha  rwas  contriving  against  him.  His  constancy,  hovveTer, 
was  not  shaken.  He  was  very  sensible,  that  though  his  authority  in  tiie  com 
mind  was  divided,  yet  his  skill  in  the  art  of  war  was  not  so.*  This  soon  be 
c;.me  manifest. 

Minucius,  grown  arrc^ant  with  the  advantage  he  had  gained  over  his  col- 
league, proposed  that  each  should  command  a  day  alternately,  or  even  a  longer 
time.  But  Fabius  rejected  this  proposal,  as  it  would  have  exposed  the  whole 
army  to  danger  while  under  the  command  of  Minucius.  He  therefore  chose 
to  divide  the  troops,  in  order  that  it 'might  be  in  his  power  to  preserve,  at  least, 
(hat  part  which  should  fall  to  his  share. 

Hannibal,  fully  iniormed  of  all  that  passed  in  the  Roman  camp,  was  over- 
joyed to  hear  of  this  dissention  oi  the  two  comm.anders.  He  therefore  laid 
a  snare  for  the  rash  Minucius,  who  accordingly  plunged  headlong  into  it,  and 
engaged  the  enemy  on  an  eminence,  in  which  an  ambuscade  was  concealed. 
But  his  troops,  being  soon  put  into  disorder,  were  just  on  the  point  of  being 
cut  to  pieces,  when  Fabius,  alarmed  by  the  sudden  outcries  of  the  wounded, 
called  aloud  to  his  soldiers,  Let  us  hasten  to  the  assistance  of  Minucius ;  let 
us  fly  and  snatch  the  victory  from  the  enemy,  and  extort  from  our  fellow-citi- 
zens a  confession  of  their  fault."  This  succour  was  very  seasonable,  and  com- 
pelled Hannibal  to  sound  a  retreat.  The  latter,  as  he  was  retiring,  said, 
*'That  the  cloud  which  had  been  long  hovering  on  the  summit  of  the  moun- 
tains, had  at  last  burst  with  a  loud  crack,  and  caused  a  mighty  storm."  So 
important  and  seasonable  a  service  rendered  by  the  dictator,  opened  the  eyes 
of  Minucius.  He  accordingly  acknowledged  his  error,  returned  immediately 
to  his  duty  and  obedience,  and  showed  that  it  is  sometimes  more  glorious  to 
know  how  to  atone  for  a  fault,  than  to  have  committed  it. 

THE  STATE  OF  AFFAIRS  IN  SPAIN. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  campaign,  Cn.  Scipio  havmg  suddenly  attacked  the 
Carthaginian  fleet,  commanded  by  Hamilcar,  defeated  it,  and  took  twenty- 
five  ships,  with  a  great  quantity  of  rich  spoils.!  This  victory  made  the 
Romans  sensible  that  they  ought  to  be  particularly  attentive  to  the  a^airs  of 
Spain,  because  Hannibal  could  draw  considerable  supplies  both  of  men  and 
money  from  that  countiy.  Accordingly  they  sent  a  fleet  thither^  the  command 
of  which  was  given  to  r.  Scipio,  who,  after  his  arrival  in  Spain,  having  joined 
his  brother,  did  the  commonwealth  very  great  service.  Till  that  time  the 
Romans  had  never  ventured  beyond  the  Ebro.  They  then  were  satisfied  with 
having;  gained  the  friendship  of  the  nations  situated  between  that  river  and 
Italy,  and  confirming  it  by  alliances ;  but  under  Publius,  they  crossed  the 
Ebro,  and  carried  their  arms  much  farther  up  into  the  country. 

The  circumstance  which  contributed  most  to  promote  their  affairs,  was  the 
f?T.acliery  of  a  Spaniard  in  Saguntum.  Hannibal  had  left  there  the  children 
o(  the  most  distinguished  families  in  Spain,  whom  he  had  taken  as  hostages. 
Abolox,  (for  so  this  Spaniard  was  called,)  persuaded  Bostar,  the  governor  of 
(lie  city,  to  send  back  these  young  men  into  their  country,  in  order,  by  that 
means,  to  attach  the  inhabitants  more  firmly  to  the  Carthaginian  interest.  He 
himself  was  charged  with  this  commission  ;  but  he  carried  them  to  the  Rch 
mans,  who  afterwards  delivered  them  to  their  relations,  and  by  so  acceptable 
a  present,  acquired  their  amity. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  CANNiE. 

The  next  spring,  C.  Terentius  Varro,  and  L.  jEmilius  Paulas,  were  chosen 
n  nsuls  at  Rome.J:  In  this  campaign,  which  was  the  third  of  the  second  Pu- 
Mic  war,  the  Romans  did  what  had  never  been  practised  before,  viz.  t/iey 
imposed  the  army  of  eight  legions,  each  consisting  of  five  thousand  men, 


•  S^tlis  iidens  haiidqnaqUnm  cum  imperii  jure  artem  imperandi  aequatam. — Liv.  1.  xxii.  n.  26 
t  Polyb.  1.  iii.  p.  24.5 — 250.    Liv.  1.  xxii.  n.  19—22. 
I  A  ^r.  3~99.    A.  Rome.  53.1.    Polyb-  I.  n5  p.  055—268.    Liv.  1.  xiii.  n.  34—54. 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


exclusive  of  the  allies.  For,  as  we  have  already  observed,  the  Romans  nevef 
raised  but  four  legions,  each  of  which  consisted  of  about  four  thousand  foot, 
and  three  hundred  horse.*  They  never,  except  on  the  most  important  occa- 
sions, made  them  consist  of  five  thousand  of  the  one,  and  four  hundred  of  the 
other.  As  for  the  troops  of  the  allies,  the  number  of  their  infantiy,  was  equal 
to  that  of  the  legions,  but  they  had  three  times  as  many  horse.  Each  of  the 
consuls  had  commonly  half  the  troops  of  the  allies,  with  two  legions,  that  they 
might  act  separately  ;  and  all  these  forces  were  very  seldom  used  at  the  same 
time,  and  in  the  same  expedition.  Here  the  Romans  had  not  only  four,  but 
eight  legions,  so  important  did  the  affair  appear  to  them.  The  senate  even 
thought  proper  that  the  two  consuls  of  the  foregoing  year,  Servilius  and  At- 
tilius,  should  serve  in  the  army  as  proconsuls  ;  but  the  latter  could  not  go  into 
the  field,  in  consequence  of  his  great  age. 

Varro,  at  his  setting  out  from  Rome,  had  declared  openly  that  he  would  fall 
upon  the  enemy  the  very  first  opportunity,  and  put  an  end  to  the  war ;  adding, 
that  it  would  never  be  terminated,  as  long  as  men  of  the  character  of  Fabiuf 
should  be  at  the  head  of  the  Roman  armies.  An  advantage  which  he  gained 
over  the  Carthaginians,  of  whom  near  seventeen  hundred  were  killed,  greatly 
increased  his  boldness  and  arrogance.  As  for  Hannibal,  he  considered  this  loss 
as  a  real  advantage,  being  persuaded  that  it  would  serve  as  a  bait  to  the  con- 
sul's rashness,  and  urge  him  on  to  a  battle,  which  he  anxiously  desired.  It 
was  afterwards  known,  that  Hannibal  was  reduced  to  such  a  scarcity  of  pro- 
^.visions,  that  he  could  not  possibly  have  subsisted  ten  days  longer.  The  Spa- 
niards were  already  meditating  to  leave  him.  So  that  there  would  have  been 
an  end  of  Hannibal  and  his  army,  if  his  good  fortune  had  not  thrown  a  Varro 
in  his  way. 

Roth  armies,  having  often  removed  from  place  to  place,  came  in  sight  of 
each  other  near  Cannae,  a  little  town  in  Apulia,  situated  on  the  river  Aufidus. 
As  Hannibal  was  encamped  in  a  level,  open  country,  and  his  cavalry  much  su- 
perior to  that  of  the  Romans,  ^milius  did  not  think  proper  to  engage  in  such 
a  place.  He  was  for  drawing  the  enemy  into  an  irregular  spot,  where  the  in- 
fantry might  have  the  greatest  share  in  the  action.  But  his  colleague,  who  was 
wholly  inexperienced,  was  of  a  contrary  opinion.  Such  is  the  disadvantage 
of  a  divided  command ;  jealousy,  a  difference  of  disposition,  or  a  diversity 
of  views,  seldom  failing  to  create  a  dissention  between  the  two  generals. 

The  troops  on  either  side  were,  for  some  time,  contented  with  slight  skir- 
mishes. But  at  last,  one  day  when  Varro  had  the  command,  for  the  two  con- 
suls took  it  by  turns,  preparations  were  made  on  both  sides  for  battle.  jEmi- 
lius  had  not  been  consulted  ;  yet,  though  he  extremely  disapproved  the  con- 
duct of  his  colleague,  as  it  was  not  in  his  power  to  prevent  it,  he  seconded 
him  to  the  utmost. 

Hannibal,  after  having  pointed  out  to  his  soldiers  that  being  superior  in  ca» 
valry,  they  could  not  possibly  have  pitched  upon  a  better  spot  for  fighting, 
had  it  been  left  to  their  choice,  thus  addressed  them :  *'  Return  thanks  to  the 
gods  for  having  brought  the  enemy  hither,  that  you  may  triumph  over  them; 
and  thank  me  also  for  having  reduced  the  Romans  to  the  necessity  of  coming 
to  an  engagement.  After  three  great  victories,  won  successively,  is  not  the 
remembrance  of  your  own  actions  sufficient  to  inspire  you  with  courage  ?  By 
lu^mer  :attles,  you  are  become  masters  of  the  open  country,  but  this  will  put 
you  in  possession  of  all  the  cities,  and,  I  presume  to  say  it,  of  all  the  richef. 
and  power  of  the  Romans.  It  is  not  words  that  we  want,  but  actions.  I 
trust  in  the  gods  that  you  shall  soon  see  my  promises  verified." 

The  two  armies  were  very  unequal  in  number.  That  of  the  Romans,  in- 
cluding the  allies,  amounted  to  fourscore  thousand  foot,  and  a  little  more  than 
six  thousand  horse,  and -that  of  the  Carthaginians  consisted  but  of  forty  thou* 
land  foot,  all  well  disciplined,  and  of  ten  thousand  horse.    iEmilius  com- 


♦  Polvbiut  »uppose!i  only  two  hundr«d  bow»  in  «ach  ;  but  J.  Lipsius  tliinki  that  tbit  U  a  raiatake, 

•it]|«r  M  the  autnor  or  transcribe* 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


223 


f)  jr.  led  the  right  wing  of  th€  Romans,  Varro  the  left,  and  Servilius,  one  of  the 
c>,  nsuls  of  the  last  year,  wat  posted  in  the  centre.  Hannibal,  who  had  the 
ait  of  taking  all  advantages,  had  posted  himself  so  that  the  wind  Vultumus,* 
which  rises  at  certain  stated  times,  should  blow  directly  in  the  faces  of  the 
Romans  during  the  fight,  and  cover  them  with  dust ;  then  keeping  the  river 
Aufidus  on  his  left,  and  posting  his  cavalry  in  the  wings,  he  formed  his  main 
b(>dy  of  the  Spanish  and  Gallic  infantry,  which  he  posted  in  the  centre,  with 
halt  the  African  heavy  armed  foot  on  their  right,  and  half  on  the  left,  on  the 
^ame  line  with  the  cavalry.  His  army  being  thus  drawn  up,  he  put  himself 
it  the  head  of  the  Spanish  and  Gallic  infantry  ;  and  having  drawn  them  out  of 
he  line,  advanced  to  begin  the  battle,  rounding  his  front  as  he  advanced  nearer 
he  enemy  ;  and  extending  his  flanks  in  the  shape  of  a  half-moon,  in  order  that 
he  might  leave  no  interval  between  his  main  body  and  the  rest  of  the  line,  which 
consisted  of  the  heavy-armed  infantry,  who  had  not  moved  from  their  posts. 

The  fight  soon  began,  and  the  Roman  legions  that  were  in  the  wings,  seeing 
their  centre  warmly  attacked,  advanced  to  charge  the  enemy  in  flank.  Han- 
nibal's main  body,  after  a  brave  resistance,  finding  themselves  furiously  at- 
tacked on  all  sides,  gave  way,  being  overpowered  by  numbers,  and  retired 
through  the  interval  they  had  left  in  the  centre  of  the  line.  The  Romans 
having  pursued  them  thither  with  eager  confusion,  the  two  wings  of  the  Afri- 
can infantry,  w^hich  were  fresh,  well  armed,  and  in  good  order,  wheeled  about 
on  a  sudden  towards  that  void  space  in  which  the  Romans,  who  were  already 
fatigued,  had  thrown  themselves  in  disorder,  and  attacked  them  vigorously  on 
both  sides,  without  leaving  them  time  to  recover  themselves,  or  leaving  them 
ground  to  form.  In  the  mean  time,  the  two  wings  of  the  cavalry,  having  de- 
bated those  of  the  Romans,  which  were  much  inferior  to  them,  and,  in  order 
to  pursue  the  broken  and  scattered  squadrons,  having  left  only  as  many  forces 
is  were  necessary  to  keep  them  from  rallying,  advanced  and  charged  the  rear 
)f  the  Roman  infantry,  which,  being  surrounded  at  once  on  every  side  by  the 
anemy's  horse  and  foot,  w^as  all  cut  to  pieces,  after  having  fought  with  unpar- 
alleled bravery.  iEmilius,  being  covered  with  the  wounds  he  had  received 
in  the  fight,  was  afterwards  killed  by  a  body  of  the  enemy,  to  whom  he  was 
not  known;  and  with  him  two  quaestors,  one  and  twenty  military  tribunes, 
many  who  had  been  either  consuls  or  praetors  ;  Servilius,  one  of  the  last  year's 
consuls,  Minucius,  the  late  general  of  horse  to  Fabius,  and  fourscore  senators. 
Above  seventy  thousand  men  fell  in  this  battle  ;t  and  the  Carthaginians,  so 
great  was  their  fury,J  did  not  give  over  the  slaughter,  till  Hannibal,  in  the 
very  heat  of  it,  called  out  to  them  several  times,  Stop,  soldiers ;  spare  the  van- 
quished. Ten  thousand  men,  who  had  been  left  to  guard  the  camp,  surren- 
dered themselves  prisoners  of  war  after  the  battle,  varro,  the  consul,  retired 
to  Venusia,  with  only  seventy  horse  ;  and  about  four  thousand  men  escaped 
into  the  neighbouring  cities.  Thus  Hanntbal  remained  master  of  the  field, 
h^.  being  chicfl}^  indebted  for  this,  as  well  as  for  his  former  vie  tories,  to  thp 
SI  periority  of  his  cavalry  over  that  of  the  Romans.  He  lost  four  thousani 
Gauls,  fifteen  hundred  Spaniards  and  Africans,  and  two  hundred  horse. 

Maharbal,  one  of  the  Carthaginian  generals,  advised  Hannibal  to  marcr 
directly  to  Rome,  promising  him,  that  within  five  days  they  should  sup  in  the 
capitol.  Hannibal  answering,  that  it  was  an  affair  which  required  mature  ex- 
amination, "  I  see,"  replied, Maharbal,  "  that  the  gods  have  not  endowed  the 
same  man  with  every  talent.  You,  Hannibal,  know  how  to  conquer,  but  not 
to  make  the  best  use  of  a  victory."§ 


*  A  violent  burning  wind,  blowing  south  ?uuth-east,  which,  in  this  flat  and  sandy  country,  raised  cloud» 
»f  hot  dust,  and  blinded  and  choked  the  Romans. 

t  Livy  lessens  very  much  the  number  of  the  slain,  making  them  amouet  but  to  about  foiwy  three  tbouMsd. 
But  Polybius  ought  rather  to  be  believed. 

I  Duo  maximi  exercilus  caesi  ad  hostium  satietatem,  donee  Annlbal  diccretmiliti  sue,  Parce  ferro.— -Fh«. 
1  !.  c.  6. 

J Turn  Maharbal :  Nod  omia  nimirum  eidem  Dii  dedcre-    Vinccra  tcit,  Annibal.  rictorii  nti  netCM.-*- 
f .  1.  ziiT.  n.  51. 


524 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


It  is  pretended  that  this  delay  saved  Rome  and  the  empire.  ^  Many  authors, 
and  among  them  Livy,  charge  Hannibal,  on  this  occasion,  with  bemg  guWty 
of  a  capital  error.  But  others,  more  reserved,  are  not  for  condemning,  with* 
out  evident  proofs,  so  renowned  a  general,  who,  in  the  rest  of  his  conduct, 
was  never  wanting,  either  in  prudence  to  make  choice  of  the  best  expedients, 
or  in  readiness  to  put  his  designs  in  execution.  They  are,  moreover,  inclined 
to  judge  favourably  of  him,  from  the  authority,  or  at  least  the  silence  of  Po- 
lybius,  who,  speaking  of  the  memorable  consequences  of  this  celebrated  bat 
tie,  says,  that  the  Carthaginians  were  firmly  persuaded,  that  they  should  pos- 
sess themselves  of  Rome  at  the  first  assault ;  but,  then,  he  does  not  mention 
how  this  could  possibly  have  been  effected,  as  that  city  w^as  very  populous, 
warlike,  strongly  fortified,  and  defended  with  a  garrison  of  two  legions;  nor 
does  he  any  where  give  the  least  hint  that  such  a  project  was  feasible,  or  that 
f  lannibal  did  wrong  in  not  attempting  to  put  it  in  execution. 

And,  indeed,  if  we  examine  matters  more  narrowly,  we  shall  find,  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  common  maxims  of  war,  it  could  not  be  undertaken.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  Hannibal's  whole  infantry,  before  the  battle,  amounted  but  to  forty 
thousand  men ;  and  as  six  thousand  of  these  had  been  slain  in  the  action,  and 
doubtless  many  more  either  wounded  or  disabled,  there  could  remain  but  six 
or  seven-and-twenty  thousand  foot  for  service.  Now  this  number  was  not  suffi- 
cient to  invest  so  large  a  city  as  Rome,  which  had  a  river  running  through  it ; 
nor  to  attack  it  in  form,  because  they  had  neither  engines,  ammunition,  nor  any 
other  things  necessary  for  cairyingon  a  siege.*  For  want  of  these,  Hannibal, 
even  after  nis  victory  at  Thrasvmene,  miscarried  in  his  attempt  upon  Spoletum  ; 
and,  soon  after  the  battle  of  Cannae,  was  forced  to  raise  the  siege  of  Casili- 
num,  though  a  city  of  little  note  or  strength.  It  cannot  be  denied,  that,  had 
he  miscarried  on  the  present  occasion,  nothing  less  could  have  been  expected, 
than  that  he  must  have  been  irrecoverably  lost.  However,  to  form  a  judg- 
ment of  this  matter,  a  man  ought  to  be  a  soldier,  and  should  perhaps  have 
been  upon  the  spot.  This  is  an  old  dispute,  on  which  none  but  those  who  are 
perfectly  well  skilled  in  the  art  of  war  should  pretend  to  give  their  opinion. 

Soon  after  the  battle  of  Cannse,  Hannibal  despatched  his  brother  Magq,  to 
Carthage,  with  the  news  of  his  victory  ;t  and  at  the  same  time  to  demand  suc- 
cours, in  order  that  he  might  be  enabled  to  put  an  end  to  the  war.  Mago,  on 
his  arrival,  made,  in  full  senate,  a  lofty  speech,  in  which  he  extolled  his 
brother's  exploits,  and  displayed  the  great  advantages  he  had  gained  ever  the 
Romans.  And,  to  give  a  more  lively  idea  of  the  greatness  of  the  victory,  by 
speaking  in  some  measure  to  the  eye,  he  poured  out  in  the  middle  of  the  se- 
nate a  bushel  of  gold  rings,J  which  had  been  taken  from  the  fingers  of  such 
of  the  Roman  nobility  as  had  fallen  in  the  battle  of  Cannae.  He  concluded 
with  demanding  money,  provisions,  and  fresh  troops.  All  the  spectators  were 
struck  with  an  extraordinary  joy,  upon  which  Imilcon,  a  w^arm  advocate  for 
Hannibal,  fancying  he  now  had  a  fair  opportunity  to  insult  Hanno,  the  chief  of 
the  opposite  faction,  nsked  him,  whether  he  was  still  dissatisfied  with  the  war 
they  were  carrying  on  against  the  Romans,  and  was  for  having  Hannibal  de- 
livered  up  to  them  ?  Hanno,  without  discovering  the  least  emotion,  replied, 
that  he  was  still  of  the  same  mind,  and  that  the  victories  they  so  much  boast- 
f  d,  supposing  them  real,  could  not  give  him  joy,  but  only  in  proportion  as 
they  should  be  made  subservient  to  an  advantageous  peace  ;  he  then  under 
tr)ok  to  prove,  that  the  mighty  exploits,  on  which  they  insisted  so  much,  were 
vyholly  chimerical  and  imaginary.  "I  have  cut  to  pieces,"  says  he,  con 
tinuing  Mago's  speech,  "  the  Roman  armies  ;  send  me  some  troops.  What 
more  couJd  you  ask,  had  you  been  conquered  ?  I  have  twice  seized  upon  the 
enemy's  camp,  full,  no  doubt,  of  provisions  of  every  kind. — Send  me  provi 


•  Liv.  1.  xxii.  n.  9.    IbiJ.  1.  xxiii.  n.  18.  |  Liv.  1.  xxiii.  n.  11 — 14. 

X  Pliny,  1.  xxxiii.  c.  1,  says,  that  there  were  three  bushels  sent  to  Carthage.  Livy  observes,  th«t  lOlM 
Mtkjrt  make  th«m  amount  *.o  three  bushels  and  a  half,  but  he  thinks  it  most  probkble  that  ther«  Ixst 
•ai«  i  ixxUl.  n.  Vi. — Florui,  I.  ii.  c.  IG,  makes  it  two  biMbals. 


CAETWAGINIANB. 


226 


lions  and  money.  Gould  you  have  talked  otherwise,  had  you  lost  your  camp" 
He  then  asked  Mago,  whether  any  of  the  Latin  nations  were  come  over  to 
Hannibal,  and  whether  the  Romans  had  made  him  any  proposals  of  peace  ? 
To  this,  Mage  answering  in  the  negative  ;  "  I  then  perceive,"  replied  Hanno, 
"that  we  are  no  farther  advanced  than  when  Hannibal  first  landed  in  Italy." 
The  inference  he  drew  from  hence  was,  that  neither  men  nor  money  ought  to 
be  sent.  But  Hannibal's  faction  prevailing  at  that  time,  no  regard  was  paid 
toHanno's  remonstrances,  which  were  considered  merely  as  the  effect  of  pie - 
judice  and  jealousy ;  and  accordingly,  orders  were  given  for  levying  the  sup- 
ph'es  of  men  and  money  which  Hannibal  required.  Mago  set  out  immediately 
fijT  Spain,  to  raise  twenty-four  thousand  foot,  and  four  thousand  horse,  in  that 
country  ;  but  these  levies  were  afterwards  stopped,  and  sent  another  way, 
so  eager  was  the  opposite  faction  to  counteract  the  designs  of  a  general  whcm 
they  utterly  abhorred.  In  Rome,  a  consul  who  had  fled  was  thanked  because 
he  had  not  despaired  of  the  commonwealth ;  but  at  Carthage,  people  were 
almost  angry  with  Hannibal  for  being  victorious.*  Hanno  could  never  forgive 
him  the  advantages  he  had  gained  in  this  war,  because  he  had  undertaken  it  in 
opposition  to  his  counsel.  Thus,  being  more  jealous  for  the  honour  of  his  own 
opinions  than  for  the  good  of  his  country,  and  a  greater  enemy  to  the  Cartha- 
ginian general  than  to  the  Romans,  he  did  all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  prevent 
tuture  successes,  and  to  frustrate  those  already  acquired. 

HANNIBAL  TAKES  UP  HIS  WINTER-QUARTERS  IN  CAPUA. 

The  battle  of  Cannae  subjected  the  most  powerful  nations  of  Italy  to  Han- 
nibaljt  drew  over  to  his  interest  Graecia  Magna,!  ^"^^^^  the  city  of  Tarentum  ; 
and  so  wrested  from  the  Romans  their  most  ancient  allies,  among  whom  the 
Capuans  held  the  first  rank.  This  city,  by  the  fertility  of  its  soil,  its  advan- 
tageous situation,  and  the  blessings  of  a  long  peace,  had  risen  to  great  wealth 
and  power.  Luxury,  and  a  flow  of  pleasures,  the  usual  attendants  on  wealth, 
had  corrupted  the  minds  of  all  its  citizens,  who,  from  their  natural  disposition, 
were  but  too  much  inclined  to  voluptuousness  and  all  excesses. 

Hannibal  made  choice  of  this  city  for  his  winter-quarters. §  Here  it  was 
that  his  soldiers,  who  had  sustained  the  most  grievous  toils,  and  braved  the 
most  formidable  dangers,  were  overthrown  by  delights  and  a  profusion  of  all 
things,  into  which  they  plunged  with  the  greater  eagerness,  as  they,  till  then, 
had  been  strangers  to  them.  Their  courage  was  so  greatly  enervated  in  this 
bewitching  retirement,  that  all  their  after  efforts  were  owing  rather  to  the  fame 
and  splendour  of  their  former  victories,  than  to  theii  present  strength.  When 
Hannibal  marched  his  forces  out  of  the  city,  they  would  have  been  taken  for 
other  men,  and  the  reverse  of  those  who  had  so  lately  marched  into  it.  Ac- 
customed, during  the  v/inter  season,  to  commodious  lodgings,  to  ease  and  plenty, 
they  were  no  longer  able  to  bear  hunger,  thirst,  long  marches,  watchings,  and 
the  other  toils  of  war  ;  not  to  mention,  that  all  obedience,  all  discipline,  were 
entire)}^  laid  aside. 

I  only  transcribe  on  this  occasion  from  Livy,  who,  if  he  may  be  credited, 
thinks  Hannibal's  stay  at  Capua  a  reproach  to  his  conduct ;  and  pretends  th^t 
there  he  was  guilty  of  an  infinitely  greater  error,  than  when  he  neglected  to 
march  directly  to  Rome  after  the  battle  of  Cannae.  For  this  delay,  says  Livy, 
might  seem  only  to  have  retarded  his  victory ;  whereas  this  last  misconduct 
rendered  him  absolutely  incapable  of  ever  defeating  the  enemy. ||    In  a  word, 


*  De  St.  Evremond.  t  Liv.  1.  iiiii.  n.  4—18. 

%  Casterum  quiim  Grasci  omnem  fere  oram  maritimam  coloniis  suis  e  Grascia  deductis,  obsiderent,  Sc  i. 
But  after  the  Greeks  had,  by  their  colonies,  possessed  themselves  of  almost  all  the  maritime  coast,  t/ il 
rery  country,  to'^cther  with  Sicily,  was  called  Graecia  Magna,  &c. — Cluver.  Geo^raph.  1.  iii.  c.  30. 

\  Ihi  partem  majorem  hiemis  exercitum  in  testis  habuit;  adversus  omnia  humana  mala  saepe  ac  diu  d» 
iantem,  bonis  incxpertum  atque  insuetum.  Itaque  quos  nulla  mali  vicerat  vis,  perdidere  nimia  bcua  ac  re- 
luctates immodicse,  et  co  impensidus,  quo  avidius  ex  insolcotia  in  eas  se  mcrserant. — Liv.  1.  xxiii.  n.  XI. 

I  Ilia  cnim  cunctatio  distulisse  Cko^  victoriam  videri  potuit*  kic  error  vires  ademive  ad  TUiceBdtt8&.^ 
LHr.  I.  xxiii.  Q.  le. 

Vol.  I. 


336 


HISTORY  OP  THE 


as  Marcellus  afterwards  judiciously  observed  Capua  tvas  to  the  Carthaj^inum 
and  their  general,  what  Cannae  had  been  to  the  Komans.*  There  their  mar- 
tial genius,  their  love  of  discipline, *were  lost:  there  their  former  fame,  atMl 
their  almost  certain  hopes  of  future  glory,  vanished  at  once.  And,  indeed, 
from  thenceiorth  the  affairs  of  Hannibal  rapidly  advanced  to  their  decline  ; 
fortune  declared  in  fa\  our  of  prudence,  and  victory  seemed  now  reconciled  to 
the  Romans. 

I  know  not  whether  Livy  has  reason  to  impute  all  these  fatal  consequences 
to  the  delicious  abode  of  Capua.  If  we  examine  carefully  all  the  circumstances 
of  this  history,  we  shall  be  hardly  able  to  persuade  ourselves,  that  the  little 
progress  which  was  afterwards  made  by  the  arms  of  Hannibal  ought  to  be  as- 
cribed to  Capua.  It  might,  indeed,  have  been  one  cause,  but  this  would  be  a 
very  inconsiderable  one  :  and  the  bravery  with  which  the  forces  of  Hannibal 
afterwards  defeated  the  armies  of  consuls  and  praetors ;  the  towns  they  took  , 
even  in  sight  of  the  Romans  ;  their  maintaining  their  conquests  so  vigorously, 
and  staying  fourteen  yearsafter  this  in  Italy,  in  spite  of  the  Romans  ;  all  these 
circumstances  may  induce  us  tc  believe,  that  Livy  lays  too  great  a  stress  on 
the  delights  of  Capua.  ] 

The  real  cause  of  the  decay  of  Hannibal's  affairs  was  owing  to  his  want  of  ' 
necessary  recruits  and  succours  from  Carthage.    After  Mago's  speech,  the 
Carthaginian  senate  had  judged  it  necessaiy,  in  order  to  carry  on  the  conquests  ' 
in  Italy,  to  send  thither  a  considerable  reinforcement  of  Numidian  horse,  forty  ' 
elephants,  and  a  thousand  talents  ;  and  to  hire,  in  Spain,  twenty  thousand  foot, 
and  four  thousand  horse,  to  reinforce  their  armies  in  Spain  and  Italy,  t  Mago 
however,  could  obtain  an  order  but  for  twelve  thousand  foot,  and  two  thousand 
five  hundred  horse  :  and  even  when  he  was  just  going  to  march  to  Italy  with 
an  army  so  much  inferior  to  that  which  had  been  promised  him,  he  was  coun- 
termanded and  sent  to  Spain. J    So  that  Hannibal,  after  these  mighty  promises, 
had  neither  infantry,  cavalry,  elephants,  nor  money  sent  him,  but  was  ^eft  to 
his  ov^^n  resources.    His  army  was  now  reduced  to  twenty-six  thousand  foot, 
and  nine  thousand  horse.    How  could  it  be  possible  for  him,  with  so  inconsid 
erable  an  army,  to  seize,  in  an  enemy's  country,  on  all  the  advantageous  posts; 
to  awe  his  new  allies,  to  preserve  his  old  conquests,  and  form  new  ones ;  and 
to  keep  the  field  with  advantage  against  two  armies  of  the  Romans,  which 
were  recruited  every  year  ?    This  was  the  true  cause  of  the  declension  of 
Hannibal's  affairs,  and  of  the  ruin  of  those  of  Carthage.    Were  the  part  where 
Polybius  treats  of  this  subject  extant,  we  doubtless  should  find,  that  he  \^ys  a 
greater  stress  on  this  cause,  than  on  the  luxurious  delights  of  Capua. 

THE  TRANSACTIONS  RELATING  TO  SPAIN  AND  SARDINIA. 

The  two  Scipios  continued  in  the  command  of  Spain,  and  their  arms  were 
making  a  considerable  progress  there,  when  Asdrubal,  who  alone  seemed  able 
to  cope  with  them,  received  orders  from  Carthage  to  march  into  Italy  to  the 
relief  of  his  brother.§  Before  he  left  Spain,  he  wrote  to  the  senate  to  con- 
vince them  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  their  sending  a  general  in  his  stead, 
H'ho  possessed  abilities  adequate  to  oppose  the  Romans.  Imilcon  was  there- 
fore sent  thither  with  an  army  ;  and  Asdrubal  commenced  his  march  ir  order 
to  join  his  brother.  The  news  of  his  departure  was  no  sooner  known  than  the 
greatest  part  of  Spain  was  subdued  by  the  Scipios.  These  two  generals  ani- 
mated by  such  signal  success,  resolved  to  prevent  him,  if  possible,  from  leav- 
ing  Spain.  They  considered  the  danger  to  which  the  Romans  would  be  ex- 
posed, if,  being  scarce  able  to  resist  Hannibal  only,  they  should  be  attacked 
by  the  two  brothers  at  the  head  of  two  powerful  armies.  They  therefore 
pursued  Asdrubal,  and  coming  up  with  him  forced  him  to  fight  against  his  in- 
clination.   Asdrubal  was  overcome ;  and  so  lar  from  being  able  to  continue 


•  Capuam  Annibali  Cannas  fuisse  ;  ibi  virtulein  bellicaxn,  ibi  milit  ii  riii  iliiii  ijiliiiiiiii.  ilii  frritrrifii  ffHlfr 
tig  fomam  6i  sp<m  tiilui-i  «xlinctain  ~Liv.  1.  xziii.  n.  45. 

t  lAv.  1.  xx,^  a  13.  X  Ibid.  n.  32. 

A.  M.  «7{K).      ^  H«ue.  f>9i.    lAt  »«ui.  n.  96— fO.  9%  40,  41  ^ 


CARTHAGINIANS.  227 

bis  march  for  Italy,  he  found  that  it  would  be  iinpossible  for  him  to  continue 
with  any  safety  in  Spain. 

The  Carthaginians  had  no  better  success  in  Sardinia.  Designing  to  take 
advantage  of  some  rebellions  they  had  fomented  in  that  country,  they  lost 
twelve  thousand  men  in  a  battle  fought  with  the  Romans,  who  took  a  still 
greater  number  of  prisoners,  among  whom  were  Asdrubal,  surnamed  Calvus, 
fIanno,and  Mago,*  who  were  distinguished  by  their  birth  as  well  as  military 
exploits. 

THE  ILL  SUCCESS  OF  HANNIBAL.     THE  SIEGES  OF  CAPUA  AND  ROME. 

From  Hannibal's  abode  in  Capua,  the  Carthaginian  affairs  in  Italy  no  long:er 
supported  their  reputation.!  M.  Marcellus,  first  as  praetor,  and  afterwards 
consul,  had  contributed  very  much  to  this  revolution.  He  harassed  HannibaTs 
army  on  every  occasion,  seized  upon  his  quarters,  forced  him  to  raise  sieg>;s, 
and  even  defeated  him  in  several  engagements  ;  so  that  he  was  called  the  sword 
of  Rome.,  as  Fabius  had  before  been  called  its  buckler. 

But  what-most  affected  the  Carthaginian  general,  was  to  see  Capua  besieged 
by  the  Romans.J  In  order,  therefore,  to  preserve  his  reputation  among  his  al- 
lies, by  a  vigorous  support  of  those  who  held  the  chief  rank  as  such,  he  flew 
to  the  relief  of  that  city,  brought  forward  his  forces,  attacked  the  Romans, 
and  fought  several  battles  to  oblige  them  to  raise  the  siege.  At  last,  seeing  all 
his  measures  defeated,  he  marched  hastily  towards  Rome,  in  order  to  make 
a  powerful  diversion.§  He  had  some  hopes,  in  case  he  could  have  an  op- 
portunity, in  the  first  consternation,  to  storm  some  part  of  the  city,  of  draw- 
ing the  Roman  generals,  with  all  their  forces,  from  the  siege  of  Capua,  to  the 
relief  of  their  capital ;  he  flattered  himself,  at  least,  that  if  for  the  sake  of 
continuing  the  siege,  they  should  divide  their  forces,  their  weakness  might 
then  offer  an  occasion,  either  to  the  Capuans  or  himself,  of  engaging  and 
defeating  them.^  Rome  was  struck,  but  not  confounded.    A  proposal  being 

•  made  by  one  of  the  senators,  to  recall  all  the  armies  to  succour  Rome  ;  Fa- 
bias  declared  that  it  would  be  a  disgrace  for  them  to  be  terrified,  and  forced 
to  change  their  measures,  upon  every  motion  of  Hannibal. ||  They  therefore 
contented  themselves  with  only  recalling  part  of  the  army,  and  one  of  the 

•  generals,  Q,.  Fulvius,  the  proconsul,  from  the  siege.  Hannibal,  after  making 
some  devastations,  drew  up  his  army  in  order  of  battle  before  the  city,  and 
the  consul  did  the  same.  Both  sides  were  preparing  to  signalize  themselves 
in  a  battle,  of  which  Rome  was  to  be  the  recompense,  when  a  violent  storm 
obliged  them  to  separate.  They  were  no  sooner  returned  to  their  respective 
camps,  than  the  face  of  the  heavens  grew  calm  and  serene.  The  same  hap- 
pened frequently  afterwards,  insomuch  that  Hannibal,  believing  that  there  was 
something  supernatural  in  the  event,  said,  according  to  Livy,  that  sometimes 
nis  own  will,  and  sometimes  fortune,  would  not  suffer  him  to  take  Rome.H 

But  the  circumstance  which  most  surprised  and  intimidated  him,  was  the 
news  that  while  he  lay  encamped  at  one  of  the  gates  of  Rome,  the  Romans 
had  sent  out  recruits  for  the  army  in  Spain  at  another  gate  ;  and  at  the  same 
time  disposed  of  the  gronnd  whereon  he  was  encamped,  notwithstanding  which 
it  had  been  sold  for  its  full  value,  such  open  co  itempt  stung  Hannibat  to  the 
quick :  he,  therefore,  on  the  other  hand,  exposed  to  sale  the  shops  of  the  gold- 
smiths round  the  forum.  After  this  bravado  he  retired,  and,  in  his  march, 
plundered  the  rich  temple  of  the  goddess  Feronia.** 


*  Not  HannibaPs  brother, 
t  A.  M.  3791.    A.  Rome,  535.    Liv.  1.  xxiii.  n.  41 — 46.  1.  xxv.  n.  5^2. 1.  xxvi.  n.  5—16. 
X  A.  M.  3793,    A.  Rome,  537.  {  A.  M.  3794.    A.  Rome,  538. 

I)  Flag^itiosum  esse  terreri  ac  circumagi  ad  omnes  Aonibalis  comminationes. — Liv.  1.  xxvi.  n.  8. 
IT  Audita  vox  Annibalis  fertur,  potiundas  tibi  urbis  Romae,  modo  mentem  nondari,  modo  fortunam.— LiT« 
U  xxvi.  n.  11. 

Feronia  was  the  t^oddess  of  g^roves.  and  there  was  one  with  a  temple  in  it  dedicated  to  her*  at  thm 
foot  of  the  mountain  Soracte,  Strabo,  speaking  of  the  grove  where  this  c^oddcss  was  worshipped,  laj^ 
that  a  sacrifice  was  offered  annnally  to  her  in  it ;  and  that  her  votaries,  inspired  by  this  goddess,  wiJkW 
•nhurt  over  bnrning  coals.  There  are  still  cstaat  some  medals  of  Au)fustiit,  in  which  ^is  (oddaii  U  fftm^ 


228 


HISTORY  OF  TnE 


Capua,  thus  left  to  itself,  held  out  but  very  little  ion«^cr.  After  such  of  its 
senators  as  had  been  principals  in  the  revolt,  and  consequently  could  not  ex- 
pect any  quarter  from  the  Romans,  had  put  themselves  to  a  truly  tragical 
death,*  the  city  surrendered  at  discretion.  The  success  of  this  siege,  which, 
by  the  happy  consequences  attending  it,  proved  decisive,  and  gave  the  Ro- 
mans a  visible  superiority  over  the  Carthaginians,  displayed  at  the  same  time, 
how  formidable  the  power  of  the  Romans  was,t  when  they  undertook  to  punish 
their  perfidious  allies  ;  and  the  feeble  protection  which  Hannibal  could  afford 
his  friends,  at  a  time  when  they  most  wanted  it. 

THE  DEFEAT  AND  DEATH  OF  THE  TWO  SCIPIOS  IN  SPAIN. 

The  face  of  affairs  was  very  much  changed  in  Spain.J  The  Carthaginians 
had  three  armies  in  that  country;  one  commanded  by  Asdrubal,  the  son  of 
Gisco  ;  the  second  by  Asdrubal,  son  of  Hamilcar ;  and  a  third  under  Mago, 
who  had  joined  the  first  Asdrubal.  The  two  Scipios,  Cneus  and  Publius, 
were  for  dividing  their  forces,  and  attacking  the  enemy  separately,  which  was 
the  cause  of  their  ruin:  it  accordingly  was  agreed  that  Cneus,  with  a  small 
number  of  Romans,  and  thirty  thousand  Celtiberians,  should  march  against 
Asdrubal  the  son  of  Hamilcar  ;  while  Publius,  with  the  remainder  of  the  forces, 
composed  of  Romans  and  the  allies  of  Italy,  should  advance  against  the  other 
two  generals. 

Publius  was  vanquished  first.  ^  Masinissa,  elated  with  the  victories  he  had 
lately  obtained  over  Syphax,  had  joined  the  two  leaders  whom  Publius  was  to 
oppose  ;  and  was  to  be  soon  followed  by  Indibilis,  a  powerful  Spanish  prince. 
The  armies  came  to  an  engagement.  The  Romans,  being  thus  attacked  on 
all  sides  at  once,  made  a  brave  resistance  as  long  as  they  had  their  general  at 
their  head ;  but  the  moment  he  fell,  the  few  troops  which  had  escaped  the 
slaughter,  secured  themselves  by  flight. 

The  three  victorious  armies  marched  immediately  in  quest  of  Cneus,  In 
order  to  put  an  end  to  the  war  by  his  defeat.  He  was  already  more  than  half 
vanquished,  by  the  desertion  of  his  allies,  who  all  forsook  him,  and  left  to  the 
Roman  generals  this  important  instruction,  viz.  never  to  let  their  own  forces 
be  exceeded  in  number  by  those  of  foreigners.§  He  had  reason  to  believe  that 
his  brother  was  slain,  and  his  army  defeated,  on  seeing  such  great  bodies  of 
the  enemy  arrive.  He  survived  him  but  a  short  time,  being  killed  in  the  en 
gagement.  These  two  great  men  were  equally  lamented  by  their  citizens 
and  allies;  and  the  Spaniards  bewailed  their  memory  on  account  of  the  jus- 
tice and  moderation  of  their  conduct. 

These  extensive  countries  seemed  now  inevitably  lost ,  but  the  valour  of 
L.  Marcius,||  a  private  officer  of  the  equestrian  order,  preserved  them  to  the 
Romans.  Shortly  after  this,  the  younger  Scipio  was  sent  thither,  who  fully 
avenged  the  death  of  his  father  and  uncle,  and  restored  the  affairs  of  the  '^-O- 
mans  in  Spain  to  their  former  flourishing  condition. 

THE  DEFEAT  AND  DEATH  OF  ASDRUBAL. 

One  unforeseen  defeat  ruined  all  the  measures,  and  blasted  all  the  hopes  U 
Hannibal  with  regard  to  Italy. IT    The  consuls  of  this  year,  which  was  tte 

*  Villius  Virius,  the  chief  of  this  conspiracy,  mfter  having  represented  to  the  Capuan  senate,  the  screw 
treatment  which  his  country  might  expect  from  the  Aomans,  prevailed  upon  tvrenty-seven  senators  to  g< 
with  him  to  his  own  house,  where,  after  eating-  a  plentiful  »I  jaoer,  and  heating  themselves  with  wine,  thej 
all  drank  poison.  Then,  taking  their  last  farewell,  some  withdrew  to  their  own  houses,  others  staid  will. 
Virius;  and  all  expired  before  the  gates  were  opened  to  the  Romans. — L.'.v  1.  xxvi.  n.  IS,  14. 

I  Confessio  expressa  hosti,  quanta  vis  in  Romanis  ad  expetendas  poenas  ab  i.i£^«libus  sociis,  et  quen 
nihil  in  Annibale  auxilii  ad  receptos  in  iidem  tuendos  asset. — Liv.  1.  xxvi.  n.  16. 

X  A.  M.  3793.    A.  Rome,  537.    Liv.  1.  xxv.  n.  32—39. 
}  Id  quidem  cavendum  semper  Romanis  ducibus  erit,  exemplaque  hasc  vere  pro  documentlshabenda.  N" 
Ita  cxternis  credant  auxiHii3,ut  non  plus  sui  roboris  suarumque  proprie  virium  in  castris  habeant. — Liv.  n.  3r 

II  He  attacked  the  Carthaginians,  who  had  divided  themselves  into  two  camps,  and  were  secure,  ai  th«  ♦ 
thought,  from  any  immediate  attempt  of  the  Romans;  killed  thirty-seven  thousand  of  them;  took 
lb*iM&Dd  eight  hundred  prisoners,  and  brought  off  immense  plunder. — Lir.  1.  xxv.  n.  39. 

T  A.  M.  37W     A.  R»me.  542.    Polyb.  1.  »i.  p.  65«— f>25.    tW.  ].  xxvii.  p.  35—39,  ."il 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


elerenlh  of  the  second  Punic  war,  (for  I  pass  over  several  events  for  brevity's 
sake,)  were  C.  Claudius  Nero  and  M.  Livius.  The  latter  haa  for  his  province 
Cisalpine  Gaul,  where  he  was  to  oppose  Asdrubal,  who,  it  was  reported,  was 
preparing  to  pass  the  Alps.  The  fornner  commanded  in  the  country  of  the 
Brutians  and  in  Lucania,  that  is,  in  the  opposite  extremity  of  Italy,  and  was 
there  making  head  against  Hannibal. 

The  passage  of  the  Alps  gave  Asdrubal  very  little  trouble,  because  his  bro- 
ther had  cleared  the  way  for  him,  and  all  the  nations  were  disposed  to  receive 
him.  Some  time  after  this  he  despatched  couriers  to  Hannibal,  but  they^vere 
intercepted.  Nero  found  by  their  letters,  that  Asdrubal  was  hastening  to  join 
his  brother  in  Umbria.  In  a  conjuncture  of  so  delicate  and  important  a  nature 
as  this,  when  the  safety  of  Rome  lay  at  stake,  he  thought  himself  at  liberty 
(o  dispense  with  the  established  rules  of  his  duty,  for  the  welfare  of  h].« 
countiy.*  In  consequence  of  this,  it  was  his  opinion,  that  such  a  bold  and  un* 
expected  blow  ought  to  be  struck,  as  might  be  capable  of  terrifying  the  enemy, 
by  marching  to  the  relief  of  his  colleague,  in  order  to  charge  Asdrubal  unex- 
pectedly with  their  united  forces.  This  design,  if  the  several  circumstances 
of  it  be  thoroughly  examined,  will  appear  exceedingly  remote  from  imprudence. 
To  prevent  the  two  brothers  from  joining  their  armies,  was  to  save  the  state. 
Veiy  little  would  be  hazarded,  even  though  Hannibal  should  be  informed  of 
the  absence  of  the  consul.  From  his  army,  which  consisted  of  forty-two  thou- 
sand men,  he  drew  out  but  seven  thousand  for  his  own  detachment,  which 
indeed  w^ere  the  flower  of  his  troops,  but  at  the  same  time,  a  very  inconsider- 
able part  of  them.  The  rest  remained  in  the  camp,  which  was  advantageously 
situated,  and  strongly  fortified.  Now,  could  it  be  supposed  that  Hannibal  would 
attack,  and  force  a  camp,  defended  by  thirty-five  thousand  men  ? 

Nero  set  out,  without  giving  his  soldiers  the  least  notice  of  his  design.  When 
he  advanced  so  far,  that  it  might  be  communicated  without  any  danger,  he  told 
them,  that  he  was  leading  theni  to  certain  victory  ;  that  in  war  all  things  de- 
pended upon  reputation ;  that  the  bare  rumour  of  their  arrival  would  discon- 
cert all  the  measures  of  the  Carthaginians ;  and  that  the  whole  honour  of  this 
battle  would  fall  to  them. 

They  marched  with  extraordinary  diligence,  and  joined  the  other  consul  in 
the  night,  but  did  not  encamp  separately  the  better  to  impose  upon  the  enemy. 
The  troops  on  their  arrival  joined  those  of  Livius.  The  army  of  Fortius  the 
praetor  was  encamped  near  that  of  the  consul,  and  in  the  morning  a  council  of 
war  was  held.  Livius  was  of  opinion,  that  it  might  be  proper  to  allow  the  troops 
some  days  to  refresh  themselves,  but  Nero  besought  him  not  to  ruin,  by  delay, 
an  enterprise  to  which  despatch  only  could  give  success ;  and  to  take  advantage 
of  the  error  of  the  enemy,  absent  as  well  as  present.  This  advice  was  com- 
plied with,  and  accordingly  the  signal  for  battle  was  given.  Asdrubal,  ad- 
vancing to  his  foremost  ranks,  discovered  by  several  circumstances,  that  fresh 
troops  were  arrived  ;  and  he  did  not  doubt  but  that  they  belonged  to  the  other 
consul.  This  made  him  conjecture  that  his  brother  had  sustained  a  consider- 
able loss,  and,  at  the  same  time,  fear  that  he  was  come  too  late  to  his  assistance. 

After  making  these  reflections,  he  caused  a  retreat  to  be  sounded  and  his 
army  began  to  march  in  great  disorder.  Night  overtaking  him,  and  his  guides 
deserting,  he  was  uncertain  which  way  to  go.  He  marched  at  random  alone; 
the  banks  of  the  river  Metaurus,!  and  was  preparing  to  cross  it,  when  the  three 
armies  of  the  enemy  came  up  with  him.  In  this  extremity,  he  saw  it  would 
be  impossible  for  him  to  avoid  coming  to  an  engagement ;  and  therefore  did 
every  thing  which  could  be  expected  from  the  presence  of  mind  and  valour  of 
a  great  captain.  He  seized  an  advantageous  post,  and  drew  up  his  forces  on 
a  narrow  spot,  which  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  posting  his  left  wing,  the 
ireakest  part  of  his  army,  in  such  a  manner,  that  it  could  neither  be  atudud 


general  was  allowed  to  leave  his  own  province,  to  ga  ieto  that  of  a—lfc<f« 
t  Now  called  Met*ro. 


230 


HISTOllY  OF  THE 


in  front,  nor  charged  in  flank  ;  and  of  giving  to  his  main  battle  and  right  wing 
a  greater  depth  than  front.  After  this  hasty  disposition  of  his  forces,  he  posted 
himself  in  the  centre,  and  first  marched  to  attack  the  enemy's  left  wing ;  well 
knowing  that  all  was  at  stake,  and  that  he  must  either  conquer  or  die.  The 
battle  lasted  a  long  time,  and  was  obstinately  disputed  on  both  sides.  Asdru- 
bal,  especially,  signalized  himself  in  this  engagement,  and  added  new  glory 
to  that  he  had  already  acquired  by  a  series  of  brilliant  actions.^  He  led  on  his 
soldiers,  trembling  and  quite  dispirited,  against  an  enemy  superior  to  them  both 
in  numbers  and  resolution.  He  animated  them  by  his  words,  supported  them 
by  his  example,  and,  with  entreaties  and  menaces,  endeavoured  to  bring  back 
those  who  fled ;  till,  at  last,  seeing  that  victory  declared  for  the  Romans,  and 
being  unable  to  survive  the  loss  of  so  many  thousand  men,  who  had  quit  their 
country  to  follow  his  fortune,  he  rushed  at  once  into  the  midst  of  a  Roman  co- 
hort, and  there  died  in  a  manner  worthy  the  son  of  Hamilcar,  and  the  brother 
of  Hannibal. 

This  was  the  most  bloody  battle  the  Carthaginians  had  fought  during  this 
war :  and,  whether  we  consider  the  death  of  the  general,  or  the  slaughter 
made  of  the  Carthaginian  forces,  it  maybe  looked  upon  as  a  retaliation  for  the 
battle  of  Cannae.  The  Carthaginians  lost  fifty-tive  thousand  men,*  and  six 
thousand  prisoners.  The  Romans  lost  eight  thousand,  and  were  so  weary  of 
slaughter,  that  some  person  telling  Livius,  that  he  might  very  easily  cut  to 
pieces  a  body  of  the  enemy  who  were  flying  :  It  is  Jit,  says  he,  that  some  should 
survive,  that  they  may  carry  the  news  of  this  defeat  to  the  Carthaginians, 

Nero  set  out  upon  his  inarch  on  the  very  night  which  followed  the  engage- 
ment. Through  all  places  where  he  passed,  in  his  return,  he  was  welcomed 
by  shouts  of  joy  and  loud  acclamations,  instead  of  those  fears  and  uneasiness 
which  his  coming  had  occasioned.  He  arrived  in  his  camp  the  sixth  day. 
Asdrubal's  head  being  thrown  into  that  of  the  Carthaginians,  informed  Hanni- 
bal of  his  brother's  unhappy  fate.  Hannibal  perceived,  by  this  cruel  stroke, 
the  fortune  of  Carthage  :  It  is  finished,  says  he  ;  /  will  no  longer  send  tri- 
umphant messages  to  Carthage,  In  losing  Asdrubal,  I  have  lost  at  once  all  my 
hope,  all  my  good  fortune,]  He  afterwards  retired  to  the  extremities  of  the 
country  of  the  Brutians,  where  he  assembled  all  his  forces,  who  found  it  a  very 
difficult  matter  to  subsist  there,  as  no  provisions  were  sent  them  from  Carthage 

SCIPIO  CONQUERS  ALL  SPAIN  ;  IS  APPOINTED  CONSUL,  AND  SAILS  INTO 
AFRICA.     HANNIBAL  IS  RECALLED. 

The  affairs  of  the  Carthaginians  were  equally  unfortunate  m  Spain.J  The 
prudent  activity  of  young  Scipio  had  restored  the  Roman  affairs  in  that  country 
to  their  former  flourishing  state,  as  the  courageous  delay  of  Fabius  had  before 
done  in  Italy.  The  three  Carthaginian  generals  in  Spain,  Asdrubal  son  of 
Gisco,  Hanno,  and  Mago,  having  been  defeated  with  their  numerous  armies 
by  the  Romans,  in  several  engagements,  Scipio  at  last  possessed  himself  of 
Spain,^  and  subjected  it  entirely  to  the  Roman  power.  It  was  at  this  time  that 
Masinissa,  a  very  powerful  African  prince,  went  over  to  the  Romans  ;  and  Sy 
phax,  on  the  contrary,  to  the  Carthaginians. 

Scipio,  on  his  return  to  Rome,  was  declared  consul,  being  then  thirty  years 
of  agc.J  He  had  P.  Licinius  Crassus  for  his  colleague.  Sicily  was  allotted 
to  Scipio,  with  permission  to  cross  into  Africa,  if  he  found  it  convenient  He 


♦  According  to  Polybius,  the  loss  amounted  to  but  ten  thousand  men,  and  that  of  the  Romans  tc  tw« 
tfiousand. — L.  xi.  p.  870.  Edit.  Gronor. 

I  Horace  makes  him  speak  thus,  in  the  beautiful  ode  where  this  defeat  is  described. 
Carthagini  jam  non  ego  nuntios 
Mittam  superbos.    Occidit,  occidit 
Spps  omnis,  et  fortuna  nostri 

i'fominis,  Asdrubale  interempto. — Lib,  vi.  Od.  4. 
t  A.  M.  3709.    A  Rome,  513.    Polyb.  1.  xi.  p.  650.  ct  1.  xiv.  p.  677—687.  et  1.  xr.  p.<t9.  Hi,  Unb 
MViii.  m,  1—4,  16.  38  40-^.  l,  xxix.  n.  24—36.  1.  xxx.  n.  20—21. 

i  A.  M.  9800.   A  R«ni».  Mi. 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


231 


•ct  out  with  all  imaginable  expedition  lor  his  province  ;  while  his  colleague 

was  to  command  in  the  country  to  which  Hannibal  had  retired. 

The  taking  of  New  Carthage,  where  Scipio  had  displayed  all  the  prudence, 
the  courage,  and  capacity  which  could  have  been  expected  fronn  the  greatest 
generals,  and  the  complete  conquest  of  Spain,  were  more  than  sufficient  to 
immortalize  hi^  name  :  but  he  had  considered  these  as  only  so  many  steps  by 
which  to  climb  to  a  nobler  enterprise,  and  this  was  the  conquest  of  Africa. 
Accordingly  he  crossed  over  thither,  and  made  it  the  seat  of  war. 

The  devastation  of  the  country ;  the  siege  of  Utica,  one  of  the  strongest 
cities  of  Africa  ;  the  entire  defeat  of  the  two  armies  under  Syphax  and  Asdru- 
bal,  whose  camp  was  burnt  by  Scipio;  and  afterwards  the  taking  Syphax  him- 
self prisoner,  who  was  the  most  powerful  resource  the  Carthaginians  had  left ; 
all  these  things  forced  them  at  last  to  turn  their  thoughts  to  peace.  They 
thereupon  deputed  thirty  of  their  principal  senators,  who  were  selected  for 
that  purpose,  out  of  the  powerful  body  at  Carthage,  called  the  counrAl  of  the 
hundred.  Being  introduced  into  the  Roman  general's  tent,  they  threw  them 
selves  prostrate  on  the  earth,  (such  was  the  custom  of  their  country,)  spoke  to 
him  in  terms  of  great  submission,  accusing  Hannibal  as  the  author  of  ail  their 
calamities,  and  promising,  in  the  name  of  the  senate,  an  implicit  obedience  to 
whatever  the  Romans  should  please  to  ordain.  Scipio  answered,  that  though 
he  was  come  into  Africa,  not  for  peace  but  conquest,  he  would  however  grant 
them  a  peace,  upon  condition  that  they  should  deliver  up  all  the  prisoners  and 
deserters  to  the  Romans  ;  that  they  should  recall  their  armies  out  of  Italy  and 
Gaul ;  should  never  set  foot  again  in  Spain  ;  should  retire  out  of  all  the  islands 
between  Italy  and  Africa  ;  should  deliver  up  all  their  ships,  except  twenty,  to 
the  victor  ;  should  give  to  the  Romans  five  hundred  thousand  bushels  of  wheat, 
three  hundred  thousand  of  barley,  and  pay  fifteen  thousand  talents  :  that  in 
case  they  were  pleased  with  these  conditions,  they  then  might  send  ambassa 
dors  to  the  senate.  The  Carthaginians  feigned  a  compliance,  but  this  was 
only  to  gain  time,  till  Hannibal  should  be  returned.  A  truce  was  then  granted 
to  the  Carthaginians,  who  immediately  sent  deputies  to  Rome ;  and  at  the 
same  time,  an  expreso  to  Hannibal,  to  order  his  return  into  Africa. 

He  was  then,  as  was  observed  before,  in  the  extremity  of  Italy.*  Here  he 
received  the  orders  from  Carthage,  which  he  could  not  listen  to  without  groans, 
and  almost  tears  ;  and  was  exasperated  almost  to  madness,  to  see  himself  thus 
forced  to  quit  his  prey.  An  exile  could  not  have  showed  more  regret  at  leav- 
ing his  native  country,  than  Hannibal  did  in  quitting  that  of  an  enemy.f  He 
often  turned  his  eyes  wishfully  to  Italy,  accusing  gods  and  men  of  his  misfor- 
tunes, and  calling  down  a  thousand  curses,  says  Livy,  upon  himself,  for  not 
having  marched  directly  to  Rome  after  the  battle  of  CannaB,  while  his  soldiers 
were  still  reeking  with  the  blood  of  its  citizens.^ 

At  Rome,  the  senate,  greatly  dissatisfied  with  the  excuses  made  by  the  Car- 
thaginian deputies,  in  justification  of  their  republic,  and  the  ridiculous  offer  of 
their  adhering,  in  its  name,  to  the  treaty  of  Lutatius,  thought  proper  to  refer 
the  decision  of  the  whole  to  Scipio,  who,  being  on  the  spot,  could  best  judge 
what  conditions  the  welfare  of  the  state  required. 

About  the  same  time,  Octavius  the  praetor,  sailing  from  Sicily  with  two  hun- 
dred vesseis  of  burden,  was  attacked  near  Carthage  by  a  violent  storm,  which 
dispersed  his  fleet.  The  citizens,  unwilling  to  see  so  rich  a  prey  escape  them, 
demanded  importunately  that  the  Carthaginian  fleet  might  sail  out  and  seize 
it.    The  senate,  after  a  faint  resistance,  complied.   Asdrubal,  sailing  out  of 


*  A.  M.  3802.    A.  Rome,  546. 
\  Raro  quenquam  alium  patriam  exili'  causa relinquentem  magis  nL^Eitum  abiisse  ferunt,  quam  Annibalem 
hcstluno  terra  exccdentem.   RespexisBel  saepe  Italiae  littora,  et  deos  hominesque  accusantem,  in  se  quoque 
suum  ipsius  caput  execratum,  "  Q,uod  non  cruentum  ab  Canneasi  victoria  militem  Romam  duxiMet.''—- 
Liijr.  i.  XXX.  n.  20. 

\  Llry  suppoitB,  however,  that  this  delaj  wai  a  capital  «nr«r  in  Haaeiba].  whUh  \%  himtalf  afUrwardt 
»«ffrett«d. 


233 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


ihe  harbour,  seized  the  greatest  part  of  the  Roman  ships,  and  brought  them  to 
Carthage,  ahhough  the  tiuce  was  still  subsisting. 

Scipio  sent  deputies  to  the  Carthaginian  senate,  to  complain  of  this,  but  they 
were  slightly  regarded.  Hannibal's  approach  had  revived  their  courage,  and 
filled  them  with  great  hopes.  The  deputies  were  even  in  great  danger  of 
being  ill  treated  by  the  populace.  They  therefore  demanded  a  convoy,  which 
was  granted,  and  accordingly  two  ships  of  the  republic  attended  them ;  but 
the  magistrates,  who  were  absolutely  against  peace,  and  determined  to  renew 
the  war,  gave  private  orders  to  Asdrubal,  who  was  with  the  fleet  near  Utica, 
to  attack  the  Roman  galley  when  it  should  arrive  in  the  river  Bagrada,  near 
the  Ro^ian  camp,  where  the  convoy  was  ordered  to  leave  them.  He  obeyea 
the  order,  and  sent  out  two  galleys  against  the  ambassadors,  who,  nevertheless, 
made  their  escape,  but  with  difficulty  and  danger. 

This  was  a  fresh  subject  for  a  war  between  the  two  nations,  who  were  now 
more  animated,  or  rather  more  exasperated  one  against  the  ofher,  than  ever 
the  Romans,  from  the  strono*  desire  ihej  had  to  revenge  so  base  a  perfidy,  and 
the  Carthaginians,  from  a  firm  persuasion  that  they  were  not  now  to  expect 
a  peace. 

At  the  same  time,  Laslius  and  Fulvius,  who  carried  the  full  powers  with 
which  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome  had  invested  Scipio,  arrived  in  the  camp, 
accompanied  by  the  deputies  of  Carthage.  As  the  Carthaginians  had  not  only 
infringed  the  truce,  but  violated  the  law  of  nations,  m  the  persons  of  the  Ro- 
man ambassadors,  it  was  natural  that  their  principals  should  order  the  Cartha- 
ginian deputies  to  be  seized  by  way  of  reprisal.  Scipio,  however,*  more  at- 
tentive to  the  Roman  generosity  than  to  the  demerits  of  the  Carthaginians,  in 
order  not  to  deviate  from  the  principles  and  maxims  of  his  own  countrymen, 
nor  his  own  character,  dismissed  the  deputies,  without  offering  them  the  least 
injury.  So  astonishing  an  instance  of  moderation,  and  at  such  a  juncture,  ter- 
rified the  Carthaginians,  and  even  put  them  to  the  blush  ;  and  made  Hannibal 
himself  entertain  a  still  higher  idea  of  a  general,  who,  to  the  dishonourable 
practices  of  his  enemies,  opposed  a  rectitude  and  magnanimity,  still  more  wor- 
thy of  admiration  than  ail  his  military  virtues. 

In  the  mean  time,  Hannibal,  being  strongly  importuned  by  his  fellow-citi- 
zens, advanced  into  the  country ;  and  arriving  at  Zama,  which  is  five  days 
march  from  Carthage  encamped  there.  He  thence  sent  out  spies  to  observe 
the  posture  of  the  Romans.  Scipio  having  seized  these,  so  far  from  punishing 
them,  only  commanded  them  to  be  led  about  the  Roman  camp,  that  they  might 
take  an  exact  survey  of  it,  and  then  sent  them  back  to  Hannibal.  The  latter 
knew  very  well  whence  so  noble  an  assurance  flowed.  After  the  strange  re- 
verses he  had  met  with,  he  no  longer  expected  that  fortune  would  again  be 
propitious.  While  every  one  w^as  exciting  him  to  give  battle,  he  alone  medi- 
cated a  peace.  He  flattered  himself  that  the  conditions  of  it  would  be  more 
honourable  for  him,  as  he  was  at  the  head  of  an  army,  and  as  the  fate  of  war 
rr.ight  still  appear  uncertain.  He  therefore  sent  to  desire  an  interview  with 
Scipio,  which  accordingly  was  agreed  to,  and  the  time  and  place  fixed. 

THE  INTERVIEW  BETWEEN  HANNIBAL  AND  SCIPIO  IN  AFRICA,  FOLLOWED  BY  A 

BATTLE. 

These  two  generals,  who  were  not  only  the  most  illustrious  of  their  own  age, 
but  worthy  of  being  ranked  with  the  most  renowned  princes  and  warriors  that 
had  ever  Jived,  meeting  at  the  place  appointed,  maintained  for  some  time  a 
deep  silence,  as  though  they  were  astonished,  and  struck  with  mutual  admira- 
tion al  the  sight  of  each  other.J   At  last  Hannibal  spoke  ;  and,  after  having 


%aiHS. — Polyb.  1.  xv.  }•.  9G5.  edit.  Gronov. 

Quibus  Scipio  ;  Etsl  non  induciarum  modo  fides,  sed  eliam  jus  ^entinm  in  legatis  riolatum  c  set  ;  tameii 
JE  nibi)  oec  instiluiis  populi  Rornani  nec  s\m  morlbus  indif  num  in  iis  facturum  esse.— Liv.  1.  x  tx.  n.  25. 
t  A.  M.  aim    A.  Rom*,  547.    Polyb.  I.  xv.  p.  694—703.    J.W.  !.  xxx  n.  29,  36. 


CAR'IHAGINIANS 


praised  Scipio  in  tne  most  artful  and  delicate  manner,  he  gave  a  veiy  lively  de- 
scription of  the  ravages  of  the  v^ar,  and  the  calamities  in  which  it  had  involved 
both  the  victors  and  the  vanquished.  He  conjured  him  not  to  suffer  himself  to 
i)e  dazzled  by  the  splendour  of  his  victories.  He  represented  to  him,  that  how- 
ever successful  he  might  have  hitherto  been,  he  ought  to  tremble  at  the  incon- 
stancy of  fortune  :  that  without  going  far  back  for  examples,  he  himself,  who  waa 
then  speaking  to  him,  was  a  glaring  proof  of  this  :  that  Scipio  was  at  that  time 
what  himself,  Hannibal,  had  been  at  Thrasymene  and  Cannae  :  that  he  ought  to 
make  a  better  use  of  opportunity  than  himself  had  done,  and  consent  to  peace ^ 
now  when  it  was  in  his  power  to  propose  the  conditions  of  it.  He  concluded 
with  declaring,  that  the  Carthaginians  would  willingly  resign  Sicily,  Sardinia, 
Spain,  and  all  the  islands  betw^een  Africa  and  Italy,  to  the  Romans.  That  they 
must  be  forced,  since  such  was  the  will  of  the  gods,  to  confine  themselves  to 
Africa  ;  while  they  should  see  the  Romans  extending  their  conquests  in  the 
most  remote  regions,  and  obliging  all  nations  to  pay  obedience  to  their  laws. 

Scipio  answered  in  a  few  words,  but  not  with  less  dignity.  He  reproached 
the  Carthaginians  for  their  perfidy,  in  plundering  the  Roman  galleys  before 
the  truce  was  expired.  He  imputed  to  them  only,  and  to  their  injustice,  all 
the  calamities  with  which  the  two  wars  had  been  attended.  After  thanking 
Hannibal  for  the  admonition  he  gave  him,  with  regard  to  the  uncertainty  oi 
human  events,  he  concluded  with  desiring  him  to  prepare  for  battle,  unless  he 
chose  rather  to  accept  of  the  conditions  that  had  been  already  proposed ;  to 
which,  he  observed,  some  others  would  be  added,  in  order  to  punish  the  Car- 
thaginians for  having  violated  the  truce. 

Hannibal  could  not  prevail  upon  himself  to  accept  these  conditions,  and  the 
generals  separated  with  the  resolution  to  decide  the  fate  of  Carthage  b}''  a  gene- 
ral battle.  Each  commander  exhorted  his  troops  to  fight  valiantly.  Hannibal 
enumerated  the  victories  he  had  gained  over  the  Romans,  the  generals  he  had 
slain,  the  armies  he  had  cut  to  pieces.  Scipio  represented  to  his  soldiers,  the 
conquests  of  both  the  Spains,  his  successes  in  Africa,  and  the  tacit  confession 
tlieir  enemies  themselves  made  of  their  weakness,  by  thus  coming  to  sue  for 
peace.  All  this  he  spoke  with  the  tone  and  air  of  a  conqueror.*  Never  were 
motives  more  calculated  to  excite  troops  to  behave  gallantly.  This  day  was 
to  complete  the  glory  of  the  one  or  the  other  of  the  generals,  and  to  decide 
whether  Rome  or  Carthage  should  prescribe  laws  to  all  other  nations. 

I  shall  not  undertake  to  describe  the  order  of  the  battle,  nor  the  valour  of 
the  forces  on  both  sides.  The  reader  will  naturally  suppose,  that  two  such 
experienced  generals  did  not  forget  any  circumstance  which  could  contribute 
to  the  victory.  The  Carthaginians,  after  a  very  obstinate  fight,  were  obliged 
to  fly,  leaving  twenty  thousand  men  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  the  like  number 
of  prisoners  were  taken  by  the  Romans.  Hannibal  escaped  in  the  tumult,  and 
entering  Carthage,  owned  that  he  was  irrecoverably  overthrown,  and  that  the 
citizens  had  no  other  choice  left,  but  to  accept  of  peace  on  any  conditions. 
Scipio  bestowed  great  eulogiums  on  Hannibal,  chiefly  with  regard  to  his  capa- 
city in  taking  advantages,  his  manner  of  drawing  up  his  army,  and  giving  his 
orders  in  the  engagement ;  and  affirmed,  that  Hannibal  liad  this  day  surpassed 
himself,  although  fortune  had  not  answered  his  valour  ahd  conduct. 

With  regard  to  himself,  he  well  knew  how  to  make  a  proper  advantage  ot 
Lis  victory,  and  the  consternation  with  which  he  had  filled  the  enemy.  He 
commanded  one  of  his  lieutenants  to  march  his  land  army  to  Carthage,  and 
prepared  in  person  to  conduct  the  fleet  thither. 

He  was  not  far  from  the  city,  when  he  met  a  vessel  covered  with  streamers 
and  olive-br  .nches,  bringing  ten  of  the  most  considerable  persons  of  the  state, 
»s  ambassa«i  jrs  to  implore  his  clemency.  He  however  dismissed  them  with- 
out meijcing  any  answer,  and  bid  thpm  come  to  him  at  Tunis,  where  he  should 
lalt.    The  deputies  of  Carthage,  being  thirty  in  number,  came  to  him.  at  the 


♦  r>Uu3  lia»,c  corpore.  vuiruque  ila  1  ■  to.  ut  vii  iSit  jair  ciederes.  dicobal. — I/iv.  1  xxx.  n.  3-2. 


234 


HISTORV  OP  THE 


place  appointed,  and  sued  for  peace  in  the  most  submissive  term?;.  He  then 
caJled  a  council,  the  majority  of  which  was  for  razing  Carthage,  and  treating 
the  imiabitants  with  the  utmost  severity.  But  the  consideration  of  the  time 
which  must  necessarily  be  employed  before  a  city  so  strongly  fortified  could 
be  taken,  and  Scipio's  fear  that  a  successor  to  him  might  be  appointed  while 
he  should  be  employed  in  the  «?iege,  made  him  incline  to  clemency. 

A  PEACl  CONCLUDED  BETWEEN  THE  CARTHAGINIANS  AND  THE  ROMANS.  THE 
END  OF  THE  SECOND  PUNIC  WAR. 

The  conditions  of  the  peace  dictated  by  Scipio  to  the  Carthaginians  were, 
"  that  the  Carthaginians  were  to  continue  free,  and  preserve  their  ^aws,  their 
territories,  and  the  cities  they  possessed  in  Africa  before  the  war  ;^  that  they 
should  deliver  up  to  the  Romans  all  deserters,  slaves,  and  captives  belonging 
to  them  ;  all  their  ships,  except  ten  triremes  ;  all  their  tame  elephants,  and  that 
they  should  not  train  up  any  more  for  war ;  that  they  should  not  mhke  war  ' 
out  of  Africa,  nor  even  in  that  countr^^  without  first  obtaining  leave  for  that 
purpose  from  the  Roman  people  ;  should  restore  to  Masinissa  all  they  had  ' 
taken  from  him  or  his  ancestors;  should  furnisii  money  and  corn  to  the  Roman  i 
auxiliaries,  till  their  ambassadors  should  be  returned  from  Rome  ;  should  pay  j 
to  the  Romans  ten  thousand  Euboic  talentsj  of  silver,  in  fifty  annual  payments ; 
and  give  a  hundred  hostages,  who  should  be  nominated  by  Scipio.   And  in  , 
order  that  they  might  have  time  to  send  to  IJome,  it  was  agreed  to  grant  them  , 
a  truce,  upon  condition  that  they  should  restore  the  ships  taken  during  the  for-  , 
mer  war,  without  which  they  were  not  to  expect  either  a  truce  or  a  peace.'* 

When  the  deputies  returned  to  Carthage,  they  laid  before  the  senate  the 
conditions  dictated  by  Scipio.    But  they  appeared  so  intolerable  to  Gisco,  ' 
that  rising  up,  he  made  a  speech,  in  order  to  dissuade  the  citizens  from  accept-  ; 
ing  a  peace  on  such  shameful  terms.    Hannibal,  provoked  at  the  calmness  ' 
with  which  such  an  orator  was  heard,  took  Gisco  by  the  arm,  and  dragged  | 
him  from  his  seat.    A  behaviour  so  outrageous,  and  so  remote  from  the  man-  | 
ners  of  a  free  city,  like  Carthage,  raised  an  universal  murmur.  Hannibal  was  j 
vexed  with  himself  when  he  reflected  on  what  he  had  done,  and  immediately  [ 
made  an  apology  for  it.   "  As  1  left,"  says  he,  "your  city  at  nineyears  of  age,  | 
and  did  not  return  to  it  till  after  thirty-six  years  absence,  I  had  lull  leisure  to  ! 
learn  the  arts  of  war,  and  flatter  myself  that  I  have  made  some  improvement  in 
them.    As  for  your  laws  and  customs,  it  is  no  wonder  I  am  ignorant  of  them, 
and  I  therefore  desire  you  to  instruct  me  in  them."    He  then  expatiated  on 
the  necessity  they  were  under  of  concluding  a  peace.  He  added,  that  they  ought 
to  thank  the  gods  for  having  prompted  the  Romans  to  grant  them  a  peace  even 
on  these  conditions.    He  urged  on  them  the  importance  of  their  uniting  in 
opinion,  and  of  not  giving  an  opportunity,  by  their  divisions,  for  the  people 
to  take  an  alfair  of  this  nature  under  their  cognizance.    The  v»^hole  city  came 
over  to  his  opinion,  and  accordingly  the  peace  was  accepted.   The  senate 
made  Scipio  satisfaction  with  regard  to  the  ships  demanded  by  him,  and  after 
obtaining  a  truce  for  three  months,  sent  ambassadors  to  Rome. 

These  Carthag'nians,  who  were  all  venerable  for  their  years  and  dignity, 
were  admitted  immediately  to  an  audience.  Asdrubal,  surnamed  Hcedus,  who 
was  still  an  irreconcileable  enemy  to  Hannibal  and  his  faction,  spoke  first :  ai>d 


*  Polyb.  1.  xr.  p.  704—707.    Liv.  1.  xxx.  n.  36—44. 
t  Ten  thousand  Attic  talents  make  thirty  millions  French  money.    Ten  thousand  Euboic  talents  make 
something  more  than  twenty-eight  millions,  thirty-three  thousand  livrei ;  because,  acording;  to  Budaeus,  the 
Euboic  talent  is  e(iuivalent  but  to  fifty-six  Minae  and  something  more,  whereat  the  Attic  talent  is  wortli 
sixty  Minae.  • 

Or  otherwise  thus  calculated  in  English  money: 

According  to  Budaeus,  the  Euboic  talent  is  56  Minas. 

66  Min^  reduced  to  English  money  L.  175,  or  $777. 

Consequently  10,000  Euboic  talents  make  »  L.  1,750,000,  or  ^7,770,000. 

So  that  the  Carthaginians  paid  annually  L.  35,000,  or  $155,400. 

This  calculation  is  as  near  the  truth  as  it  can  we.l  be  brought,  the  Euboic  talent  being  something  mmm 
tkac&6Min«B. 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


95* 


after  harmg  excused,  to  the  best  his  power,  the  people  of  Carthage,  by  im- 
puting the  rupture  to  the  ambition  of  some  particular  persons,  he  added,  that 
had  the  Carthaginians  listened  to  his  counsels  and  those  of  Hanno,  they  would 
have  been  able  to  grant  the  Romans  the  peace  for  which  they  now  were  obliged 
to  sue.  "  But,"  continued  he,  "wisdom  and  prosperity  are  very  rarely  found 
together.  The  Romans  are  invincible,  because  they  never  suffer  themsplfes 
to  be  blinded  by  good  fortune.  And  it  would  be  surprising  should  the}  act 
otherwise.  Success  dazzles  those  only  to  whom  it  is  new  and  unusual,  whereas 
the  Romans  are  so  much  accustomed  to  conquer,  that  they  are  almost  msensible 
to  the  charms  of  victory  ;  and  it  may  be  said  for  their  glory,  that  they  have  ex- 
tended their  empire,  in  some  measure,  more  by  the  humanity  they  have  shown 
to  the  conquered,  than  by  conquest  itself."*  The  other  ambassadors  spoke 
with  a  more  plaintive  tone  of  voice,  and  represented  the  calamitous  state  to 
which  Carthage  was  about  to  be  reduced,  and  the  grandeur  and  power  from 
which  she  had  fallen. 

The  senate  and  people,  being  equally  inclined  to  peace,  sent  full  powers  to 
Scipio  to  conclude  it,  left  the  conditions  to  that  general,  and  permitted  him  to 
march  back  his  army,  after  the  treaty  should  be  ratified. 

The  ambassadors  desired  leave  to  enter  the  city  to  redeem  some  of  their 
prisoners,  and  they  found  about  two  hundred  whom  they  desired  to  ransom. 
But  the  senate  sent  them  to  Scipio,  with  orders  that  they  should  bo  restored 
without  any  pecuniary  consideration,  in  case  a  peace  should  be  concluded. 

The  Carthaginians,  on  the  return  of  the  ambassadors,  concluded  a  peace  with 
Scipio  on  the  terms  he  himself  had  prescribed.  They  then  delivered  up  to 
him  more  than  five  hundred  ships,  all  which  he  burnt  in  sight  of  Carthage ; 
a  lamentable  sight  to  the  inhabitants  of  that  ill-fated  city  !  He  struck  off  the 
heads  of  the  allies  of  the  Latin  name,  and  hanged  all  the  citizens  who  were 
surrendered  tohim^  as  deserters. 

When  the  time  for  the  payment  of  the  first  tax  imposed  by  the  treaty  was 
expired,  as  the  funds  of  the  government  were  exhausted  "by  this  long  and  ex- 
pensive war,  the  difficulty  which  would  be  found  in  levying  so  great  a  sum,  threw 
the  senate  into  a  melancholy  silence,  and  many  could  not  refrain  even  from  tears. 
It  is  said,  that  at  this  Hannibal  laughed,  and  when  reproached  by  Asdrubal 
Hoedus,  for  thus  insulting  his  country  in  the  affliction  which  he  had  brought  upon 
it,  "were  it  possible,"  says  Hannibal,  "  for  my  heart  to  be  seen,  and  that  as 
clearly  as  my  countenance,  you  would  then  find  that  this  laughter,  which  offends 
so  much,  flows  not  from  an  intemperate  joy,  but  from  a  mind  almost  distracted 
with  the  public  calamities.  But  is  this  laughter  more  unseasonable  than  your 
unbecoming  tears  ?  Then,  ought  you  to  have  wept,  when  your  arms  were  in- 
gloriously  taken  fromj^ou,  your  ships  burned,  and  you  were  forbidden  to  en- 
gage in  any  foreign  wars.  This  was  the  mortal  blow  which  laid  us  prostrate. 
We  are  sensible  of  the  public  calamity  so  far  only  as  we  have  a  personal  con- 
cern in  it,  and  the  loss  of  our  money  gives  us  the  most  poignant  sorrow.  Hence 
it  was,  that  when  our  city  was  made  the  spoil  of  the  victor ;  when  it  was  left 
disarmed  and  defenceless  amidst  so  many  powerful  nations  of  Africa,  who  had 
at  that  time  taken  the  field,  not  a  groan,  not  a  sigh  was  heard.    But  now,  when 

Tou  are  called  on  for  a  poll-tax  you  weep  and  lament,  as  if  all  were  lost.  Alas  I 
only  wish  that  the  subject  of  this  day's  fear  do  not  soon  appear  to  you  the 
« least  of  your  misfortunes." 

Scipio,  after  all  things  were  concluded,  embarked  to  return  to  Italy.  He 
arrived  at  Rome  through  crowds  of  people,  whom  curiosity  had  drawn  toge- 
ther to  behold  his  march.  The  most  magnificent  triumph  that  Rome  had  eve? 
seen  was  decreed  him,  and  the  surname  of  Africanus  was  bestowed  upon  that 


*  Raro  simiil  hominibiis  bonam  fortunam  bonamque  mentem  dari.  Populum  Romanum  ec  invictum  esse 
quod  in  secundls  rebus  sapere  et  consulere  meminerit.  Et  hercle  mirandum  fuii^se  si  aliter facerent.  Ex  it, 
folentia,  quibus  nova  bona  fortnna  sit,  impotenles  laetilias  insanire-,  populo  Romano  usitata  ac  rpope  obw. 
leta  cx  victoria  gaudia  esse  ;  ac  plu  pene  parcendo  viclls,  quam  vincendo,  imperium  auxisse. — Liv.  1.  xxit 
o 


936 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


great  man  ;  an  honour  till  then  unknown,  no  person  before  him  havii^  assumed 
the  name  of  a  vanquished  nation.  Such  was  the  conclusion  of  the  second  Pu- 
nic war,  after  having"  lasted  seventeen  years.* 

A.  SHORT   REFLECTION  ON  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  CARTHAGE,  IN  THE  TIME 
*  OF  THE  SECOND  PUNIC  WAR, 

I  SH4LL  concludu  ♦he  particulars  which  relate  to  the  second  Punic  war,  with 
a  reflection  of  Polybius,  which  will  show  the  difference  between  the  two  com- 
monwealths.! It  may  be  affirmed,  in  some  measure,  that  at  the  beginning  of 
the  second  Punic  war,  and  in  Hannibal's  time,  Carthage  was  in  its  decline. 
The  flower  of  its  youth,  and  its  sprightly  vigour,  were  already  diminished, 
(t  had  begun  to  fall  from  its  exalted  pitch  of  power,  and  was  inclining  towards 
its  ruin  ;  whereas  Rome  was  then,  as  it  were,  in  its  bloom  and  strength  of  life, 
and  rapidly  advancing  to  the  conquest  of  the  universe.  The  reason  of  the 
declension  of  the  one,  and  the  rise  of  the  other,  is  taken  by  Polybius  from  the 
different  form  of  government  established  in  these  commonwealths,  at  the  time 
we  are  ilow  speaking  of.  At  Carthage,  the  common  people  had  seized  upon 
the  sovereign  authority  with  regard  to  public  affairs,  and  the  advice  of  their 
ancient  men,  or  magistrates,  was  no  longer  listened  to ;  all  affairs  w^ere  trans- 
acted by  intrigue  and  cabal.  Not  to  mention  the  artifices  which  the  faction 
opposea  to  Hannibal  employed,  during  the  whole  time  of  his  command,  to 
perplex  him  ;  the  single  instance  of  burning  the  Roman  vessels  during  a  truce, 
a  perfidious  action  to  which  the  common  people  compelled  the  senate  to  lend 
their  name  and  assistance,  is  a  proof  of  Polybius'  assertion.  On  the  contraiy, 
at  this  very  time,  the  Romans  paid  the  highest  regard  to  their  senate,  that  is, 
to  a  body  composed  of  the  greatest  sages  ;  and  their  old  men -were  listened 
to  and  revered  as  oracles.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Roman  people  were  ex- 
ceedingly jealous  of  their  authority,  and  especially  in  that  part  of  it  which 
related  to  the  election  of  magistrates.^;  A  century  of  young  men,  who  by  lot 
were  to  give  the  first  vote,  which  generally  directed  all  the  rest,  had  nomi- 
nated two  consuls.  On  the  bare  remonstrance  of  Fabius,§  who  represented 
to  the  people,  that  in  a  tempest,  like  that  with  which  Rome  was  then  strug 
gling,  the  most  able  pilots  ought  to  be  chosen  to  steer  their  common  ship,  the  re-^ 
public ;  the  century  returned  to  their  suffrages,  and  nominated  other  consuls. 
Polybius,  from  this  disparity  of  government,  infers  that  a  people,  thus  guided 
by  the  prudence  of  old  men,  could  not  fail  of  prevailing  over  a  state  which 
was  governed  wholly  by  the  giddy  multitude.  And  indeed,  the  Romans  un- 
der the  guidance  of  the  wise  counsels  of  their  senate  gained  at  last  the  supe- 
riority with  regard  to  the  war  considered  in  general,  though  they  were  defeated 
in  several  particular  engagements,  and  established  their  power  and  grandeur 
on  the  ruin  of  their  rivals. 

THE  INTERVAL  BETWEEN  THE  SECOND  AND  THIRD  PUNIC  WAR. 

The  events  relating  to  Carthage  during  this  period,  are  not  very  remarka- 
*:[e,  although  it  includes  more  than  fifty  years.  They  may  be  reduced  to  two 
beads,  one  of  which  relates  to  the  person  of  Hannibal,  and  the  other  to  some 
particular  differences  between  the  Carthaginians  and  Masinissa,  king  of  the 
.  fumidians.    We  shall  treat  both  separately,  but  not  extensively. 

section  I. — CONTINUATION  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  HANNIBAL. 

When  the  second  Punic  war  was  ended,  by  the  treaty  of  peace  concluded 
urith  Scipio,  Hannibal,  as  he  himself  observed  in  the  Carthaginian  senate,  waf 


*  A.  M.  3804.    A.  Garth.  646.    A.  Rome,  548.    Ant.  J.  C.  200. 
t  Lib.  vi.  p.  493,  494.  _  +  Liv.  1.  xxiv.  n.  8,  9. 

\  (iuilibet  nautarum  rectorumquc  tranquillo  mari  g-ubernare  potest;  ubi  saeva  orta  tempestas  est,  ac  tUf 
bato  mari  rapitur  vento  navis,  turn  viro  et  gubernatore  opus  est.  Non  tranquilJo  navigamuR,  sed  jam  ali 
l[uot  proccllis  submersi  pene  sumtis.  Itaque  quis  ad  gubernacula  esdeat  summa  cura  provideDdum  ac  pni 
fesvanduro  nobis  eit. 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


237 


^3rty-five  years  of  age.  What  we  have  further  tc  sa}'  of  this  great  man,  in- 
cluaes  the  space  of  twenty-five  years. 

HANNIBAL  UNDERTAKES  AND  COMPLETES  THE  REFORMATION  OF  THE  CCURTIk 
OF  JUSTICE,  AND  THE  TREASURY  OF  CARTHAGE. 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  peace,  Hannibal,  at  least  in  the  beginning,  was 
yreatly  respected  in  Carthage,  where  he  filled  the  first  employnients  of  the 
itate  with  honour  and  applause.  He  headed  the  Carthaginian  forces  in  some 
vars  against  the  Africans :  but  the  Romans,  to  whom  the  very  name  of  Han- 
aibalgave  uneasiness,  discontented  at  seeing  him  in  arms,  made  complaints  on 
hat  account,  and  accordingly  he  was  recalled  to  Carthage.* 

On  his  return  he  was  appointed  praetor,  which  seems  to  have  been  a  very 
considerable  employment,  as  well  as  of  great  authority.!    Carthage  is  there- 
ore,  witli  regard  to  him,  becoming  a  new  theatre,  as  it  were,  on  which  he  wiL 
vlisplay  virtues  and  qualities  of  a  quite  different  nature  from  those  we  have 
l.itherto  admired  in  him,  and  which  will  finish  the  picture  of  this  illustrious  man. 

Eagerly  desirous  of  restoring  the  affairs  of  his  afflicted  country  to  their  for- 
mer happy  condition,  he  was  persuaded,  that  the  two  most  powerful  methods 
to  make  a  state  flourish  were,  an  exact  and  equal  distribution  of  justice  to  the 
people  in  general,  and  a  faithful  management  of  the  publ'c  finances.  The 
former,  by  preserving  an  equality  among  the  citizens,  and  making  them  enjoy 
such  a  delightful,  undisturbed  liberty,  under  the  protection  of  the  laws,  as 
fully  secures  their  honour,  their  lives  and  properties,  unites  the  individuals  of 
the  commonwealth  more  closely  together,  and  attaches  them  more  firmly  to 
the  state,  to  which  they  owe  the  preservation  of  all  that  is  most  dear  and  valu- 
able to  them.  The  latter,  by  a  faithful  administration  of  the  public  revenues, 
supplies  punctually  the  several  wants  and  necessities  of  the  state,  keeps  in 
reserve  a  never-failing  resource  for  sudden  emergencies,  and  prevents  the  peo- 
ple from  being  burdened  with  new  taxes,  which  are  rendered  necessary  by 
extravagant  profusion,  and  which  chiefly  contribute  to  make  men  harbour  afs 
aversion  for  government. 

Hannibal  saw  with  great  concern,  the  irregularities  which  had  crept  equally 
into  the  administration  of  justice  and  the  management  of  the  finances.  Upon 
his  being  nominated  proetor,  as  his  love  for  regularity  and  order  made  him  un- 
easy at  every  deviation  from  it,  and  prompted  him  to  use  his  utmost  endea- 
vours for  its  restoration ;  he  had  the  courage  to  attempt  the  reformation  of 
this  double  abuse,  which  drew  after  it  a  numberless  multitude  of  others,  wilh- 
dut  dreading  either  the  animosity  of  the  old  faction  that  opposed  him,  or  the 
new  enmity  which  his  zeal  for  the  republic  must  necessarily  create. 

The  judges  exercised  the  most  cruel  rapine  with  impunity. J  They  were 
so  many  petty  tyrants,  who  disposed,  in  an  arbitrary  manner,  of  the  lives  and 
fortunes  of  the  citizens,  without  there  being  the  least  possibility  of  putting  a 
stop  to  their  injustice.  Because  they  held  their  commissions  for  life,  and  mu- 
tually supported  one  another.  Hannibal,  as  praetor,  summoned  before  his  tri* 
bunal  an  officer  belonging  to  the  bench  of  judges,  who  openly  abused  his  power, 
Livy  tells  us  that  he  was  a  quaestor.  This  officer,  who  was  in  the  opposite 
faction  to  Hannibal,  and  had  already  assumed  all  the  pride  and  haughtiness  of 
the  judges  among  whom  he  was  to  be  admitted  at  the  expiration  of  his  pre 
«ent  office,  insolently  refused  to  obey  the  summons.  Hannibal  was  not  of  h 
disposition  to  suffer  an  affront  of  this  nature  tamely.  Accordingly,  he  caused 
^im  to  be  seized  by  a  lictor,  and  brought  him  before  the  assembly  of  the  peo- 
ple. There,  not  satisfied  with  levelling  his  resentment  against  this  single  of- 
ficer, he  impeached  the  whole  bench  of  judges :  whose  insupportable  and 
tj'iannicai  pride  v/as  not  restrained,  either  by  the  fear  of  the  laws,  or  a  reve- 
r«;nce  for  the  magistrates.  And,  as  Hannibal  perceived  that  he  was  heard 
with  pleasure,  and  that  the  lowest  and  most  inconsiderable  of  the  people  duh 


*  Corn.  Nep.  in  Annib.  c  7.  f  A.  M.  3810.    A.  Rome,  564,  J  Liv.  1.  xxxiii.  d  46. 


538 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


oovered  on  this  occasion  that  they  were  no  longer  able  to  bear  the  insofei* 
pride  of  these  judges,  who  seemed  to  have  a  design  upon  their  liberties ;  he 
proposed  a  law,  which  accordingly  passed,  by  which  it  was  enacted,  that  new 
judges  should  be  chosen  annually ;  with  a  clause  that  none  should  continue 
in  office  beyond  that  term.  This  law,  at  the  same  time  that  it  acquired  him 
the  friendship  and  esteem  of  the  people,  drew  upon  him  proportionably  the 
hatred  of  the  greatest  part  of  the  grandees  and  nobility. 

He  attempted  another  reformation,  which  created  him  new  enemies,  but 
gained  him  great  honour.*  The  public  revenues  were  either  squandered  away 
by  the  negligence  of  those  who  had  the  management  of  them,  or  were  plun- 
dered by  the  chief  men  of  the  city,  and  the  magistrr>tes  ;  so  that  money  being 
>  wanted  to  pay  the  annual  tribute  due  to  the  Romans,  the  Carthaginians  were 
going  to  levy  it  upon  the  people  in  general.  Hannibal,  entering  into  a  full  de- 
tail of  the  public  revenues,  ordered  an  exact  estimate  to  be  laid  before  him  , 
inquired  in  what  manner  they  had  been  applied  to  the  employments  and  ordi- 
nary expenses  of  the  state  ;  and  having  discovered  by  this  inquiry,  that  the 
public  funds  had  been  in  a  great  measure  embezzled  by  the  fraud  of  the  offi- 
cers who  had  the  management  of  them,  he  declared  and  promised,  in  a  full 
assembly  of  the  people,  that  without  laying  any  new  taxes  upon  individuals, 
the  republic  should  hereafter  be  enabled  to  pay  the  tribute  due  to  the  Romans ; 
and  he  was  as  good  as  his  word.  The  farmers  of  the  revenues,  whose  plunder 
and  rapine  he  had  publicly  detected,  having  accustomed  themselves  hitherto 
to  fatten  upon  the  spoils  of  their  country,  exclaimed  vehemently  against  these 
regulations,  as  if  their  own  property  had  been  forced  out  of  their  hands,  and 
not  the  sums  of  which  they  had  defrauded  the  public. 

THE  RETr^'AT  AND  DEATH  OF  HANNIBAL. 

This  double  reformation  o*  abuses  raised  great  clamours  against  Hannibal. J; 
His  enemies  were  writing  incessantly  to  the  chief  men,  or  their  friends,  at 
Rome,  to  inform  them,  that  he  was  carrying  on  a,  secret  correspondence  with 
Antiochus,  king  of  Syria  ;  that  he  frequently  received  couriers  from  him  ;  and 
that  this  prince  had  privately  despatched  agents  to  Hannibal,  to  concert  with 
him  measures  for  carrying  on  the  war  he  was  meditating :  that  as  some  ani- 
mals are  so  extremely  fierce,  that  it  is  impossible  ever  to  tame  them  ;  in  like 
manner,  this  man  was  of  so  turbulent  and  implacable  a  spirit,  that  he  could 
not  brook  ease,  and  therefore  would,  sooner  or  later,  break  out  again.  These 
informations  were  listened  to  at  Rome  ;  and  as  the  transactions  of  the  preced- 
ing war  had  been  begun  and  carried  on  almost  solely  by  Hannibal,  they  ap- 
peared the  more  probable.  However,  Scipio  strongly  opposed  the  violent 
measures  which  the  senate  were  about  to  take  on  their  receiving  this  intelli 
gence,  by  representing  it  as  derogatory  to  the  dignity  of  the  Ron^an  people, 
to  countenance  the  hatred  and  accusations  of  Hannibal's  enemies  ;  to  support, 
with  their  authority,  their  unjust  passions  ;  and  obstinately  to  pursue  him  even 
to  the  very  heart  of  his  country  ;  as  though  the  Romans  had  not  humbled  iiim 
sufficiently,  in  driving  him  out  of  the  field,  and  forcing  him  to  lay  down  his  arms. 

But,  notwithstanding  these  prudent  remonstrances,  the  senate  appointed 
three  commissions  to  go  and  make  their  complaints  to  Carthage,  and  to  demand 
that  Hannibal  should  be  delivered  up  to  them.  On  their  arrival  in  that  city, 
though  other  things  were  speciously  pretended,  yet  Hannibal  was  perfectly 
sensible  that  he  only  was  the  object.  The  evening  being  come,  he  con\eyed 
himself  on  board  a  ship,  which  he  had  secretly  provided  for  that  purpose  ,•  on 
which  occasion  he  bewailed  his  country's  fate  more  than  his  own.  Sapius 
patricB  quam  suos  eventus  miseratus.  This  was  the  eighth  year  after  the  con- 
clusion of  the  peace.    The  first  place  he  landed  at  was  Tyre,  where  he  was 


*  Liv.  1.  xxxiii.  r.  46,  47. 

I  Tain  rero  itti  quos  parerat  per  aliquot  annos  publlcus  peculatus,  relut  bonis  creplis,  non  furto  eonat 
VM2wbus  extorto,  incenii  ct  irati,  KomaDos  in  Annlbalcm,  et  ipsos  causain  odii  quaerentes,  instiyabant  •-Liv. 

I  Liv.  1.  xxxiii.  n.  45 — 49. 


CARTHAGINIANB. 


239 


im'eived  as  in  his  second  countiy,  and  had  all  the  honours  paid  him  which 
Were  due  to  his  exalted  merit.  After  staying  some  days  here,  he  set  out  for 
Antioch,  which  the  king  had  lately  left,  and  from  thence  waited  i/pon  him  at 
Ephesus.*  The  arrival  of  so  renowned  a  general  gave  great  pleasure  to  the 
king,  and  did  not  a  little  contribute  to  determine  him  to  engage  in  war  against 
Rome  ;  for  hitherto  he  had  appeared  wavering  and  uncertain  on  that  head.  In 
this  city,  a  philosopher,  who  was  looked  upon  as  the  greatest  orator  of  Asia, 
Ibad  the  imprudence  to  harangue  before  Hannibal  on  the  duties  of  a  general^ 
ind  the  rules  of  the  military  art.t  The  speech  charmed  the  whole  audience. 
But  Hannibal,  being  asked  his  opinion  of  it,  "  I  have  seen,"  says  he,  "many 
)ld  dotards  in  my  ?ife,  but  this  exceeds  them  all. "J 

The  Carthaginians,  justly  fearing  that  Hannibal's  escape  would  certainly 
Iraw  upon  them  the  arms  of  the  Romans,  sent  them  advice  that  Hannibal  was 
tvithdrawn  to  Antiochus.§  The  Romans  were  very  much  disturbed  at  this 
news,  and  the  king  jnight  have  turned  it  extremely  to  his  advantage,  had  he 
known  how  to  make  a  proper  use  of  it. 

The  first  counsel  that  Hannibal  gave  him  at  this  time,  and  which  he  fre- 
quently repeated  afterwards,  was,  to  make  Italy  the  seat  of  war.||  He  required 
a  hundred  ships,  eleven  or  tw^elve  thousand  land-forces,  and  offered  to  take 
upon  himself  the  command  of  the  fleet ;  to  cross  into  Africa,  in  order  to  en- 
gage the  Carthaginians  in  the  war ;  and  afterwards  to  make  a  descent  upoi> 
Italy,  during  which  the  king  himself  should  be  ready  to  cross  over  with  hif 
army  into  Italy,  whenever  it  should  be  thought  convenient.  This  was  the  only 
thing  proper  to  be  done,  and  the  king  very  m^uch  approved  the  proposal  at  first 

Hannibal  thought  it  would  be  expedient  to  prepare  his  friends  at  Carthage 
in  order  to  engage  them  the  more  strongly  in  his  interesl.U  The  communica 
tion  by  letters  is  not  only  unsafe,  but  also  gives  an  imperfect  idea  of  things 
and  is  never  sufficiently  particular   He  therefore  despatched  a  trusty  persoii 
with  ample  instructions  to  Carthage.    This  man  had  no  sooner  arrived  in  the 
city,  than  his  business  was  suspected.    Accordingly,  he  was  watched  and  fol- 
lowed ;  and  at  last  orders  were  issued  for  his  being  seized.    He,  however, 
prevented  the  vigilance  of  his  enemies,  and  escaped  in  the  night ;  after  hav- 
ing fixed,  in  several  public  places,  papers,  which  fully  declared  the  occasion 
of  his  coming  among  them.    The  senate  immediately  sent  advice  of  this  to 
the  Romans. 

Villius,  one  of  the  deputies  who  had  been  sent  into  Asia,  to  inquire  into  the 
state  of  affairs  there,  and,  if  possible,  to  discover  the  real  designs  of  Antiochus, 
found  Hannibal  in  Ephesus.*"*  He  had  many  conferences  with  him,  paid  him 
5everal  visits,  and  speciously  affected  to  show  him  a  particular  esteem  en  all 
occasions.  But  his  chief  aim,  by  all  this  artificial  behaviour,  was  to  make  him 
be  suspected,  and  to  lessen  his  credit  w^ith  the  king,  in  which  he  succeeded 
but  too  well. ft 

Some  authors  affirm,  that  Scipio  was  joined  in  this  embassy  :  and  they  even 
relate  the  conversation  which  that  general  had  with  Hannibal.jJ  They  tell  us 


*  A.  M.  3812.    A.  Rome,  556.  t  Cic.  de  Orat.  1.  ii.  n.  75,  76. 

X  Hie  Posnus  libere  respondisse  fertur,  multos  se  deliros  senes  ssepe  vidisse  :  sed  qui  magis  quam  Phor- 
mio  deliraret  vidisse  neminem.  Stobasus,  Serm.  lii.  gives  the  following  account  of  this  matter:  'Avvi'€o\ 
Akovcas  StoVxS  ti'voj  iTrixEfjSvTOJ  8n  6  a-o(p6s  }i6vos  (Tr$arr\'yos  larlv,  lyiXacri.  vo^i^wv  d^uvarov  fTvou 
ixr^s  rris  5\  "y^cov  i^nei^ias  Tnv  iv  toutoij  fmo-TripiEv  ix^iv-  u  e.  Hannibal,  hearing  a  Stoic  philo»ophc'» 
undertake  to  prove  that  the  wise  man  was  the  only  e:eneral,  laughed,  as  thinking  it  impossible  for  a  man 
%o  have  any  skill  in  war,  without  being  long  practised  in  it. 

j  They  did  more,  for  they  sent  two  ships  to  pursue  Hannibal,  and  bring  him  back  ;  they  sold  off  hii 
foods,  razed  his  house,  and,  by  a  public  decree,  declared  him  an  exile.  Such  was  the  gratitude  the  Cm»- 
thaginiaas  showed  to  the  greatest  general  they  ever  had.— Com.  Nep.  in  Vita  Annib.  c.  7. 

)|  Liv.  1.  xxxiv.  n.  60.  IT  Ibid.  b.  61. 

**A.  M.  3813.  A.  Rome,  557.  Liv.  1.  xxxv.  n.  14,  Polyb.  1.  iii.  p.  166,  167. 
ft  Polybius  represents  this  application  of  Villius  to  Hannibal,  as  a  premeditated  design,  io  order  to 
Mnder  him  suspected  to  Antiochus,  because  of  his  intimacy  with  a  Roman.  Livy  owns,  that  the  tJ^mk 
Mcceeded  as  if  it  had  been  designed  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  gives,  for  a  very  obvious  reatoo,  aactlier 
mra  to  this  conversation,  and  says  that  no  more  was  intended  by  it  than  to  sound  Hmsaihal,  and  to  remoTt 
My  fears  or  apprehensions  he  might  be  under  from  the  Romans. 

tt  I>«v.  1.  xxsr.  n.  24.    Plutarch,  in  Vita.  Flamin.  b.z. 


340 


HtSTORY  OF  THE 


that  the  Roma  i  having  asked  him,  who,  ic  jiiS  opinion,  was  the  greatest  cap. 
tain  that  had  ever  lived ;  he  answered,  Alexander  the  Great,  oecause,  with  i 
handful  of  Macedonians,  he  had  defeated  numberless  armies,  and  carried  his 
conquests  into  countries  so  very  remote,  that  it  seemed  scarcely  possible  foi 
any  man  only  to  travel  so  far.  Being  afterwards  asked,  to  whom  he  gave  the 
second  rank  ;  he  answered,  to  Pyrrhus,  for  this  king,  says  Hannibal,  first  un 
derstood  the  art  of  pitching  a  camp  to  advantage  ;  no  commander  had  ever 
made  a  more  judicious  choice  of  his  posts,  was  better  skilled  in  drawing  up 
his  forces,  or  was  more  happy  in  winning  the  affection  of  foreign  soldiers  ;  in- 
somuch that  even  the  people  of  Italy  were  more  desirous  to  have  him  for  their 
governor  than  the  Romans  themselves,  though  they  had  S'_  long  been  subject 
to  them.  Scipio  proceeding,  asked  him  next,  whom  he  looked  upoi  i  as  the 
third  captain ;  on  which  decision  Hannibal  made  no  scruple  to  give  the  pre- 
ference to  himself.  Here  Scipio  could  not  forbear  laughing  :  "  but  what  would 
you  have  said,"  continued  Scipio,  "  had  you  conquered  me  I  would,'* 

replied  HannilDal,  "  have  ranked  myself  above  Alexander,  Pyrrhus,  and  all 
the  generals  the  world  ever  produced.*'  Scipio  was  not  insensible  to  so  re 
fined  and  delicate  a  flattery,  which  he  by  no  means  expected  ;  and  which,  bj 
giving  him  no  rival,  seemed  to  insinuate,  that  no  captain  was  worthy  of  being 
put  in  comparison  with  him.  ' 

The  answer,  as  told  by  Plutarch,*  is  less  witty,  and  not  so  probable.    In  , 
this  author,  Hannibal  gives  Pyrrhus  the  first  place,  Scipio  the  second,  and  him 
self  the  third. 

Hannibal,  sensible  of  the  coldness  with  which  Antiochus  received  him  ever 
since  his  conferences  with  Villius  or  Scipio,  took  no  notice  of  it  for  some  time, 
and  seemed  insensible  of  it.    But  at  last  he  thought  it  adviseable  to  come  to 
an  explanation  with  the  king,  and  to  open  his  mind  freely  to  him, "  the  hatred," 
says  he,  "  which  I  bear  to  the  Romans,  is  k^jown  to  the  whole  world.    I  bound 
myself  to  it  by  an  oath,  from  my  most  tender  infancy.    It  was  this  hatred  that 
made  me  draw  the  sword  against  Rome  during  thirty-six  years.    It  was  that, 
even  in  times  of  peace,  which  drove  me  from  my  native  country,  and  forced  \ 
me  to  seek  an  asylum  in  your  dominions.    For  ever  guided  and  fired  by  the  \ 
same  passion,  should  my  hopes  be  eluded,  I  will  fly  to  every  part  of  the  globe,  j 
and  rouse  up  all  nations  against  the  Romans.    1  hate  them,  will  hate  them  i 
eternally ;  and  know  that  they  bear  me  no  less  animosity.    So  long  as  you  shall  < 
continue  in  the  resolution  to  take  up  arms  against  that  people,  you  may  rank 
ITannibal  in  the  number  of  your  best  friends.    But  if  other  counsels  incline 
you  to  peace,  I  declare  to  you  once  for  all,  address  yourself  to  others  for  coun- 
sel, and  not  to  me."    Such  a  speech,  which  came  from  his  heart,  and  expressed 
the  greatest  sincerity,  struck  the  king,  and  seemed  to  remove  all  his  suspicions , 
so  that  he  now  resolved  to  give  Hannibal  command  of  part  of  his  fleet.t 

Rut,  what  mischief  is  beyond  the  power  of  flattery  to  produce  in  courts,  and 
in  the  minds  of  princes?   Antiochus  was  told,  "that  it  was  imprudent  in  him 
to  jjui  so  much  confidence  in  Hannibal,  an  exile,  a  Carthaginian,  whose  for- 
tune or  genius  might  suggest,  in  one  day,  a  thousand  different  projects  to  hi  n ; 
that  besides,  this  very  fame  which  Hannibal  had  acquired  in  war,  and  wh  Dh 
he  considered  as  his  peculiar  inheritance,  was  too  great  for  a  man  who  fought  4 
only  under  the  ensigns  of  another  ;  that  none  but  the  king  ought  to  be  the  gene-  I 
ral  and  conductor  of  the  war  ;  and  that  it  was  incumbent  on  him  to  draw  upon  m 
himself  only  the  eyes  and  attention  of  all  men  ;  whereas,  should  Hannibal  be  I 
emploved,  he,  a  foreigner,  would  have  the  glory  of  all  victories  ascribed  to  .|| 
him. "J   Nominds^  says  Livy  on  the  occasion,  are  more  susceptible  of  envy, 
than  those  whose  merit  is  below  their  birth  and  dignity ;  such  persons  always 
abhorring  virtue  and  worth  in  others,  for  this  reason  only,  because  they  art 
strange  and  foreign  in  themselves,^    This  observation  was  fully  verified  on 


•  Plut.  IB  Pyrrho,  p.  687.  -f  Liv.  lib.  xxxv.  n.  19.  X  Liv.  1.  xxxv.  n.  42, 43. 

I  Nulla  ing^enia  tarn  prona  ad  invidiam  lunt,  quam  eorum  qui  f  enus  ac  fortunam  suaia  animis  non  aequaot^ 
virtutcm  et  bonura  alienura  odcruot. 


CAKTIIAG1NIAN8. 


Ihis  occasion.  Antiochus  had  been  taken  on  bis  weak  side  :  a  ow  and  sordid 
jealousy^  which  is  the  defect  and  characteristic  of  little  minds,  extino:uished 
every  generous  sentiment  in  that  monarch.  Hannibal  was  now  slighted  and 
laid  aside  ;  he  however,  was  greatly  revenged  on  Antiochus,  by  the  ill  success 
this  prince  met  with,  who  showed  how  unfortunate  that  king  is,  whose  soul  is 
accessible  to  envy,  and  his  ears  open  to  the  poisonous  insinuation  of  flatterers. 

In  a  council  held  some  time  after,  to  which  Hannibal,  for  form's  sake,  was 
admitted,  he,  when  it  came  to  his  turn  to  speak,  endeavoured  chiefly  to  prove, 
that  Philip  of  Macedon  ought,  on  any  terms,  to  be  invited  into  the  alliance  ol 
Antiochus,  which  was  not  so  difficult  as  might  be  imagined.  "With  regard," 
says  Hannibal,  "  to  the  operations  of  the  war,  I  adhere  immoveably  to  my 
6rst  opinion  ;  and  had  my  counsels  been  listened  to  before,  Tuscany  and  Li- 
guria  would  now  be  all  in  a  flame,  had  Hannibal,  a  name  that  strikes  terror 
into  the  Romans,  been  in  Italy.  Though  1  should  not  be  veiy  well  skilled  as 
to  other  matters,  yet  the  good  and  ill  success  I  have  met  with,  must  necessarily 
have  taught  me  sufficiently  how  to  carry  on  a  war  against  the  Romans.  I 
have  nothing  now  in  my  power,  but  to  give  you  my  counsel,  and  offer  you  my 
service.  May  the  gods  give  success  to  all  your  undertakings."  Hannibal  s 
speech  was  received  with  applause,  but  not  one  of  his  counsels  were  put  in 
execution.* 

Antiochus,  imposed  upon  and  lulled  to  sleep  by  his  flatterers,  remained  quiet 
at  Ephesus,  after  the  Romans  had  driven  him  out  of  Greece ;  not  once  ima- 
gining that  they  would  ever  invade  his  dominions.!  Hannibal,  who  was  now 
restored  to  favour,  was  for  ever  assuring  him,  that  the  war  would  soon  be  re- 
moved into  Asia,  and  that  he  would  see  the  enemy  at  his  gates  :  that  he  must 
resolve  either  to  abdicate  his  throne,  or  vigorously  oppose  a  people  who  grasped 
at  the  empire  of  the  world.  This  discourse  waked,  in  some  measure,  the  king 
out  of  his  lethargy,  and  prompted  him  to  make  some  weak  efforts.  But,  as 
his  conduct  was  unsteady,  aiter  sustaining  a  great  many  considerable  losses, 
he  was  forced  to  terminate  the  war  by  an  ignominious  peace  ;  one  of  the  arti- 
cles of  which  was,  that  he  should  deliver  up  Hannibal  to  the  Romans.  The 
latter,  however,  did  not  give  him  an  opportunity  to  put  it  in  execution,  re- 
tiring to  the  island  of  Crete,  to  consider  there  what  course  would  be  best  for 
him  to  take. 

The  riches  he  had  brought  with  him,  of  which  the  people  of  the  island  had 
got  some  notice,  had  like  to  have  proved  his  ruin.J  Hannibal  was  never  want- 
ing in  stratagems,  and  he  had  occasion  to  employ  them  now,  to  save  both  him- 
self and  his  treasure.  He  filled  several  vessels  with  molten  lead,  which  he 
just  covered  with  gold  and  silver.  These  he  deposited  in  the  temple  of  Diana, 
m  presence  of  several  Cretans,  to  whose  honesty,  he  said,  he  confided  all  his 
treasure.  A  strong  guard  was  then  posted  on  the  temple,  and  Hannibal  left  at 
full  liberty,  from  a  supposition  that  his  riches  were  secured.  But  he  had  con- 
cealed  them  in  hollow  statues  of  brass,§  which  he  always  carrir^d  along  with 
him.  And  then,  embracing  a  favourable  opportunity  he  had  of  making  his 
<»scape,  he  fled  to  the  court  of  Prusias,  king  of  Bithynia.|| 

It  appears  from  history,  that  he  made  some  stay  in  the  court  of  this  prince. 
*vho  soon  engaged  in  war  with  Eumenes,  king  of  rergamus,  a  professed  friciw 
CO  the  Romans.  By  the  a-id  of  Hannibal,  the  troops  of  king  Prusias  gained 
ieveral  victories  by  land  and  sea. 

He  employed  a  stratagem  of  an  extraordinary  kind,  in  a  sea  fight. IT  The 
enemy's  fleet  consisting  of  more  ships  than  his,  he  had  recourse  to  artifice. 
He  put  into  earthen  vessels  all  kinds  of  serpents,  and  ordered  these  vessels  to 
be  thrown  into  the  enemy's  ships.  His  chief  aim  in  this  was  to  destroy  Eu- 
menes, and  for  that  purpose  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  find  out  which  ship  he 


•  Liv.  1.  xxxvi.  n.  7.       f  Liv.  1.  xxxvi.  n.  41.       }:  Corn.  Nep.  in  Annib.  c.  9,  10.    Justin.  1.  xxxii.  c.  ^ 
I  These  statues  were  thrown  out  by  him,  in  a  place  of  public  resort,  ag  things  of  little  ralue. — Cora. 
(I  A.  M.  3820.    A.  Rome,  564.    Corn.  Nep.  in  Annib.  c.  10,  11.    Justin.  1.  xxxiii.  c.  4. 
IT  Justin.  1.  xxxii.  e.  4    Corn.  Nep.  in  VH.  Annib. 

Vol.  I  a 


S43 


IIISTOKV  OF  THE 


was  onboard  of.  This  Hannibal  discovered,  by  sendii^  out  a  boat,  upon  pre 
tencc  of  conveying  a  letter  to  him.  Having  gained  his  point  thus  far,  he  or- 
dered ']tt  rninmanders  of  the  respective  vessels  to  direct  the  greatest  force  of 
their  attacks  against  Eurnenes'  ship.  They  obeyed,  and  would  have  taken  it. 
had  he  not  outsailed  his  pursuers.  The  ^  rest  of  the  ships  of  Pergamus  sus- 
tained the  fight  with  great  vigour,  till  the  earthen  vessels  had  been  thrown  into 
them.  At  first  they  only  laughed  at  this,  and  were  very  much  surprised  to 
find  such  weapons  employed  against  them.  But  seeing  themselves  surrounded 
with  serpents  which  flew  out  of  these  vessels  Avhen  they  broke  to  pieces,  they 
were  seized  with  dread,  retired  in  disorder,  and  yielded  the  victc^ry  to  the 
enemy. 

Services  of  so  important  a  nature,  seemed  to  secure  for  ever  to  Hannioa  an 
undisturbed  asylum  at  that  prince's  court.  The  Romans  however,  would  not 
suffer  him  to  be  easy  there,  but  deputed  Q,.  Flaminius  to  Prusias,  to  complain 
of  the  protection  he  gave  Hannibal.*  The  latter  readily  conjectured  the  mo- 
tive of  this  embassy,  and  therefore  did  not  wait  till  his  enemies  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  delivering  him  up.  At  first  he  attempted  to  secure  himself  by  flight, 
but  perceiving  that  the  seven  secret  outlets  which  he  had  contrived  in  his  pal- 
ace were  all  seized  by  the  soldiers  of  Prusias,  who,  by  this  perfidy,  was  de- 
sirous of  making  his  court  to  the  Romans,  he  ordered  the  poison,  which  he  had 
long  kept  for  this  melancholy  occasion,  to  be  brought  him  ;  and,  taking  it  in 
his  hand,  let  us,"  said  he,  "  free  the  Romans  from  the  disquiet  with  which 
they  have  been  so  long  tortured,  since  they  have  not  patience  to  wait  for  an 
old  man's  death.  The  victory  which  Flaminius  gains  over  a  naked,  and  be- 
trayed man,  will  not  do  him  much  honour.  This  single  day  will  be  a  lasting 
testimony  of  the  great  degeneracy  of  the  Romans.  Their  fathers  sent  notice 
to  Pyrrhus,  to  desire  he  would  beware  of  a  traitor  who  intended  to  poison  him, 
-  and  that  at  a  tmie  when  tnis  prmce  was  ai  war  with  them  in  the  very  centre 
of  Italy  ;  but  their  sons  have  deputed  a  person  of  consular  dignity  to  instigate 
Prusias  impiously  to  murder  one  who  is  not  on^y  his  friend,  but  his  guest.'' 
After  calling  down  curses  upon  Prusias,  and  having  invoked  the  gods,  the  pro- 
tectois  and  avengers  of  the  sacred  rights  of  hospitality,  he  swallowed  the  poi- 
son, and  died  at  seventy  years  of  age.t 

This  year  was  remarkable  for  the  death  of  three  great  men,  Hannibal,  Phi- 
lopcemen,  and  Scipio,  who  it  is  worthy  of  notice  all  died  out  of  their  native 
countries,  in  a  manner  far  from  corresponding  to  the  glory  of  their  actions. 
The  two  first  died  by  poison  :  Hannibal  was  be  rayed  by  his  host ;  and  Phi- 
lopcemen  being  taken  prisoner  in  a  battle  against  the  Messinians,  and  thrown 
into  a  dungeon,  was  forced  to  swallow  a  dose  of  poison.  As  to  Scipio,  he  ba- 
nished himself,  to  avoid  an  unjust  prosecution  which  was  carrying  on  against 
him  at  Rome,  and  ended  his  days  in  a  kind  of  obscurity. 

THE  CHARACTER  AND  EULOGIUM  OF  HANNIBAL. 

This  would  be  the  proper  place  for  representing  the  excellent  qualities  of 
Hannibal,  who  reflected  so  much  glory  on  Carthage.  But,  as  I  have  attempted 
to  draw  his  character  elsewhere,!  and  to  give  a  just  idea  of  him,  by  making 
a  comparison  between  him  and  Scipio,  I  think  it  unnecessary  to  give  his  eulo- 
gium  at  laige  in  this  place. 

Persons  who  devote  themselves  to  the  profession  of  arms,  cannot  spend  too 
much  time  in  the  study  of  this  great  man,  who  is  looked  upon,  by  the  best 
judges,  as  the  most  complete  general,  in  almost  every  respect,  that  ever  the 
iTorld  produced. 

*  A.  M.  3822.  A.  Rome,  566.  Liv.  1.  xxxix  n.  61. 
f  Plutarch,  according  to  his  custom,  assigns  him  three  different  deaths.  Some,  says  he,  relate,  that 
liaving  wrapped  his  cloak  about  his  neck,  he  ordered  his  servant  to  fix  his  knees  against  his  buttocks,  and 
Bot  to  leave  twisting  till  he  had  strangled  him.  Others  say,  that  in  imitation  of  Themistocles  and  Mid«i, 
he  drank  bullU  blood.  Livy  tells  us,  that  Hannibal  drank  a  poison  which  lie  always  earned  about  him  i 
Mid  takini^  the  cup  into  hit  hands,  cried,  "  lict  us  free,"  &c. — In  Vita  Flarainii. 

J  Vol.  II.  Of  the  method  of  studying  and  t»i»f  hinr  the  Belles  Lettret. 


CAKTHAGL\IAW8. 


243 


During  the  whole  seventeen  years,  (the  time  the  war  lasted,)  two  errors  only 
are  objected  to  iiim  ;  first,  his  not  marching,  immediately  after  the  battle  of 
Cannae,  his  victorious  army  to  Rome,  in  order  to  besiege  that  city  ;  secondly, 
his  suffering  their  courage  to  be  softened  and  enervated,  during  their  winter- 
quarters  in  Capua  ;  errors,  which  only  show  that  great  men  are  not  so  in  all 
things,  summi  entmsunt  homines  tamen;'^  and  which,  perhaps,  may  be  partly 
excused. 

But  then,  for  these  two  errors,  what  a  multitude  of  shining  qualities  appeal 
in  Hannibal !  How  extensive  were  his  views  and  designs,  even  in  his  most  ten- 
der years!  What  greatness  of  soul!  what  intrepidity !  what  presence  ol  mii"id 
must  he  have  possessed,  to  be  able,  even  in  the  fire  and  heat  of  action,  to  take 
all  advantages  !  With  what  surprising  address  must  he  have  managed  the  minds 
of  men,  that  amidst  so  great  a  variety  of  nations  as  composed  his  army,  who 
often  were  in  want  both  of  money  and  provisions,  his  camp  was  not  once  dis- 
turb<='d  with  an  insurrection,  either  against  himself  or  any  of  his  generals  !  With 
vvi.at  equity,  what  moderation,  must  he  have  behaved  towards  his  new^  allies,  to 
have  prevailed  so  far,  as  to  attach  them  inviolably  to  l^s  service,  though  he 
was  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  making  them  sustain  almost  the  whole  burden 
of  the  war,  by  quartering  his  army  upon  them,  and  levying  contributions  in 
their  several  countries  !  In  fine,  how  fruitful  must  he  have  been  in  expedients, 
to  be  able  to  cany  on,  for  so  many  years,  the  w^ar  in  a  remote  country,  in  spite 
of  the  violent  opposition  made  by  a  pow^erful  domestic  faction,  which  refused 
him  supplies  of  every  kind,  and  thwarted  him  on  all  occasions !  It  may  be  af- 
firmed, that  Hannibal,  during  the  whole  series  of  this  war,  seemed  the  only  prop 
of  the  slate,  and  the  soul  of  every  part  of  the  empire  of  the  Carthaginians, 
who  could  never  believe  themselves  conquered,  till  Hannibal  confessed  that  he 
himself  was  so. 

But  that  man  must  know  the  character  of  Hannibal  very  imperfectly,  who 
should  consider  him  only  at  the  head  of  armies.  The  particulars  we  learn 
from  history,  concerning  the  secret  intelligence  he  held  with  Philip  of  Macedon  ; 
the  wise  counsels  he  gave  to  Antiochus,  king  of  Syria  ;  the  double  regulation 
he  introduced  in  Carthage,  with  regard  to  the  management  of  the  public  reve- 
nues and  the  administration  of  justice,  prove  that  he  was  a  great  statesman  in 
every  respect.  So  superior  and  universal  was  his  genius,  that  it  took  in  ?M  parts 
of  government;  and  so  great  w^ere  his  natural  abilities,  that  he  was  capa'^le  of 
acquittinghimself  in  all  the  various  functions  of  it  with  glory.  Hannibal  shone 
as  conspicuously  in  the  cabinet  as  in  the  field  ;  equally  able  to  fill  civil  or  mili- 
tary employments.  In  a  word,  he  united  in  his  own  person,  the  different  talents 
and  nierits  of  all  professions,  the  sword,  the  gown,  and  the  finances. 

He  had  some  learning  ;  and  though  he  w^as  so  much  employed  in  military  la- 
bours, and  engaged  in  so  many  wars,  he,  how^ever,  found  leisure  to  cultivate 
the  muses.t  Several  smart  repartees  of  Hannibal,  which  have  been  transmit- 
ted to.us,show^that  he  had  a  great  fund  of  natural  wit;  and  this  he  improved, 
by  the  most  polite  education  that  could  be  bestowed  at  that  time,  in  such  a  re- 
public as  Carthage.  He  spoke  Greek  tolerably  well,  and  WTote  several  books 
•n  that  language.  His  preceptor  was  a  Lacedaemonian,  (Solsius,)  who,  w  ith 
Philenius,  another  Lacedaemonian,  accompanied  him  in  all  his  expeditions. 
Both  these  undertook  to  write  the  history  of  this  renowned  warrior. 

With  regard  to  his  religion  and  moral  conduct,  he  was  not  so  profligate  anu 
ivicked  as  he  is  represented  by  Livy  ;  "  cruel  even  to  inhumanity  ;  m^ore  per- 
fidious than  a  Carthaginian;  regardless  of  truth,  of  probity,  of  the  sacred  ties 
nf  oaths  ;  fearless  of  the  gods,  and  utterly  void  of  religion."  Inhumana  cni- 
delitas,  perjidia  plusquam  Punica :  nihil  veri,  nihil  sancti^  nullus  devm  metus, 
mllum  jus  jurandum^  nulla  relisio.X  According  to  Polybius,  he  rejected  a 
barbarous  proposal  that  w^as  made  to  him,  before  he  entered  Italy,  of  eating 

*  Q^uinctil. 

t  Atque  hie  tantiw  vir,  tantis-^iw  bellis  distractus.  n>«nihil  lempori*  tribuit  lit'sris,  &c. — Corn  Ncp.  ti 
Vita  Annth.  e«v  13.  %  Lir.  1.  ixi.  b.  4. 


UA 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


human  flesh,  al  a  time  when  his  army  was  in  absolute  want  of  piovlsions.* 

Some  years  after,  so  far  from  treating  with  barbarity,  as  he  was  advised  to  do, 
the  dead  body  of  Sempronius  Gracchus,  which  Mago  had  sent  him,  he  caused 
his  funeral  obsequies  to  be  solemnized  in  presence  of  the  whole  army.t  We 
have  seen  him,  on  many  occasions,  showing  the  highest  reverence  for  the  gods; 
and  Justin,  who  copied  Trogus  Pompeius,  an  author  worthy  of  credit,  ob 
serves  that  he  always  showed"  uncommon  wisdom  and  continence,  with  regan 
to  the  great  number  of  women  taken  by  him  during  the  course  of  so  long : 
war  ;  insomuch,  that  no  one  would  have  imagined  he  had  been  born  in  Africa 
where  incontinence  is  the  predominant  vice  of  the  country ,  Pudicitiamoue  eun 
(antum  inter  tot  capiivas  habuisse,  ut  in  Africa  natum  quivis  negaret.f 

His  disregard  of  wealth  at  a  time  when  he  had  so  many  opportunities  it 
enrich  himself,  by  the  plunder  of  the  cities  he  stormed,  and  the  nations  he  sub 
dued,  shows,  that  he  knew  the  true  and  genuine  use  which  a  general  ought 
to  make  of  riches,  viz.  to  gain  the  affection  of  his  soldiers,  and  to  attach  allies 
to  his  interest,  by  diftusing  his  beneficence  on  proper  occasions,  and  not  being 
sparing  in  his  rewards  ;  a  very  essential  quality,  but  very  uncommon  in  a  com 
mandcr.    The  only  use  Hannibal  made  of  money  was  to  purchase  success, 
firmly  persuaded,  that  a  man  who  is  at  the  head  of  affairs  is  sufficiently  recom 
pensed  by  the  glory  derived  from  victory. 

He  always  led  a  very  regular,  austere  life  ;  and  even  in  times  of  peace,  and 
in  iLe  midst  of  Carthage,  when  he  was  invested  with  the  first  dignity  of  th^ 
city,  we  are  told  that  he  never  used  to  recline  himself  on  a  bed  at  meals,  a? 
was  the  custom  in  those  ages,  and  drank  but  very  little  wine.§  So  regular 
and  uniform  a  life  may  serve  as  an  illustrious  example  to  our  commanders,  wh( 
often  include  among  the  privileges  of  war,  and  the  duty  of  officers,  the  keep 
ing  of  splendid  tables,  and  luxurious  living. 

But,  notwithstanding  those  eulogiums,  1  do  not,  however,  pretend  to  justify 
entirely  all  the  errors  and  defects  with  which  Hannibal  is  charged.  Though 
he  possessed  an  assemblage  of  the  most  exalted  qualities,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  he  had  some  little  tincture  of  the  vices  of  his  country  :  and  that  it  would 
be  difficult  to  excuse  some  actions  and  circumstances  of  his  life.  Polybius 
observes,  that  Haunibal  was  accused  of  avarice  in  Carthage,  and  of  cruelty  in 
Rome. II  He  adds,  on  the  same  occasion,  that  people  were  very  n»uch  divided 
m  opinion  concerning  him;  and  it  would  be  no  wonder,  as  he  had  made  him- 
self so  many  enemies  in  both  cities,  that  they  should  have  drav/n  him  in  dis- 
advantageous colours.  But  Polybius  is  of  opinion,  that  though  it  should  Ije 
taken  for  granted,  that  all  the  defects,  with  which  he  is  charged  are  true,  we 
yet  ought  to  conclude,  that  they  were  not  so  much  owing  to  his  nature  and  dis-  i 
position,  as  to  the  difficulties  with  which  he  was  surrounded  in  the  course  of  I 
so  long  and  laborious  a  war ;  and  to  the  complacency  he  was  obliged  to  show 
to  the  general  officers,  whose  assistance  he  absolutely  wanted  for  the  execu- 
tion of  his  various  enterprises ;  and  whom  he  was  not  always  able  to  restrain, 
Djiy  more  than  he  could  the  soldiers  who  fought  under  them. 

SECTION  IT. — DISSENSIONS  BETWEEN  THE  CARTHAGINIANS  AND  MASINISSA, 

KING  OF  NUMiniA. 

Among  the  conditions  of  the  peace  granted  to  the  Carthaginians,  there  waa 
one  which  imported,  that  they  should  restore  to  Masinissa  all  the  territories 
and  cities  he  possessed  before  the  war ;  and  Scipio,  to  reward  the  zeal  and 
6delit7  which  that  monarch  had  shown  with  regard  to  the  Romans,  had  also 
added  to  his  dominions  those  of  Syphax.  This  presently  aftefrwards  gave  rise 
t©  disputes  and  quarrels  between  the  Carthaginians  and  Numidians. 


*  Excerpt,  e  Vo]yb.  p.  3.J.       t  Excerpt,  e  Diod.  p.  282.    Liv.  1.  xxv.  n.  17.       $  Lib.  xxxii  c.  4. 

\  Cibi  polioniique,  desiJerio  natur«li,  non  voluplaite,  modus  finitus. — Liv.  1.  xxi.  n.  4. 

CoMtat  Aanibalem  nec  turn  cum  Romano  tonantem  bello  Italia  contremuit,  nec  cum  reverfui  Carthagi- 
aeiu  tumraiim  imperium  tcnuit,  aut  cubantem  coeoasic,  aut  plus  quam  isxtario  vim  indulsiue.— >Jttttw.  k 
njxi't.  «.  <  y  Excerpt,  e  Poljb  p.  34. 87. 


These  two  princes,  Sy^inax  and  Masinissa,  were  both  kiri^s  in  Numidia,  but 
'signed  in  different  parts  of  it.  The  subjects  of  Syphax  were  called  Masaesuli, 
and  their  capital  was  Cirtha.  Those  of  Masinissa  were  the  Massjli ;  but  botfc 
hese  nations  are  better  known  by  the  name  of  Numidlans,  which  was  common 
o  them.  Their  principal  strength  consisted  in  th.^ir  cavalry.  They  always 
'^de  without  saddles,  and  some  even  without  bridles,  whence  Virgil  called 
hem  jYumtdce  infrceni,'^ 

In  the  beginning  of  the  second  Punic  war,  Syphax  adhering  to  the  Romans, 
Gala,  the  father  of  Masinissa,  to  check  the  career  of  so  powerful  a  neighbour, 
thought  it  his  interest  to  join*  the  Carthaginians,  and  accordingly  sent  out 
against  Syphax  a  powerful  army,  under  the  conduct  of  his  son,  at  that  time  but 
seventeen  years  of  age.t  Syphax  being  overcome  in  a  battle,  in  which  it  is 
said  he  lo?t  thirty  thousand  men,  escaped  into  Mauritania.  The  face  of  things, 
however,  was  afterwards  greatly  changed. 

Masinissa,  after  his  father's  death,  was  often  reduced  to  the  brink  of  rjin  ; 
being  driven  from  his  kingdom  by  an  usurper  ;  closely  pursued  by  Syphax  ; 
in  danger  every  instant  of  falling  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies  ;  and  destitute 
of  forces,  money,  and  almost  ever}-  thing. j;  He  was  at  that  time  in  alliance 
with  the  Romans,  and  the  friend  of  Scipio,  with  whom  he  had  an  interview  in 
Spain.  His  misfortunes  would  not  permit  him  to  bring  great  succours  to  that 
general.  When  Laelius  arrived  in  Africa.  Masinissa  joined  him  with  a  few 
horse,  and  from  that  time  was  inviolably  attached  to  the  Roman  interest. § 
Syphax,  on  the  contrary,  having  married  the  famous  Sophonisba,  daughter  of 
Asdrubal,  went  over  to  the  Carthaginians. 

The  fortune  of  these  two  princes  now  underwent  a  final  change. ||  Syphax 
lost  a  great  battle,  and  was  taken  alive  by  the  enemy.  Masinissa,  the  victor, 
besieged  Cirtha,  his  capital,  and  took  it.  But  he  met  w^ith  a  greater  dangei 
in  that  city  than  he  had  faced  in  the  field,  in  the  charms  and  endearments  of 
Sophonisba,  whidi  he  was  unable  to  resist.  To  secure  this  princess  to  him- 
self he  married  her ;  but  a  few  days  after,  he  was  obliged  to  send  her  a  dose 
of  pois<3n,  as  her  nuptial  present ;  this  being  the  only  way  left  him  to  keep  his 
promise  with  his  queen,  and  preserve  her  from  the  power  of  the  Romans. 

This  was  a  great  fault  in  itself,  and  must  necessarily  have  disobliged  a  na- 
tion that  was  so  jealous  of  its  authority  :  but  this  young  prince  repaired  it  glo- 
riously by  the  signal  services  he  afterwards  rendered  Scipio.  We  observed, 
that  after  the  defeat  and  capture  of  Syphax,  the  dominions  of  this  prince  were 
bestowed  upon  him  ;  and  that  the  Carthaginians  were  forced  to  restore  all  he 
possessed  before.^  This  gave  rise  to  the  divisions  we  are  now  about  to  relate. 

A  territory  situated  towards  the  sea-side,  near  the  Lesser  Syrtis,  was  the 
subject  of  those  contests.**  The  country  was  very  rich,  and  the  soil  extremely 
fruitful,  a  proof  of  which  is,  that  the  city  of  Leptis  only,  which  belonged  to  that 
territory,  paid  daily  a  talent  to  the  Carthaginians,  by  way  of  tribute.  Masi- 
nissa had  seized  part  of  this  territory.  Each  side  despatched  deputies  to 
Rome;  to  plead  the  cause  of  their  superiors  before  the  senate.  This  assembly 
ihought  proper  to  send  Scipio  Africanus,  with  two  other  commissioners,  to  exa- 
fnine  the  controversy  upon  the  spot.  However,  they  returned  without  coming 
to  any  resolution,  and  left  the  business  in  the  same  unce;  tain  state  in  which 
they  had  found  it.  Possibly  they  acted  in  this  manner  by  order  of  the  senate, 
and  had  received  private  instructions  to  favour  Masinissa,  who  was  then  pos- 
sessed of  the  district  in  question. 

Ten  years  after,  new  commissioners  having  been  appointed  to  examine  the 
same  affair,  they  acted  as  the  former  had  done,  and  left  the  whole  undeter 
mined. tt 

After  the  like  distance  of  time,  the  Carthaginians  again  brought  their  com 
plaint  to  the  senate,  but  with  greater  importunity  than  before.JJ  They  i-epk-^^ 


*  .V.n.  I.  iv.  vpr.  41.       t  T^'v-  1-  xxiv.  n.  48,  49.       +  Liv.  1.  xxix.  n.  29.-34.       f  I.iv.  1.  xxix.  n.  29 
II  F/.v.  1.  XXX.  n.  11.  1?.  ^J  Liv.  1.  XXX.  n.  44.  **  Liv.'  I.  yzx'iv.  n.  R2. 

'*  A.  M  3S?3,    A..  UopK-.  STt-     Liv.  1.  xl.  n.  17.      tt  A.  M.  3823     A.  Romr  ' 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


jented,  that  besides  the  territories  at  first  in  dispute,  Masinissa  \  during  iIm 
two  preceding  years,  dispossessed  tliem  of  upwards  of  seventy  towns  and  cas- 
tles :  that  their  hands  were  bound  up  by  the  article  of  the  last  treaty,  which 
forbade  their  making  war  upon  any  of  the  allies  of  the  Romans ;  that  they 
couid  no  longer  bear  the  insolence,  the  avarice,  and  cruelty  of  that  prince  ;  that 
they  were  deputed  to  Rome  with  three  requests,  which  they  desired  might  be 
immediately  complied  with,  viz.  either  to  get  orders  to  have  the  affair  exa- 
mined and  decided  by  the  senate  ;  or,  secondly,  that  they  might  be  permitted 
to  repel  force  by  force,  and  defend  themselves  by  arms ;  or,  lastly,  that  il 
favour  was  to  prevail  over  justice,  they  then  entreated  the  Romans  to  specify, 
once  for  all,  which  of  the  Carthaginian  lands  they  were  desiious  should  be 
vested  in  Masinissa,  that  they,  by  this  means,  might  hereafter  know  wlial 
they  had  to  depend  on  ;  and  that  the  Roman  people  would  have  some  regard 
to  them,  at  a  time  when  this  prince  set  no  other  bounds  to  his  pretensions,  than 
his  insatiable  avarice.  The  deputies  concluded  with  beseeching  the  Romans, 
that  if  the  Carthaginians  had  been  guilty  of  any  crimes  with  regard  to  them, 
since  the  conclusion  of  the  last  peace,  that  they  themselves  would  punish  them 
for  it  ;  and  not  give  them  up  to  the  wild  caprice  of  a  prince,  by  whom  their 
liberties  were  made  precarious,  and  their  lives  insupportable.  After  ending 
their  speech,  being  pierced  with  grief,  they  fell  prostrate  upon  the  earth,  and 
burst  into  tears  ;  a  scene  that  moved  all  who  were  present  to  compassion,  and 
raised  a  violent  hatred  against  Masinissa.  Gulussa,  his  son,  who  was  then  pre- 
sent, being  asked  what  he  had  to  reply,  answered,  that  his  father  had  not  given 
him  any  instructions,  not  knowing  that  any  thing  would  be  laid  to  his  charge. 
He  only  desired  the  senate  to  reflect,  that  the  circumstance  which  drew  all  this 
hatred  upon  him  from  the  Carthaginians,  was  the  inviolable  fidelity  with  which 
he  had  always  been  attached  to  them.  The  senate,  after  hearing  both  sides, 
answered,  that  they  were  inclined  to  do  justice  to  that  party  to  whom  it  was 
due  ;  that  Gulussa  should  set  out  immediately  with  their  orders  to  his  father, 
who  thereby  was  commanded  to  send  deputies  with  those  of^Carthage  ;  that 
ihej  w^ould  do  all  that  lay  in  their  power  to  serve  him,  but  not  to  the  prejudice 
of  the  Carthaginians  ;  that  it  was  but  just  the  ancient  limits  should  be  pre- 
served ;  and  that  it  was  far  from  being  the  intention  of  the  Romans,  to  have 
the  Carthaginians  dispossessed,  during  the  peace,  of  those  territories  and  cities 
which  had  been  left  them  by  the  treaty.  The  deputies  of  both  powers  were 
then  dismissed  with  the  usual  presents. 

All  these  assurances,  however,  were  but  mere  words.    It  is  plain  that  the- 
Romans  did  not  once  endeavour  to  satisfy  the  Carthaginians,  or  do  them  the 
least  justice  ;  and  that  they  protracted  the  business,  on  purpose  to  give  Masi- 
nissa an  opportunity  to  establish  himself  in  his  usurpation,  and  weaken  his 
enemies.* 

A  new  deputation  was  sent  to  examine  the  affair  upon  the  spot,  and  Cato 
was  one  of  the  commissioners.!  On  their  arrival,  they  asked  the  parties  if 
they  were  willing  to  abide  by  their  determination.  Masinissa  readii}^  com- 
plied. The  Carthaginians  answered,  that  they  had  a  fixed  rule  to  which  they 
adhered,  and  that  this  was  the  treaty  which  had  been  concluded  with  Scipio, 
and  desired  that  their  cause  might  be  examined  with  all  possible  rigour.  They 
therefore  could  not  come  to  any  decision.  The  deputies  visited  all  the  coun- 
try, and  found  it  in  a  very  good  condition,  especially  the  city  of  Carthage  ; 
and  they  were  surprised  to  see  it,  after  being  involved  in  such  a  calamity, 
again  raised  to  so  exalted  a  pitch  of  power  and  grandeur.  The  senate  was 
told  of  this,  immediately  on  the  return  of  the  deputies ;  and  declared  that  Rome 
could  never  be  in  safety,  so  long  as  Carthage  should  subsist.  From  this  time, 
whatever  alfair  was  debated  in  the  senate,.  Cato  always  added  the  following 
words  to  his  opinion,  /  conclude  that  Carthage  ought  to  be  destroyed.  This 
grave  senator  did  not  give  himself  the  trouble  to  prove,  that  bare  jealousy  of 
^ke  givwing  powor  of  a  neighbouring  state  is  a  sufficient  cause  for  destroyhi^ 


*  Polyb.  p.  951. 


t  A.  v..  3243.    A.  Home.  592.    An»  dc  Bell.  Pun.  p.  3'' 


LARTHAGINIANS. 


247 


i  city,  contrary  to  the  faith  of  treaties.  But  Scipio  Nasica  was  of  opinion,  that 
llie  ruin  of  this  city  would  draw  after  it  that  of  their  commonwealth  ;  because 
the  Romans,  having  then  no  rival  to  fear,  would  quit  the  ancient  severity  of 
their  manners,  and  abandon  themselves  to  luxury  and  pleasures,  the  never- 
failing  subverters  of  the  most  Nourishing  empires. 

In  the  mean  time,  divisions  broke  out  in  Carthage.*  The  popular  faction, 
having  now  become  superior  to  that  of  the  grandees  and  senators,  sent  forty 
citizens  into  banishment ;  and  bound  the  people  by  an  oath,  never  to  suffer 
the  least  mention  to  be  made  of  recalling  those  exiles.  They  withdrew  to  the 
court  of  Masinissa,  who  despatched  Gukissa  and  Micipsa,  his  two  sons,  to 
Carthage,  to  solicit  their  return.  But  the  gates  of  the  city  were  shut  against 
them,  and  one  of  them  was  closely  pursued  by  Hamilcar,  one  of  the  gene- 
rals of  the  republic.  This  gave  rise  to  a  new  war,  and  accordingly  armies 
were  levied  on  both  sides.  A  battle  was  fought ;  and  the  younger  Scipio, 
who  afterwards  ruined  Carthagcu  was  spectator  of  it.  He  had  been  sent  from 
Lucuilus  in  Spain,  under  whom  Scipio  then  fought,  to  Masinissa,  to  desire  some 
elephants  from  that  monarch.  During  the  whole  engagement,  he  stood  upon  a 
neighbouring  hill,  and  was  surprised  to  see  Masinissa,  then  eighty-eight  years 
of  age,  mounted,  agreeably  to  the  custom  of  his  country,  on  a  horse  without 
a  saddle ;  flying  from  rank  to  rank,  like  a  young  officer,  and  sustaining  the 
most  arduous  toils.  The  fight  was  very  obstinate,  and  continued  all  day,  but 
at  last  the  Carthaginians  gave  way.  Scipio  used  to  say  afterwards,  that  he 
had  been  present  at  many  battles,  but  at  none  with  so  much  pleasure  as  this ; 
having  never  before  beheld  so  formidable  an  army  engage,  without  any  dan- 
ger or  trouble  to  himself.  And  being  very  conversant  in  the  writings  of  Ho- 
mer, he  added,  that  till  his  time,  there  were  but  two  more  who  had  been  spec- 
tators of  such  an  action,  viz.  Jupiter  from  mount  Ida,  and  Neptune  from  Sa- 
mothrace,  when  the  Greeks  and  Trojans  fought  before  Troy.  I  know  not 
whether  the  sight  of  a  hundred  thousand  men,  (the  number  engaged)  butcher- 
ing one  another,  can  administer  a  real  pleasure,  or  whether  such  a  pleasure  is 
consistent  with  the  sentiments  of  humanity,  so  natural  to  mankind. 

The  Carthaginians  after  the  battle  was  over,  entreated  Scipio  to  terminate 
their  contests  with  Masinissa. t  Accordingly,  he  heard  both  parties,  and  the 
Carthaginians  consented  to  relinquish  the  territory  of  Emporium, J  which  had 
been  the  first  cause  of  their  division  ;  to  pay  Masinissa  two  hundred  talents 
of  silver  down,  and  eight  hundred  more  at  such  times  as  should  be  agreed  on. 
But  Masinissa  insisting  on  the  return  of  the  exiles,  they  did  not  come  to  any 
decision.  §cipio,  after  having  paid  his  compliments,  and  returned  thanks  tft 
IVfasinissa,  set  out  with  the  elephants  for  which  he  had  been  sent. 

The  king,  immediately  after  the  battle  was  over,  had  blocked  up  the  ene 
my's  camp,  which  was  pitched  upon  a  hill,  where  neither  troops  nor  previsions 
could  come  to  them.§  During  this  interval,  there  arrived  deputies  from  Rome, 
ivith  orders  from  the  senate  to  decide  the  quarrel,  in  case  the  king  should  be 
defeated,  otherwise  to  leave  it  undetermined,  and  to  give  the  king  the  strongest 
issurances  of  the  continuation  of  their  friendship,  which  they*  did.  In  the 
aiean  time,  the  famine  daily  increased  in  the  enemy's  camp,  which,  heiu^ 
heightened  by  the  plague,  occasioned  a  new  calamity,  and  made  dreadful  ha- 
voc.  Being  rtow  reduced  to  the  last  extremity,  they  surrendered  to  Masinissa, 
promising  to  deliver  up  the  deserters,  to  pay  him  five  thousand  talents  of  sil- 
rer  in  fifty  years,  and  restore  the  exiles,  notwithstanding  their  oaths  to  the 
contrary.    They  all  submitted  to  the  ignominious  ceremony  of  passing  under 


*  App.  p.  38.  t  App.  de  Bell.  Pun.  p.  40. 

X  Kmporiurn,  or  Emporia,  was  a  country  of  Africa,  on  the  Lessei  Syrtis,  in  which  Leplis  stood.  Ko 
9arl  of  the  Carthaginian  dominions  wns  more  fruitful  than  this.  Polybiiis,  1.  1.  says,  thai  the  revenue  thai 
u-ose  from  this  place  \".  as  so  considerable,  that  all  their  hopes  wer'j  .vlrnost  founded  on  it.  Iv  a?S,  viz.  cheir 
evcnucs  frnnj  Emporia.  ;  Txov  TccJ  fXEj'.crras  iKir'Sas.  To  this  owin;?  their  care  and  state-iealousy 
beve  mentioned,  lest  th.;  llornans  should  sail  beyond  the  Fjiir  Promontory,  that  lay  befor«  Ca.lha«je,  ani 
'Oo roe  acquainted  with  a  country  which  mit^-ht  induce  them  to  attempt  the  conquest  of  it. 

{  A^p.  de.  Bell.  Pua.  p,  iQ^ 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


the  yoke,*  and  were  dismissed  with  only  one  suit  of  ciothes  for  each.  GuIusAa. 

to  satiate  his  vengeance  for  the  ill  treatinent  which  we  before  observed  he  baa 
met  with,  sent  out  against  them  a  body  of  cavalry,  whom,  from  their  great 
weakness,  they  could  neither  escape  nor  resist ;  so  that,  of  fifty-eight  thousand 
men,  very  few  returned  to  Carthage. 

ARTICLE  III. — THE  THIRD  PUNIC  WAR. 

The  third  Punic  war,  which  was  less  considerable  than  either  of  the  former, 
with  regard  to  the  number  and  greatness  of  the  battles,  and  its  continuaf)ce, 
which  was  only  four  years,  was  still  more  remarkable  with  respect  to  the  suc- 
cess and  event  of  it,  as  it  ended  in  the  total  ruin  and  destruction  of  Carthage.) 

The  inhabitants  from  their  last  defeat,  knew  what  they  might  naturally  fear 
from  the  Romans,  from  whom  they  had  always  met  with  the  most  rigwous 
treatment,  after  they  had  addressed  them  upon  their  disputes  with  Masinissa.^ 
To  prevent  the  consequences  of  it,  the  Carthaginians,  by  a  decree  of  the 
senate,  impeached  Asdrubal,  general  of  the  army,  and  Carthalo,  commandf  r 
of  the  auxiliary  forces,  as  guilty  of  high  treason,  for  being  the  authors  of  the 
war  against  the  king  of  Numidia.§  They  then  sent  a  deputation  to  Rome,  to 
inquire  w^hat  opinion  that  republic  entertained  of  their  late  proceedings,  and 
what  was  desired  of  them.  The  depflties  w^ere  coldly  answered,  that  it  was 
the  business  of  the  senate  and  people  of  Carthage  to  know  what  satistaction 
was  due  to  the  Romans.  A  second  deputation  bringing  them  no  clearer  an- 
swer, they  fell  into  the  greatest  dejection,  and  being  seized  with  the  strongest 
terrors,  upon  recollecting  their  past  sufferings,  they  fancied  the  enemy  was 
already  at  their  gates,  and  imagined  to  themselves  all  the  dismal  consequences 
of  along  siege,  and  a  city  taken  by  the  sword.|| 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Senate  debated  at  Rome,  on  the  measures  it  would  be 
proper  for  them  to  take,  and  the  disputes  between  Cato  and  Scipio  Nasica, 
who  were  of  quite  different  opinions  on  this  subject,  were  renewed.  IF  The  for- 
mer, on  his  return  from  Africa,  had  declared,  in  the  strongest  terms,  that  he 
had  not  found  Carthage  exhausted  of  men  or  money,  nor  in  so  weak  and  hum- 
ble a  state  as  the  Romans  supposed  it  to  be ;  but  on  the  contrary,  that  it  was 
crowded  with  vigorous  young  men,  abounded  with  immense  quantities  of  geld 
and  silver,  and  prodigious  magazines  of  arms  and  all  warlike  stores  ;  and  was 
so  haughty  and  confident  on  account  of  this  force,  that  their  hopes  and  ambi- 
tion had  no  bounds.  It  is  farther  said,  that  after  he  had  ended  his  speech,  he 
threw  out  of  the  fold  of  his  robe  into  the  midst  of  the  senate,  some  African^ 
figs,  and  as  the  senators  admired  their  beauty  and  size,  Know,  says  he,  that  it 
is  but  three  days  since  these  Jigs  were  gathered.  Such  is  the  distance  between  the 
eneiny  and  us*"^ 

Cato  and  Nasica  had  each  of  them  their  reasons  for  voting  as  they  did.  [  f 
Nasica,  observing  that  the  people  rose  to  such  a  height  of  insolence,  as  thn.  vv 
them  into  excesses  of  every  kind;  that  their  prosperity  had  swelled  them  wih 
a  pride  which  their  senate  itself  was  not  able  to  check  ;  and  that  their  po\^  »  r 
had  become  so  enormous,  that  they  were  able  to  draw  the  city,  by  force,  iniQ 
fvery  mad  design  they  might  undertake,  was  desirous  that  they  should  ci.a- 
tinue  in  fear  of  Carthage,  as  a  curb  to  restrain  their  audacious  conduct.  For 
it  Avas  his  opinion,  that  the  Carthaginians  were  too  weak  to  subdue  the  Romans, 
and  at  the  same  time  so  powerful,  that  it  was  not  for  the  interest  of  the  Romans 
to  consider  them  in  a  contemptible  light.  With  regard  to  Cato,  he  thought, 
that  as  his  countrymen  were  become  haughty  and  insolent  by  success,  and 


*  lis  furcnt  tous  passes  sous  le.  ioug-, — sub  jugum  missi.  A  kind  of  gallows,  made  by  two  forked  sticki 
star.ding^  upright,  waa  erected,  and  a  spear  laid  across,  under  which  vanquished  enemies  were  obliged  to 
pass. — Festus. 

(A.M.  3855.    A.  Carth.  697.    A.  Rome.  599.    Ant.  J.  C.  149.  %  Appian,  p.  41,  42. 

\  The  foreign  forces  were  commanded  by  leaders  of  their  respective  nations.  wh#  were  all  under  thj 
eommund  of  a  Carthaginian  of&cer,  callei  by  Appian,  BoriGajxoJ. 

y  Pint,  in  Tila  Cat.  p.  252.       %  IhiJ  p.  350,       **  Plin.  1.  xv  n  18.       ft  ^^ot-  ^'^^  in  rita  Cat 


CARTHA(ilNlAi\S 


249 


plunged  headlong  into  dissipation  of  every  kind  ;  nothing  could  be  more  dan- 
gerous than  for  it  to  have  a  rival  city,  to  whom  the  Romons  were  odious  ;  a 
city  that,  till  now,  had  been  powerful,  but  was  become,  even  by  its  misfortunes, 
more  wise  and  provident  than  ever ;  and  therefore,  that  it  would  not  be  safe 
to  remove  the  fears  of  the  inhabitants  entirely  with  regard  to  a  foreign  power, 
since  they  had,  within  their  own  walls,  all  the  opportunities  of  indulging  them- 
selves in  excesses  of  every  kind. 

To  lay  aside,  for  one  instant,  the  laws  of  equity,  I  leave  the  reader  to  deter- 
mine which  of  these  two  great  men  reasoned  most  justly,  according  to  the 
maxims  of  sound  policy,  and  the  true  interests  of  a  state.  One  undoubted 
circumstance  is,  that  all  historians  have  observed  that  there  was  a  sensible 
change  in  the  conduct  and  government  of  the  Romans,  immediately  after  the 
ruin  of  Carthage  that  vice  no  longer  made  its  way  into  Rome  with  a  timo- 
rous pace,  and  as  it  were  by  stealth,  but  appeared  openly,  and  seized,  with 
astonishing  rapidity,  all  orders  of  the  republic;  that  senators,  plebeians,  in  a 
word,  all  conditions,  abandoned  themselves  to  luxury  and  voluptuousness,  with- 
out having  the  least  regard  to,  or  sense  of  decency,  which  occasioned,  as  it 
must  necessarily,  the  ruin  of  the  state.  "  The  first  Scipio,"t  says  Paterculus, 
speaking  of  the  Romans,  "  had  laid  the  foundations  of  their  future  grandeur ; 
and  the  last,  by  his  conquests,  had  opened  a  door  to  all  manner  of  luxury  and 
dissoluteness.  For  after  Carthage,  which  obliged  Rome  to  stand  for  ever  on 
its  guard,  by  disputuig  empire  with  that  city,  had  been  totally  destroyed,  the 
depravity  of  manners  was  no  longer  slow  in  its  progress,  but  swelled  at  once 
beyond  all  conception." 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  senate  resQlved  to  declare  war  against  the  Carthagi- 
nians ;  and  the  reasons,  or  pretences,  urged  for  it,  were  'heir  keeping  up  ships, 
contrary  to  the  tenor  of  treaties  ;  their  sending  anarm}^  out  of  their  territories, 
against  a  prince  who  was  in  alliance  with  Rome,  and  whose  son  they  treatrui 
il^,  at  the  time  he  was  accompanied  by  a  Roman  ambassador. j; 

An  event  that  by  chance  occurred  very  fortunately  while  the  senate  of  l^ome 
was  debating  on  the  affair  of  Carthage,  contributed,  doubtless,  very  much  to 
makdtthem  take  that  resolution.§    This  was  the  arrival  of  deputies  from  Utica, 
who  came  to  surrender  themselves,  their  effects,  their  territories,  and  their  city, 
into  the  hands  of  the  Romans.  Nothing  could  have  happened  more  seasonably . 
Utica  was  the  second  city  of  Africa,  vastly  rich,  and  had  an  equally  spacious 
and  commodious  port;  it  stood  within  sixty  furlongs  of  Carthage,  so  that  it 
might  serve  as  a  depot  of  arms  in  the  attack  of  that  city.    The  Romans  now 
hesitated  no  longer,  but  proclaimed  war.    M.  Manilius,  and  L.  Marcius  Cen- 
sorinus,  the  two  consuls,  were  desired  to  set  out  as  soon  as  possible.    They  had 
secret  orders  from  the  senate,  not  to  end  the  war  but  by  the  destruction  of  Car 
thage.    The  consuls  immediately  left  Rome,  and  stopped  at  Lilyba^um  in  Si 
cily.    They  had  a  considerable  fleet,  on  board  of  which  were  four-score  thou 
sand  foot,  and  about  four  thousand  horse. 

The  Carthaginians  were  not  yet  acquainted  with  the  resolutions  whicn  hat 
been  taken  at  Rome.ll  The  answer  brought  back  by  their  deputies  had  onij 
increased  their  fears,  viz.  It  was  thebusiness  of  the  Carthaginians  to  consider  whfj 
tatisfaction  zmsdue  to  the  Romans,  This  made  them  not  know  what  course  to 
take.  At  last  they  sent  new  deputies,  whom  they  invested  with  full  powers  to 
act  as  they  should  see  proper  ;  and  even,  what  the  former  wars  could  nevei 
make  them  stoop  to,  to  declare  that  the  Carthaginians  gave  up  themselves,  and 


*  Ubi  Carthago,  et  ajmula  imperii  Romani  ab  stirpe  interiit,  Fortuna  sasvire  ac  miscere-. omnia  ccepit.— • 
Sall'ist  in  Bell.  Catilin. 

Ante  Cartha<^inem  deletam,  populns  et  senatus  Romanus  placide  modesfeque  inter  se  Remp.  tractaba? -t 
— Metuj  hostilis  in  bonis  artibus  civitatem  retinebat.  Sed  ubi  formido  iila  mentibus  decessit,  iilicet  iM 
^aae  secundaj  res  amant,  lascivia  atque  superbia  incessere. — Sallust  in  Bello  Jugiirthino. 

t  PotentiJB  Romanorum  prior  Scipio  viam  aperuerat,  luxuria;  posterior  aperuit  Q,uippe  remoto  Cartha 
finis  metu,  sublataque  imperii  aenula,  non  gradu  sed  prscipiti  curiu  a  virtute  descitum,  ad  vita  triuifciir 
linu. — y«l.  Patere.  1.  ii.  c.  1. 

I  App.  p.  42.      }  A.  M.  18S8.    A.  Rome,  60O,    App.  bell.  Fun.  p  42.     ||  Polyb.  txcerpt,  l^gat  p.  «72 


250 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


all  they  possessed,  to  the  will  and  pleasure  of  the  Remans.    This,  accordin|t 

to  the  invporl  of  the  clause,  sesuaque  eorum  arhitrio  permiiter e,wdiS  subniitlinjf 
themselves,  without  reserve,  to  the  pov^^erof  the  Romans,  and  becoming  their 
vassals.  Nevertheless,  they  did  not  expect  any  great  success  from  this  con- 
descension, though  so  very  mortifying;  as  the  Uticans  had  been  before -hand 
with  them  on  that  occasion,  and  had  thus  deprived  them  of  the  merit  of  a  ready 
and  voluntary  submission. 

The  deputies,  on  their  arrival  at  Rome,  were  informed  that  war  had  been 
proclaimed,  and  that  the  army  was  set  out.  The  Romans  had  despatched  a 
courier  to  Carthage,  with  the  decree  of  the  senate,  and  to  inform  that  city  that 
the  Roman  fleet  had  sailed.  The  deputies  had  therefore  no  time  for  delibera- 
tion, but  delivered  up  themselves,  and  all  they  possessed,  to  the  Romans.  In 
consequence  of  this  behaviour,  they  were  answered,  that  since  they  had  at  last 
taken  a  right  step,  the  senate  granted  them  their  liberty,  the  enjoyment  of  theii 
laws,  and  all  their  territories  and  other  possessions,  whether  public  or  private, 
provided  that,  within  the  space  of  thirty  days,  they  should  send  as  hostages,  to 
Lilybaeum,  three  hundred  young  Carthaginians  of  the  first  distinction,  and  com- 
ply with  the  orders  of  the  consuls.  This  last  condition  filled  them  with  inex- 
I>ressible  anxiety  :  but  the  concern  they  were  under  would  not  allow  them  to 
make  the  least  reply,  or  to  demand  an  explication ;  nor  indeed  would  it  have 
been  to  any  purpose.  They  therefore  set  out  for  Carthage,  and  there  gave  an 
account  of  their  embassy. 

All  the  articles  of  the  treaty  were  extremely  severe  with  regard  to  the  Car- 
thaginians ;  but  the  silence  of  the  Romans  with  respect  to  the  cities,  of  which 
no  notice  was  taken  in  the  concessions  which  that  people  were  wilh'ng  to  make, 
perplexed  them  exceedingly.  Al?  they  had  to  do  was  to  obey.  After  the  many 
Ibriner  and  recent  losses  the  Carthaginians  had  sustained,  they  were  by  no  means 
in  a  condition  to  resist  such  an  enemy,  since  they  had  not  been  able  to  oppose 
Masinissa.  Troops,  provisions,  ships,  allies,  in  a  word,  every  thing  was  wan* 
ling,  and  hope  and  vigour  more  than  all  the  rest.* 

They  did  not  think  proper  to  wait  till  the  thirty  days  which  had  been  allow- 
ed them  were  expired,  but  immediately  sent  their  hostages,  in  order  to  soften 
the  enemy  by  the  readiness  of  their  obedience,  though  they  could  by  no  means 
fiattor  them.selves  with  the  hopes  of  meeting  with  favour  on  this  occasion.  These 
hostages  were  in  a  manner  the  flower,  and  the  only  hopes,  of  the  noblest  fami- 
lies of  Carthage.  Never  was  there  a  more  moving  scene  ;  nothing  was  now 
heard  but  cries,  nothing  seen  but  tears,  and  all  places  echoed  with  groans  and 
lamentations  !  But,  above  all,  the  unhappy  mothers,  bathed  in  tears,  tore  their 
dishevelled  hair,  beat  their  breasts,  and,  as  grief  and  despair  had  distracted 
them,  cried  out  in  such  a  manner,  as  might  have  moved  the  most  savage  breasts 
to  compassion.  But  the  scene  was  much  more  mournful,  when  the  fatal  mo 
rnentof  their  separation  arrived;  when,  after  having  accompanied  their  dear 
children  to  the  ship,  they  bid  them  a  long,  last  farewell,  persuaded  that  they 
should  never  see  them  more  ;  they  wept  a  flood  of  tears  over  them  ;  embraced 
them  with  the  utmost  fondness  ;  clasped  them  eagerly  in  their  arms  ;  could  not 
be  prevailed  upon  to  part  with  them  till  they  were  forced  away,  which  was 
more  grievous  and  afflicting  than  if  their  hearts  had  been  torn  out  of  their  breasts. 
The  hostages  being  arrived  in  Sicily,  were  carried  from  thence  to  Rome  ;  and 
the  consuls  told  the  deputies,  that  when  they  should  arrive  at  Utica,  they  would 
acquaint  them  with  the  orders  of  the  republic.. 

In  such  a  situation  of  affairs,  nothing  can  be  more  grievous  than  a  state  of 
uncertainty,  which,  without  descending'to  particulars,  presents  to  the  mind  the 
blackest  scenes  of  niisery.  As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  the  fleet  was  arrived 
at  TJtica,  the  deputies  repaired  to  the  Roman  camp,  signifying  that  they  were 
come,  in  the  name  of  their  republic,  to  receive  the  commands  which  they  w^er« 
ready  to  obey.    The  consul,  after  praising  their  good  disposition  and  compli 


•  Polyb.  excerpt,  leg-at.  p.  971 


CAR  ni  ag:  .\  I A  NS  J 

tnce,  commanded  them  to  deliver  up  to  him,  without  fraud  or  delay,  all  then 
arms.  This  they  consented  to,  but  besought  him  to  reflect  on  the  sad  conditioi> 
to  which  he  was  reducing  them,  at  a  time  when  Asdrubal  whose  quarrel  against 
them  was  owing  to  no  other  cause  than  their  perfect  submission  to  the  orders  of 
tlie  Romans,  wa<s  advanced  almost  to  their  gates,  with  an  army  of  twenty  tiioij. 
sand  men.  The  answer  returned  them  was,  That  the  Romans  would  set  that 
matter  right.* 

This  order  was  immediately  put  in  execution.!  There  arrived  in  the  cam^i 
a  long  train  of  wagons,  loaded  with  all  the  preparations  of  war,  taken  out  ot 
Ca/lhage  ;  two  hundred  thousand  complete  sets  of  armour,  a  numberlc5^>  niui- 
titude  of  darts  and  javelins,  with  two  thousand  engines  for  shooting  uait^ 
and  stones.]:  Then  followed  the  deputies  of  Carthage,  accompanied  by  the 
most  venerable  senators  and  priests,  who  came  purposely  to  try  to  move  the 
Romans  to  compassion  in  this  critical  moment,  when  their  sentence  was  about  to 
be  pronounced,  and  their  fate  would  be  irrevocable.  Censorinus  the  consul,  for 
it  was  he  who  spoke  all  this  time,  rose  up  for  a  moment  at  their  coming,  ana 
expressed  some  kindness  and  affection  for  them,  but  suddenly  assuming  a  grave 
and  severe  countenance,  "I  cannot,"  says  he,"  but  commend  the  readiness  with 
which  you  execute  the  orders  of  the  senate.  They  have  commanded  me  to  ieli 
you,  that  it  is  their  absolute  will  and  pleasure  that  you  depart  out  of  Carthagt* 
which  they  have  resolved  to  destroy  ;  and  that  you  remove  into  any  other  part 
of  your  dominions,  as  you  shall  think  proper,  provided  it  be  at  the  distance  cf 
ei^ht  stadia§  from  the  sea." 

The  instant  the  consul  had  pronounced  this  fulminating  decree,  nothing  was 
heard  among  the  Carthaginians  but  lamentable  shrieks  and  bowlings.  Being 
now  in  a  manner  thunderstruck,  they  neither  knew  w4iere  they  w^ere,  nor  what 
they  did ;  but  rolled  themselves  in  the  dust,  tearing  their  clothes,  and  unable 
to  vent  their  grief  any  otherwise,  than  in  broken  sighs  and  deep  groans.  Being 
afterwards  a  little  recovered,  they  lifted  up  their  hands  with  the  air  of  suppli- 
ants, one  moment  tow^ards  the  gods,  and  the  next  towards  the  Romans,  implo- 
ring their  mercy  and  justice  with  regard  to  a  people  who  would  soon  be  redu- 
ced to  the  extremity  of  despair.  But,  as  both  the  gods  and  men  were  deaf  to 
their  fervent  prayers,  they  soon  changed  them  into  reproaches  and  imprecations, 
bidding  the  Romans  call  to  mind,  that  there  v/ere  such  beings  as  avenging  de- 
ities, whose  severe  eyes  w^re  for  ever  open  on  guilt  and  treachery.  The  Ro- 
mans themselves  could  not  refrain  from  tears  at  so  moving  a  spectacle,  but  their 
resolution  was  fixed.  The  deputies  could  not  even  prevail  so  far  as  to  get  the 
execution  of  this  order  suspended,  till  they  should  have  an  opportunity  of  pre- . 
senting  themselves  again  before  the  senate,  to  get  it  revoked  if  possible.  They 
were  forced  to  set  out  immediately,  and  carry  the  answer  to  Carthage.  || 

The  people  waited  for  their  return  with  such  an  impatience  and  terror,  as 
words  could  ne\ier  express.  It  was  scarcely  possible  for  them  to  break  through 
the  crowd,  that  flocked  round  them.,  to  hear  the  answer,  w^hich  was  but  too 
strongly  painted  in  their  faces.  When  they  were  come  into  the  senate,  and 
had  declared  the  barbarous  orders  of  the  Romans,  a  general  shriek  informed 
the  people  of  their  too  lamentable  fate  ;  and,  from  that  instant,  nothing  w^as 
seen  nor  heard,  in  every  part  of  the  city,  but  howling  and  despair,  madnes* 
and  fuiy.lF 

The  reader  will  here  give  me  leave  to  interrupt  the  course  of  the  history  foi 
a  moment,  to  reflect  jn  the  cu^A^uct  cf  the  Romans.  It  is  to  be  regretted  thai 
the  fragment  of  Polybius,  where  an  account  is  given  of  this  deputation,  shculd 
end  exactly  in  the  most  affecting  part  of  this  event.  I  should  set  a  much 
higher  value  on  one  short  reflection  of  so  judicious  an  author,  than  on  the  long 
harangues  which  Appian  ascribes  to  the  deputies  and  the  consul.  I  can  never 
believe  thjit  so  rational,  judicious,  and  just  a  man  as  Polybius,  could  have  ap- 


•  Polyb.  p.  975.  Appian,  p.  U — 46.  t  Appian,  p.  46.  {  Baliste,  orCaUpuIta. 

i  W»urU*^u9*»  9r  twelrti  mUtB.  f|  Appian.  p.  40— »3.  If  A  ppiao,  p.  M,  M. 


IllfSTORY  OF  THE 

proved  the  proceeding  of  the  Romans  on  the  present  occasion.  Wc  do  hot 
neie  discov(Lr,  in  my  opinion,  any  of  the  characteristics  which  distinguished 
(iiem  anciently  ;  that  greatness  of  sod,  that  rectitude,  that  utter  abhorrence 
of  all  mean  artifices,  frauds,  and  impostures,  which,  as  is  somewhere  said, 
foimed  no  part  of  the  Roman  character;  Minime  Rornanis  ariibus.  Why  did 
not  the  Romans  attack  the  Carthaginians  by  open  force  ?  Why  should  they 
declare  expressly  in  a  treaty,  a  most  solemn  and  sacred  thing,  that  they  allowed 
them  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  liberties  and  laws  ;  and  understand,  at  the 
same  time,  certain  private  conditions,  which  proved  the  entire  ruin  of  both  ? 
Why  should  they  conceal,  under  the  scandalous  omission  of  the  word  city  in  this 
treaty,  the  black  design  of  destroying  Cartilage  ;  as  if,  beneath  the  covei 
rt  3uch  an  equivocation,  they  might  destroy  it  with  justice  ?  In  fine,  why  did 
the  Romans  not  make  their  last  declaration,  till  after  they  had  extorted  from 
the  Carthaginians,  at  different  times,  their  hostages  and  arms  ;  that  is,  till  they 
had  absolutely  rendered  them  incapable  of  disobeying  their  most  arbitnu)' 
commands?  Is  it  not  manifest  that  Carthage,  notwithstanding  all  its  defeats 
and  losses,  though  it  was  weakened  and  almost  exhausted,  was  still  a  terror  tc 
the  Romans,  and  that  they  were  persuaded  they  were  not  able  to  conquer  il 
by  force  of  arms  ?  It  is  very  dangerous  to  be  possessed  of  so  much  power  as 
may  enable  one  to  commit  injustice  with  impunity,  and  with  the  prospect  of 
being  a  gainer  by  it.  The  experience  of  all  ages  shows,  that  states  seldom 
scruple  to  commit  injustice,  when  they  think  it  will  conduce  to  their  advantage. 

The  noble  character  which  Polybius  gives  of  the  Achaeans,  differs  widel^^ 
from  what  was  practised  here.  These  people,  says  he,  far  from  using  artifice 
and  deceit  with  regard  to  their  allies,  in  order  to  enlarge  their  power,  did 
not  think  themselves  allowed  to  employ  them  even  against  their  enemies ;  con- 
sklering  only  those  victories  solid  and  glorious,  w'hich  were  obtained  sword 
in  hand,  by  dint  of  courage  and  bravery.  He  owns,  in  the  same  place,  that 
there  then  remained  among  the  Romans  but  very  faint  traces  of  the  former 
generosity  of  their  ancestors ;  and  he  thinks  it  incumbent  on  him,  as  he  de- 
clares, to  make  this  remark,  in  opposition  to  a  maxim  which  had  grown  very 
common  in  his  time,  among  persons  in  the  administration  of  governments,  who 
imagined  that  honesty  is  inconsistent  with  good  policy,  and  that  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  succeed  in  the  administration  of  state  affairs,  either  in  war  or  peace, 
without  using  fraud  and  deceit  on  some  occasions.* 

T  now^  return  to  my  subject.  The  consuls  made  no  great  haste  to  march 
against  Carthage,  not  suspecting  they  had  reason  to  be  under  any  apprehen-- 
sions  from  that  city,  as  it  w^as  now  disarmed.  However,  the  inhabitants  took 
the  opportunity  of  this  delay,  to  put  themselves  in  a  posture  of  defence,  bein^; 
unanimously  resolved  not  to  quit  the  city.  They  appointed  as  general  with- 
out the  w'alls,  Asdrubal,  who  was  at  the  head  of  twenty  thousand  men,  and  to 
whom  deputies  were  sent  accordingly,  to  entreat  him  to  forget,  for  his  country's 
sake,  the  injustice  which  had  been  done  him,  from  the  dread  they  were  under 
of  the  Romans.  The  command  of  the  troops  within  the  walls  was  given  to 
another  Asdrubal,  grandson  of  Masinissa.  They  then  applied  themselves  to 
making  arms  with  incredible  expedition.  The  temples,  the  palaces,  the  open 
markets  and  squares,  were  all  changed  into  so  many  arsenals,  where  men  and 
women  worked  day  and  night.  A  hundred  and  forty  shields,  three  hundred 
twords,  five  hundred  pikes  or  javelins,  a  thousand  arrows,  and  a  great  number 
of  engines  to  discharge  them,  were  made  daily  ;  and,  there  being  a  deficiency 
of  materials  to  make  ropes,  the  women  cut  off  their  hair,  and  abundantly  sup- 
plied their  wants  on  this  occasion.! 

Masinissa  was  very  much  disgusted  at  the  Romans,  because,  after  he  had 
extremel}'  weakened  the  Carthaginians,  they  came  and  reaped  the  fruits  of  his 
victory,  without  acquainting  him  in  any  manner  with  their  design,  which  cir 
cmnstance  caused  some  coldness  between  them.^ 


Polyb  1.  jrii.  p.  671  i>T2. 


*  App^ifui,  r.J>5.    Strrth*,  1.  lYii.  p.  882. 


25? 


Durinf  this  interval,  the  consuls  were  advancing  towards  the  city,  in  order  tt 
besiege  it.  As  they  expected  nothing*  less  than  a  vigorous  resistance,  the  incredi- 
ble resolution  and  courage  of  the  besieged  filled  them  with  the  utmost  astonish- 
ment. The  Carthaginians  were  continually  making  the  boldest  sallies,  in  order  to 
repulse  the  besiegers,  to  burn  their  engines,  afid  harass  their  foragers.  Censori- 
nus  attacked  the  city  on  one  side,  and  Manilius  on  the  other.  Scipio,  after- 
wards surnamed  Africanus,  was  then  a  tribune  in  tlie  army,  and  distinguished 
himself  above  the  rest  of  the  officers,  no  less  by  his  prudence  than  by  his 
bravery.  The  consul,  under  whom  he  fought,  committed  many  oversights,  by 
refusing  to  follow  his  advice.  Tliis  young  officer  extricated  the  troops  from 
leveral  dangers  into  which  their  imprudent  leaders  had  plunged  them.  Pha- 
mseas  a  celebrated  general  of  the  enemy's  cavalry,  ^vho  continually  harassed 
the  foragers,  did  not  dare  even  to  keep  the  field  when  it  was  Scipio's  turn  to 
support  them  ;  so  capable  was  he  of  directing  his  troops,  and  posting  himself 
to  advantage.  So  great  and  universal  a  reputntion  excited  some  envy  against 
him  in  the  beginning  ;  but,  as  he  behaved  in  all  respects  with  the  utmost 
modesty  and  reserve,  that  envy  was  soon  changed  into  admiration  ;  so  that, 
when  the  senate  sent  deputies  to  the  camp  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  the  siege, 
the  whole  army  gave  him  unanimously  the  highest  commendations  ;  the  sol- 
diers, as  well  as  officers,  nay,  the  very  generals,  extolled  the  merit  of  young 
Scipio  ;  so  necessary  is  it  for  a  man  to  soften,  if  I  may  be  allowed  the  expres- 
sion, the  splendour  of  his  rising  glory,  by  a  mild  and  modest  deportment,  and 
not  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  people  by  haughty  and  self-sufficient  behaviour, 
as  it  naturally  awakens  pride  in  others,  and  makes  even  virtue  itself  odious  !* 

About  the  same  time  Masinissa,  finding  his  end  approach,  sent  to  desire  a 
visit  from  Scipio,  that  he  might  invest  him  with  full  powers  to  dispose,  as  he 
should  see  proper,  of  his  kingdom  and  estate,  in  behalf  of  his  children.  But. 
on  Scipio's  arrival,  he  found  that  monarch  dead.  Masinissa  had  commanded 
them,  with  his  dying  breath,  to  follow  implicitly  the  directions  of  Scipio,  whom 
he  appointed  to  be  a  kind  of  father  and  guardian  to  them.  I  shall  give  no  fur- 
ther account  here  of  the  family  and  posterity  of  Masinissa,  because  that  would 
interrupt  too  much  the  history  of  Carthage. t 

The  high  esteem  which  Phamaeas  entertained  for  Scipio,  induced  him  to 
forsake  the  Carthaginians,  and  go  over  to  the  Romans.  Accordingly,  he 
joined  him  with  above  two  thousand  horse,  and  did  great  service  at  the  siege. | 

Calpurnius  Piso  the  consul,  and  L.  Mancinus  his  lieutenant,  arrived  in  Africa 
in  the  beginning  of  the  spring.  Nothing  remarkable  was  transacted  during 
this  campaign.  The  Romans  were  even  defeated  on  several  occasions,  and 
carried  on  the  siege  of  Carthage  but  slowly.  The  besieged,  on  the  contrary, 
had  recovered  their  spirits.  Their  troops  were  considerably  increased,  they 
daily  got  new  allies,  and  even  sent  an  express  as  far  as  Macedonia,  to  the  pre- 
tender Philip,§  who  passed  for  the  son  of  Perseus,  and  was  then  engaged  in  a 
war  with  the  Romans,  to  exhort  him  to  carry  it  on  with  vigour,  .md  promising 
to  furnish  him  with  money  and  ships. || 

This  news  occasioned  some  uneasiness  at  Rome.  People  be^an  to  douM 
the  success  of  a  war  which  grew  daily  more  uncertain,  and  was  more  impra*- 
taut  than  had  at  first  been  imagined.  They  were  dissatisfied  with  the  dilatori 
ness  of  the  generals,  and  exclaimed  at  their  conduct,  but  unanimously  agrceJ 
in  applauding  young  Scipio,  and  extolling  his  rare  and  uncommon  virtues. 
He  had  come  to  Rome,  in  order  to  stand  candidate  for  the  edileship.lF  Tht 
instant  he  appeared  in  the  assembly,  his  name,  his  countenance,  his  reputa- 
tion, a  general  persuasion  that  he  was  designed  by  the  gods  to  end  the  third 
Punic  war,  as  the  first  Scipio,  his  grandfather  by  adoption,  had  terminated  the 
iecond ;  these  several  circumstances  made  a  very  strong  impression  on  the 
people,  and,  though  it  was  contrary  to  law,  and  therefore  opposed  by  the  an- 


•  Appian,  p.  53 — 58- 
t  Strabo.  1»  xvii.  p.  65. 


t  A.  M.  3857.    A.  Rome,  601.    Strnlc,  1.  xvii.  p. 
)  Andriscu*  ||  Ibid.  p.  66.  V  IbiJ.  p.  68. 


954 


cient  men,  instead  of  the  edilesliip  which  jje  sued  for,  disregarding'  lor  onc« 
the  laws,  conferred  the  consulship  upon  hint,*  and  aisigTied  hirn  Africa  for  ]m 
province,  without  casting  lots  for  the  provinces  as  usual,  and  as  Drusus  hii 
colleague  demanded. 

As  soon  as  Scipio  had  completed  his  recruite,  he  set  out  for  Sicily,  and  ar- 
rived soon  after  in  Utica.  He  came  very  seasonably  for  Mancinus,  Piso's 
h'eutenant,  who  had  rashly  fixed  himself  in  a  post  where  he  was  surrounded  by 
the  enemy,  and  would  have  been  cut  to  pieces  that  very  morning,  had  not  tho 
new  consul,  who  at  his  arrival,  heard  of  the  danger  he  was  in,  re-embarked 
his  troops  in  the  night,  and  sailed  yvith  the  utmost  speed  to  his  assistance.! 

Scipio's  fii-st  care,  after  his  arrival,  was  to  restore  discipline  among  the  troops, 
which  he  found  had  l3een  entirely  neglected.  There  was  not  the  least  regularity, 
subordination,  or  obedience.  Nothing  was  attended  to  but  rapine,  feasting, 
and  diversions.  He  drove  from  the  camp  all  useless  persons,  settled  the  qua- 
lity of  the  provisions  he  would  haye  brought  in  by  the  sutlers  ;  and  allowed  of 
none  but  what  were  plain  and  fit  for  soldiers,  studiously  banishing  all  dainties 
and  luxuries.]; 

After  he  had  made  these  regulations,  which  cost  him.  but  little  time  and  trouble, 
because  he  himself  first  set  the  example,  he  was  convinced  that  those  under  him 
were  soldiers,  and  thereupon  prepared  to  carry  on  the  siege  with  vigour.  Hav- 
ing ordered  his  troops  to  provide  themselves  with  axes,  levers  and  scaling-lad 
ders,  he  led  them,  m  the  dead  of  the  night,  and  without  the  least  noise,  to  a 
district  of  the  city  called  Megara ;  when,  ordering  them  to  give  a  sudden  and 
general  shout,  he  attacked  it  with  great  vigour.  The  enemy,  who  did  not  ex- 
pect to  be  attacked  in  the  night,  were,  at  first,  in  the  utmost  terror;  they  how- 
ever, defended  themselves  so  courageously,  that  Scipio  could  not  scale  the  walls. 
But  perceiving  a  tower  that  was  forsaken,  and  which  stood  without  the  city, 
very  near  the  walls,  he  detached  thither  a  party  of  intrepid  soldiers,  who,  by 
the  help  of  pontons,§  got  from  the  tower  on  the  walls,  and  from  thence  into 
Megara,  whose  gates  they  broke  down.  Scipio  entered  it  immediately  after, 
and  drove  the  enemy  out  of  that  post :  who,  terrified  at  this  unexpected  as- 
sault, and  imagining  that  the  whole  city  was  taken,  fled  into  the  citadel,  where 
they  were  followed  even  by  those  forces  that  were  encamped  without  the  city 
who  abandoned  their  camp  to  the  Romans,  and  thought  it  necessar}^  for  them 
to  fly  to  a  place  of  security. 

Before  I  proceed  further,  it  will  be  proper  to  give  some  account  of  the  situa- 
tion and  dimensions  of  Carthage,  which,  in  the  beginning  of  the  war  against  the 
Romans,  contained  seven  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  It  stood  at  the  bot- 
tom of  a  gulf  surrounded  with  the  sea,  and  in  the  form  of  a  peninsula,  whose 
neck,  that  is,  the  isthmus  which  joined  it  to  the  continent,  was  twenty-five  stadia, 
or  a  league  and  a  quarter  in  breadth.  The  peninsula  was  three  hundred  and 
sixty  stadia,  or  eighteen  leagues  in  circumference.  On  the  west  side  there  pro- 
jected from  it  a  long  neck  of  land,  half  a  stadium,  or  twelve  fathoms  broad  ; 
which  advancing  into  the  sea,  divided  it  from  a  morass,  and  was  defended  on 
all  sides  with  rocks  and  a  single  wall.  On  the  south  side,  towards  the  conti* 
nent  where  stood  the  citadel  called  Byrsa,the  city  was  surroundtd  with  a  triple 
wall,  thirty  cubits  high,  exclusive  of  the  parapets  and  towers,  with  which  it 
was  flanked  all  round  at  equal  distances,  each  interval  being  fourscore  fathoms. 
Every  tower  was  four  stories  high,  and  the  walL«  but  two;  they  were  arched, 
and  in  the  lower  part  were  stalls  large  enough  to  hold  three  hundred  elephants 
with  their  fodder,  &c.  Over  these  were  stables  for  four  thousand  horses,  and 
lofts  for  their.food.  There  was  likewise  room  enough  to  lodge  twenty  thousand 
foot,  and  four  thousand  horse.  In  fine,  ail  these  were  contained  within  the  walls., 
Tiie  walls  were  weak  and  low  in  one  place  only  ;  and  that  was  a  neglected  an- 
yle,  which  began  at  the  neck  of  land  above-mentioned,  and  extended  as  fai 


♦  A.  M.  3858.  A.  Rome,  602. 
f  A  tort  of  ii>«veBbU  hr\^: 


t  Appian,  p.  ftQ.  |  Appiao,  p.  70. 

II  Appian.  p.  SO,  S7.    9tr»bo.  1.  xvii.  p.  99%- 


CARTHAGLNiANS. 


ks  the  h?)rboui3,  which  were  on  the  west  side.  Two  of  these  cominijnlcated 
with  each  other,  and  had  but  one  entrance,  seventy  feet  broad,  shut  up  with 
chains.  The  first  was  appropriated  to  the  merchant.?,  and  had  several  aistmct 
habitations  for  the  seamen.  The  second,  or  inner  harbour,  was  for  the  slii})3 
of  war,  in  the  midst  of  which  stood  an  island,  called  Cothon,  lined,  as  the  har- 
bour was,  with  large  keys,  in  which  were  distinct  receptacles*  for  sheltering 
from  the  weather  two  hundred  and  twenty  ships  ;  over  these  were  magazines 
i>r  store-houses,  containing  whatever  was  necessary  for  arming  and  equipping 
fleets.  The  entrance  into  each  of  these  reoeptacles  was  adorned  with  two 
marble  pillars  cf  the  Ionic  order  :  so  that  both  the  harbour  and  the  island  re- 
presented on  each  side  two  magnificent  galleries.  In  this  island  was  the  adrvii- 
ral's  palace  :  and  as  it  stood  opposite  to  the  mouth  of  the  haibour,  he  could 
from  thence  discover  whatever  was  doing  at  sea,  though  no  one  from  thence 
could  see  what  was  transacting  in  the  inner  part  of  the  harbour.  The  mer  - 
cha/its,  in  like  manner,  had  no  prospect  of  the  men  of  war,  the  twopoj  ts  beiivg 
separated  by  a  double  wall,  each  having  its  particular  gate  that  led  to  the  city, 
without  passing  through  the  other  harbour.  So  that  Carthage  may  be  divided 
into  three  parts  :  the  harbour,  which  was  double,  and  called  sometimes  Cothon, 
from  the  little  island  of  that  name  :  the  citadel,  named  Byrsa  :  the  city  pro 
perly  so  called,  where  the  inhabitants  dwelt,  which  lay  round  the  citadel,  and 
wa<5  called  Megara.t 

At  day-break,|  Asdrubal,§  perceiving  the  ijgnominious  defeat  of  his  troops, 
in  order  to  be  revenged  on  the  Romans,  and,  at  the  same  time,  deprive  the  in- 
habitants of  all  hopes  of  accommodation  and  pardon,  brought  all  the  Roman 
prisuiiers  he  had  taken  upon  the  walls,  in  sight  of  the  whole  army.  There  he 
put  them  to  the  most  exquisite  torture  ;  putting  out  their  eyes,  cutting  off  their 
noses,  ears,  and  fingers  ;  tearing  their  skin  to  pieces  with  iron  rakes  or  linr- 
rows,  and  then  throwing  them  headlong  from  the  top  of  the  battlements.  So 
inhuman  a  treatment  filled  the  Carthaginians  with  honor  :  he  did  not  however 
spare  even  them,  but  murdered  many  senators  who  had  been  so  brave  as  to 
oppose  his  tyranny. 

Scipio,  finding  himself  absolute  master  of  the  Isthmus,  burned  the  camp 
which  the  enemy  had  deserted,  and  built  a  new  one  for  his  troops.lj  It  was 
of  a  square  form,  surrounded  with  large  and  deep  entrenchments,  and  fenced 
with  strong  pallisades.  On  the  side  which  faced  the  Carthaginians,  he  built  a 
wall  twelve  feet  high,  flanked  at  proper  distances  with  towers  and  redoubts  ; 
and,  on  the  middle  tower,  he  erected  a  very  high  wooden  fort,  from  whence 
could  be  seen  whatever  was  doing  in  the  city.  This  wall  was  equal  to  the 
whole  breadth  of  the  Isthmus,  that  is,  twenty-five  stadia.^  The  enemy,  who 
were  within  arrow-shot  of  it,  employed  their  utmost  efforts  to  put  a  stop  to 
his  work ;  but,  as  the  whole  army  worked  at  it  day  and  night  without  inter- 
mission, it  was  finished  in  twenty-four  days.  Scipio  reaped  a  double  advan- 
tage from  this  work  ;  first,  his  forces  were  lodged  more  safely  and  commodi- 
ously  than  before  :  secondly,  he  cut  off  all  provisions  from  the  besieged,  to 
whom  none  could  be  brought  but  by  land  ;  which  distressed  them  exceedingly, 
both  because  the  sea  is  frequently  very  tempestuous  in  that  place,  and  because 
the  Roman  fleet  kept  a  strict  guard.  This  proved  one  of  the  chief  causes  of 
the  famine  which  soon  after  raged  in  the  city.  Besides,  Asdrubal  distributed 
the  corn  that  was  brought  only  among  the  thirty  thousand  men  who  served  un- 
der him,  without  regard  to  what  became  of  the  inhabitants. 

To  distress  them  still  more  by  the  want  of  provisions,  Scipio  attempted  to 
stop  up  the  mouth  of  the  haven  by  a  mole,  beginning  at  the  above-mentioned 
neck  of  land,  which  was  near  the  harbour.**  The  besieged  at  first  looked  upoD 
this  attempt  as  ridiculous,  and  insulted  the  workmen  accordingly  ;  but  at  last 

*  NfCJcrofxsj,  Strabo.       f  Boch.  in  Phal.  p.  512.       %  Appian,  p.  72. 
j  It  was  he  who  at  first  commanded  without  the  city,  but  having  caused  tha  other  Atdrubal,  MasiaiMa 
^andton,  to  be  put  lo  death,  he  f ot  the  command  of  the  troops  within  the  walls. 

I)  Appiao,  p.  73.  V  Four  milti  a^d  threrlil^uartcr*.  Appian,  p.  74. 


256 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


seeing  them  make  an  astonishing  progress  every  day,  they  began  to  be  afraid 
and  to  take  such  measures  as  might,  if  possible,  render  the  attempt  unsuccess- 
ful. Evei^^  one,  even  to  the  women  and  children,  fell  to  work,  but  so  secretly 
that  all  Scipio  could  learn  from  the  prisoners  was,  that  they  had  heard  a  great 
noise  in  the  harbour,  but  did  not  know  the  cause  or  occasion  of  it.  At  last, 
all  things  being  ready,  the  Carthaginians  opened,  on  a  sudden,  a  new  outlet  op 
the  other  side  of  the  haven,  and  appeared  at  sea  with  a  numerous  fleet,  which 
they  had  then  built  with  the  old  materials  found  in  their  magazines.  It  is  gene  ■ 
rally  allowed,  tliat  had  they  attacked  the  Roman  fleet  directly,  they  miust  in- 
evitably have  taken  it ;  because,  as  no  such  attempt  was  expected,  and  e^-ery 
man  was  otherwise  employed,  the  Carthaginians  would  have  found  it  without 
rowers,  soldiers,  or  officers.  But  the  ruin  of  Carthage,  says  the  historian,  was 
decreed.  Having  therefore  only  offered  a  kind  of  insult  or  bravado  to  the 
Romans,  they  returned  into  the  harbour. 

Two  days  after,  they  brought  forward  their  ships,  with  a  resolution  to  figU 
in  good  earnest,  and  found  the  enemy  ready  for  them.*  This  battle  was  to 
determine  the  fate  of  both  parties.  It  lasted  a  long  time,  each  exerting  them- 
selves to  the  utmost ;  the  one  to  save  their  countr}'',  reduced  to  the  last  ex- 
tremity, and  the  other  to  complete  their  victory.  During  the  fight,  the  Car- 
thaginian brigantines,  running  along  under  the  large  Roman  ships,  broke  to 
pieces  sometimes  their  sterns,  and  at  other  times  their  rudders  and  oars  ;  and 
when  briskly  attacked,  retreated  with  surprising  swiftness,  and  returned  imme- 
diately to  the  charge.  At  last,  after  the  two  armies  had  fought  with  equal 
success  till  sunset,  the  Carthaginians  thought  proper  to  retire  ;  not  that  they 
believed  themselves  overcome,  but  in  order  to  recoininence  the  fight  on  the  mor 
row.  Part  of  their  ships  not  being  able  to  run  swiftly  enough  into  the  harbour, 
because  the  mouth  of  it  was  too  narrow,  took  shelter  under  a  very  spacious 
terrace,  which  had  been  thrown  up  against  the  wall  to  unload  goods,  on  the 
side  of  which  a  small  rampart  had  been  raised  during  this  war,  to  prevent  the 
enemy  from  possessing  themselves  of  it.  Here  the  "fight  was  again  renewed 
with  more  vigour  than  ever,  and  lasted  till  late  at  night.  The  Carthaginians 
suffered  greatly,  and  the  few  ships  of  theirs  which  got  off  sailed  for  refuge  to 
the  city.  When  the  morning  arrived,  Scipio  attacked  the  terrace,  and  carried 
it,  though  with  great  difficulty  ;  after  which  he  posted  and  fortified  himself  on  it, 
and  built  a  brick  wall  close  to  those  of  the  city,  and  of  the  same  height.  When 
it  was  finished,  he  commanded  four  thousand  men  to  get  on  the  top  of  it,  and 
to  dischai^e  from  it  a  constant  shower  of  darts  and  arrows  upon  the  enemy, 
which  did  great  execution  ;  because,  as  the  two  w^alls  were  of  equal  height, 
there  was  scarce  one  dart  without  effect.    Thus  ended  this  campaign. 

During  the  winter-quarters,  Scipio  endeavoured  to  overpower  the  enemy's 
troops  without  the  city,  who  very  much  harassed  the  troops  that  brought  his 
provisions,  and  protected  such  as  were  sent  to  the  besieged.f  For  this  pur- 
pose he  attacked  a  neighbouring  fort,  called  Nepheris,  where  they  used  to 
sh^^.lter  theniselves.  In  the  last  action,  about  seventy  thousand  of  the  enemy, 
as  well  soldiers  as  peasants  who  had  been  enlisted,  v/ere  cut  to  pieces,  and  the 
fort  was  carried  with  great  difficulty,  after  sustaining  a  siege  of  two  and  twenty 
days.  The  seizure  of  this  fort  was  followed  by  the  surrender  of  almost  all 
the  strong-holds  in  Africa  ;  and  contributed  very  much  to  the  taking  of  Car- 
thage itself,  into  which,  from  that  time,  it  was  almost  impossible  to  bring  any 
provisions. 

Early  in  the  spring,  Scipio  attacked,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  the  harboui 
called  Cothon  and  the  citadel.  Having  possessed  himself  of  the  wall  which 
surrounded  this  port,  he  threw  himself  into  the  great  square  of  the  city  that 
was  near  it,  from  whence  was  an  ascent  to  the  citadel,  up  three  streets,  with 
houses  on  both  sides,  from  the  tops  of  which  a  shower  of  darts  was  discharged 
upon  the  Romans,  who  were  obliged,  before  they  could  advance  farther,  in 


AppiaOt  p.  7&. 


t  Appian,  p.  7t. 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


25? 


force  th^  houses  they  first  reached,  and  post  themselves  in  ihein,  in  order  to 
dislodge  the  enemy  who  fought  from  the  neighbouring  houses.  The  combat 
which  was  carried  on  from  the  tops,  and  in  every  part  of  the  houses,  continued 
six  days,  during  which  a  dreadful  slaughter  was  made.  To  clear  the  streets, 
and  make  way  for  the  troops,  the  Romans  dragged  aside,  with  hooks,  tiie 
bodies  of  such  of  the  inhabitants  as  had  been  slain,  or  precipitated  headlong 
from  the  houses,  and  threw  them  into  pits,  the  greatest  part  of  them  being  still 
alive  and  panting.  In  this  labour,  which  lasted  six  days  and  nights,  the  sol- 
diers were  reliev'ed  from  time  to  time  by  otl  ers,  without  which  they  would 
have  been  quite  spent.  Scipio  slept  none  duriitg  this  time,  but  was  occupied 
in  giving  orders  in  all  places,  and  scarcely  allowed  himself  leisure  to  take  the 
least  refreshment.* 

There  was  still  reason  to  believe,  that  the  siege  would  last  much  longer, 
and  occasion  a  great  effusion  of  blood.  But  on  the  seventh  day,  there  appeared 
a  company  of  men  in  a  suppliant  posture  and  habit,  who  desired  no  other  con- 
ditions, than  that  the  Romans  would  please  to  spare  the  lives  of  all  those  who 
should  be  willing  to  leave  the  citadel ;  which  request  was  granted  them,  ex- 
cepting only  the  deserters.  Accordingly,  there  came  out  fifty  thousand  men 
and  women,  who  were  sent  into  the  fields  under  a  strong  guard.  The  deser- 
ters, who  were  about  nine  hundred,  finding  they  would  not  be  allowed  quarter, 
fortified  themselves  in  the  temple  of  iEsculapius,  with  Asdrubal,  his  wife,  and 
two  children ;  where,  though  their  number  was  but  small,  they  might  have 
held  out  a  long  time,  because  the  temple  stood  on  a  very  high  hill,  upon  rocks, 
to  which  the  ascent  was  by  sixty  steps.  But  at  last,  exhausted  by  hunger  and 
watchings,  oppressed  with  fear,  and  seeing  their  destruction  at  hand,  they  lost 
all  patience;  when,  abandoning  the  lower  part  of  the  temple,  they  retired  to 
the  uppermost  story,  and  resolved  not  to  quit  it  but  with  their  lives.! 

In  the  mean  time  Asdrubal,  being  desirous  of  saving  his  own  life,  came  down 
rivately  to  Scipio,  carrying  an  olive  branch  in  his  hand,  and  threw  himself  at 
is  feet.  Scipio  showed  him  immediately  to  the  deserters,  who,  transported 
with  rage  and  fury  at  the  sight,  vented  millions  of  imprecations  against  him, 
and  set  fire  to  the  ter..ple.  While  it  was  kindling,  we  are  told,  that  AsdrubaPs 
wife,  dressing  herself  as  splendidly  as  possible,  and  placing  herself  with  her 
two  children  in  sight  of  Scipio,  addressed  him  with  a  loud  voice  :  "  I  call  not 
down,"  said  she,  "  curses  upon  thy  head,  O  Reman,  for  thou  -^nly  takest  the 
privilege  allowed  by  the  laws  of  war :  but  may  the  gods  of  Carth.\ge,  and  thou 
m  concert  with  them,  punish,  according  to  his  deserts,  the  false  wretch  who 
has  betrayed  his  country,  his  gods,  his  wife,  his  children  1"  Then  directing 
herself  to  Asdrubal,  "  Perfidious  wretch,"  says  she,  "  thou  basest  of  creatures  ! 
this  fire  will  presently  consume  both  me  and  my  children  ;  but  as  to  thee,  too 
shameful  general  of  Carthage,  go,  adorn  the  gay  triumph  of  thy  conqueror  ; 
suffer,  in  the  sight  of  all  Rome,  the  tortures  thou  so  justly  deservest !"  She 
nad  no  sooner  pronounced  these  words,  than  seizing  her  children,  she  cut  theii 
throats,  threw  them  into  the  flames,  and  afterwards  rushed  into  them  herself; 
in  which  she  was  imitated  by  all  the  deserters. 

With  regard  to  Scipio,  when  he  saw  the  entire  ruin  of  this  famous  city,  which 
had  flourished  seven  hundred  years,  and  might  have  been  compared  to  the 
g:reatest  empires,  on  account  of  the  extent  of  its  dominions,  both  by  sea  and 
iand  j  its  mighty  armies  ;  its  fleets,  elephants,  and  riches  ;  and  that  the  Car- 
thaginians were  even  superior  to  other  nations,  by  their  courage  and  magna- 
nimity, as,  notwithstanding  their  being  deprived  of  arms  and  ships,  they  had 
sustained,  for  three  whole  years,  all  the  hardships  and  calamities  of  a  long 
siege  ;  histo'-lans  relate,  that  he  could  not  refuse  his  tears  to  the  unhappy  fate 
of  Carthagf  j:  He  reflected,  that  cities,  nations,  and  empires,  are  liable  to  re- 
volutions, no  less  than  individual  men  ;  that  the  like  sad  fate  had  befallen 
Troy,  anciently  so  powerful ;  and,  in  later  times,  the  Assyrians,  Medes,  and 


*  A.  M.  3^59.    A.  Komo,  60a.    Api>ian  p.  79.  f  Appian,  p.  ^  Appinn,  p  iJ. 

Vol.  I 


S68 


ttl«nt)Kr  OF  THE 


Persians,  whose  dominions  were  once  of  so  great  an  extcLt ;  and  las-Iy,  thfi 
Macedonians,  whose  empire  had  been  so  glorious  throughout  the  world.  Ful' 
of  these  mournful  ideas,  he  repeated  the  following  verses  of  Homer  ; 

''EacrfTai  iijia?,  orav  ttot'  ikcloKr\  '.T\ioy  ifn, 
Kal  ITji'ajioy  Kal  K<x6s  k/xfiiAico  Ils'idpiojo. — A.  A'.  1^''*.  1^^- 

"The  day  shall  come,  that  great  avenging-  day. 
Which  Troy's  prond  glories  in  the  du«l  slu;ll  lay  ; 
When  Priam's  jjow'rs  and  Priam's  self  shall  fall, 
J.  ad  one  prodigious  ruin  follow  all.".  — Poj>e. 

Thereby  denouncing  the  future  destiny  of  Rome,  as  he  himself  confesiei  ia 
Polybius,  who  desired  Scipio  to  explain  himself  on  that  occasion. 

Had  the  truth  enlightened  his  soul,  he  would  have  discovered  what  we  are 
taught  in  the  Scriptures,  that  because  of  unrighteous  dealings^  wjuries,  and 
riches  got  by  deceit,  a  kingdom  is  translated  from  one  people  to  another. Car 
thage  is  destroyed,  because  its  ?,varice,  perfidiousness.  and  cruelty,  have  at 
tained  their  utmost  height.  The  like  fate  will  attend  Rome,  when  its  luxury, 
ambition,  pride,  and  unjust  usurpations,  concealed  beneath  a  specious  and  de- 
lusive show  of  justice  and  virtue,  shall  have  compelled  the  sovereign  Lord, 
the  disposer  of  empires,  to  give  the  universe  an  important  lesson  m  its  fall. 

Carthage  being  taken  in  this  manner,  Scipio  ^ave  it  up  to  plunder  (the  gold, 
silver,  statues,  and  other  offerings  which  should  be  found  in  the  temples,  ex- 
cepted) to  his  soldiers  for  some  days.  He  afterwards  bestowed  several  piili 
tary  rewards  on  them,  as  well  as  on  the  officers,  two  of  whom  had  particularly 
distinguished  themselves,  viz.  Tib.  Gracchus,  and  Caius  Fannius,  who  firs< 
scalea  the  walls.  After  this,  adorning  a  very  small  ship  (an  excellent  sailer) 
with  the  enemy's  spoils,  he  sent  it  to  Rome  with  the  news  of  the  victory.! 

At  the  same  time,  he  ordered  the  inhabitants  of  Sicily  to  come  and  take 
possession  of  the  pictures  and  statues  which  the  Carthaginians  had  plundered 
them  of  in  the  former  wars.  When  he  restored  to  the  citizens  of  Agrigentum 
Phalaris'  famous  bull, J  he  said  that  this  bull,  which  was  at  one  and  the  same 
time,  a  monument  of  the  cruelty  of  their  ancient  kings,  and  of  the  lenity  of 
Iheir  present  sovereigns,  ought  to  make  them  sensible  which  would  be  most 
advantageous  for  them,  to  live  under  the  yoke  of  Sicilians,  or  the  government 
of  the  Romans.§ 

Having  exposed  to  sale  part  of  the  spoils  of  Carthage,  he  commanded  his 
family,  under  the  most  severe  penalties,  not  to  take,  or  even  buy  any  of  them  ; 
so  careful  was  he  to  remove  from  hhnself,  and  all  belonging  to  him,  the  leasx 
aispicion  of  avarice. 

When  the  news  of  the  taking  of  Carthage  was  brought  to  Rome,  the  people 
abandoned  themselves  to  the  most  immoderate  transports  of  joy,  as  if  the  pub- 
lic tranquillity  had  not  been  secured  till  that  instant.  They  revolved  in  their 
minds  all  the  calamities  which  the  Carthaginians  had  brought  upon  them,  in 
Sicily,  in  Spain,  and  even  in  Italy,  for  sixteen  years  together ;  during  which 
Hannibal  had  plundered  four  hundred  towns,  destroyed  three  hundred  thou- 
sand men,  and  reduced  Rome  itself  to  the  utmost  extremity.  Amidst  the  re- 
membrance of  these  past  evils,  the  people  in  Rome  would  ask  one  another, 
whether  it  were  really  true  that  Carthage  w^as  in  ashes.  All  ranks  and  de- 
grees of  men  eminently  strove  who  should  show  the  greatest  gratitude  towards 
the  gods,  and  the  citizens  w^ere,  for  many  days,  employed  wholly  in  solemn 
sacrifices,  in  public  prayers,  games,  and  spectacles.il 

After  these  religious  duties  were  ended,  the  senate  sent  ten  commissioners 
into  Africa,  to  regulate,  in  conjunction  with  Scipio,  the  fate  and  condition  of 
that  country  for  the  future.    Their  first  care  was  to  demolish  whatever  was 


*  Eccles.  X.  8.  t  A-  ^-  3859.   A.  Garth.  701.    A.  P.ome.  693.    Ant.  /.  C.  145.    Appian.  p.  88. 

X  Quern, taurum  Scipio  cum  redderet  Agrirentinis,  dixisse  dicitur,  aequum  esse  illos  cogitarc  utrum  esse/ 
Kcttlis  utilius,  suisnc  servire,  an  populo  R  ->btemperare,  cum  idem  moounaentum  et  domotica;  crudrlittitii 
•t  Bostrz  maatuetodioif  haberent. — Cice     /err.  vi.  n.  "3 

)  Appian.  p.  33  U  Ibi.l. 


'  AftTMAGliNlANS  <^^r^ 

itfll  remaining  of  Caidiago.'*  RonK?,t  though  mistress  of  ahnost  the  whole 
world,  could  not  believe  herself  safe  as  long  as  erven  the  name  of  Carthage  was 
in  being  :  so  true  it  is,  that  inveterate  hatred,  fomented  by  long  and  bloody 
wars,  lasts  even  beyond  the  time  when  all  cause  of  fear  is  removed  ;  and  does 
not  cease,  till  the  object  that  occasions  it  is  no  more.  Orders  were  given,  in 
the  name  of  the  Romans,  that  it  should  never  be  inhabited  again ;  and  dread- 
ful imprecations  were  denounced  against  those  who,  contrary  to  this  prohibi- 
tion, should  attempt  to  rebuild  any  parts  of  it,  especially  those  called  Byrsa 
and  Megara.  In  the  mean  time,  every  one  who  desired  it,  was  permitted  to 
see  Carthage  ;  Scipio  being  well  pleased  to  have  people  view  the  sad  ruins 
of  a  city  which  had  dared  to  contend  with  Rome  for  empire. J  The  commis- 
sioners decreed  further,  that  those  cities,  which,  during  this  war,  had  joined 
with  the  enemy,  should  all  be  razed,  and  their  territories  be  given  to  tlie  Ro- 
man allies;  they  particularly  made  a  grant  to  the  citizens  of  Jtica,  of  the 
whole  countiy  lying  between  Carthage  and  Hippo.  All' the  rest  they  made 
tributary,  and  reduced  it  into  a  Roman  province,  to  Tvhich  a  pragtor  was  sent 
annually.§ 

All  matters  being  thus  settled,  Scipio  returned  to  Rome,  where  he  made  his 
entry  in  triumph.  So  magnificent  a  one  had  never  been  seen  before ;  the 
whole  exhibiting  nothing  but  statues,  rare  invaluable  pictures,  and  other  curi- 
osities, which  the  Carthaginians  had  for  many  years  been  collecting  in  other 
countries ;  not  to  mention  the  money  carried  into  the  public  treasury,  that 
amounted  to  immense  sums.ll 

Notwithstanding  the  great  precautions  which  were  taken  to  hinder  Carthage 
from  being  ever  rebuilt,  in  less  than  thirty  years  after,  and  even  in  Scipio's  life- 
time, one  of  the  Gracchi,  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  people,  undertook  to 
found  it  anew,  and  conducted  thither  a  colony,  consisting  of  six  thousand  citi- 
zens, for  that  purpose.  The  senate,  hearing  that  the  w^orkinen  had  been  ter- 
rified by  many  unlucky  omens,  at  the  time  they  were  tracing  the  limits,  and 
laying  the  foundations  of  the  new  city,  would  have  suspended  the  attempt ; 
but  the  tribune,  not  being  over  scrupulous  in  religious  matters,  carried  on  the 
work,  notw^ithstandi ng  all  these  bad  presages,  and  finished  it  in  a  few  days. 
This  w^as  the  first  Roman  colony  that  w^as  ever  sent  out  of  Italy. H 

It  is  probable,  that  only  huts  were  built  there,  since  we  are  told,  that  when 
Marius**  retired  hither,  in  his  flight  to  Africa,  he  lived  in  a  mean  and  poor 
condition  amid  the  ruins  of  Carthage,  consoling  himself  by  the  sight  of  so  as- 
tonishing a  spectacle  ;  himself  serving,  in  some  measure,  as  a  consolation  to 
that  ill-fated  city. 

Appian  relates,  that  Julius  Caesar,  after  the  death  of  Pompey,  having  crossed 
into  Africa,  saw,  in  a  dream,  an  army  composed  of  a  prodigious  number  of 
soldiers,  who,  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  called  him  ;  and  that,  struck  with  the 
vision,  he  wrote  down,  in  his  pocket-book,  the  design  w-hich  he  formed  on 
tViis  occasion,  of  rebuilding  Carthage  and  Corinth  ;  but  that  having  been  mur- 
dered soon  after  by  the  conspirators,  Augustus  Caesar,  his  adopted  son,  w'ho 
found  this  memorandum  among  his  papers,  rebuilt  Carthage  near  the  spot 
where  it  formerly  stood,  in  order  that  the  imprecations  which  had  been  vented 
at  the  time  of  its  destruction,  against  those  who  should  presum.e  to  rebuild  it, 
might  not  fall  upon  them.jt 


*  We  may  g-uess  at  the  dimensions  of  this  famous  city,  by  what  Flonus  says,  viz.  that  it  was  spventecn 
days  on  fire  before  it  could  be  all  consumed. — Q,uanta  urbs  deleta  sit,  ut  de  casteris  taceara,  vei  ig^nium  mora 
probari  potest;  quippe  per  conlinuos  decern  et  septem  dies  vix  potuit  incendium  exting-ui. — Lib.  ii.  c.  15. 

t  Neque  se  Roma,  jam  terrarum  orbe  superator,  securam  speravit  fore,  si  noinen  usquani  maneret  Car- 
thaginis.  Adeo  odium  certaminibus  ortam,  ultra  metum  durat,  et  ne  in  victis  quidem  deponitur,  neque  mtxi* 
mvisum  esse  desinit,  quam  esse  desiit. — Vel.  Paterc.  1.  i.  c.  12. 

t  Ut  ips«  locus  eorum,  qui  cum  hac  urbe  de  imperio  certarunt,  resli^ia  calamitatis  ostenderet. — Ci«, 
/t^jar.  ii.  n.  hO. 

f  Appian,  p.  84.  ||  Vel.  Paterc.  1.  i.  c.  12.  1  Appian.  p.  85.    Plut.  in  Vit  Gracch.  p.  389 

Marius  cursum  in  Africam  diroxit,  inopemque  vitam  in  tasrurio  ruinarum  Cartbaginiensium  tolera-'it: 
turn  Mariut  aspiciens  Carthaginem,  ilia  intuens  Mari'jn,  alter  alterl  possent  esse  solatio. —  Vel.  PRterc  1 
•I  c  19  tt  Appian.  p.  C9. 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


I  know  not  what  foundation  Appian  has  for  this  story  ;*  but  we  read  in  Stra* 
bo,  that  Carthage  and  Corinth  were  rebuilt  at  the  same  time  by  Csesar,  to 
whom  he  gives  the  name  of  God,  by  which  title,  a  little  before,  he  had  plain- 
ly mtended  Julius  Caesar  ;t  and  Plutarch,]:  in  the  life-time  of  that  emperor, 
ascribes  expressly  to  him  the  establishment  of  these  two  colonies  ;  and  ob- 
serves, that  one  remarkable  circumstance  in  these  two  cities  is,  that  as  both 
had  been  taken  and  destroyed  together,  they  likewise  were  rebuilt  and  repeo- 
pled  at  the  same  time.  However  this  be,  Strabo  affirms,  that  in  his  time,  Car 
thage  was  as  populous  as  any  city  in  Africa  :  and  it  rose  to  be  the  capital  of 
Africa,  under  the  succeeding  emperors.  It  existed  for  about  seven  hundred 
years  after  in  splendour,  but  at  last  was  so  completely  destroyed  by  the  Sara- 
cens, m  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century,  that  neither  its  naujC,  nor  the 
least  vestige  of  it,  is  known  at  this  time  in  the  country. 

A  DIGRESSION  ON  THE  MANNERS  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THE  SECOND  SCIPIO 

AFRICANUS. 

SciPio,  the  destroyer  of  Carthage,  was  son  to  the  famous  Paulus  ^milius, 
who  conquered  Perseus,  the  last  king  of  Macedon  ;  and  consequently  grand 
son  to  that  Paulus,  who  lost  his  life  in  the  battle  of  Cannae.  He  was  adopted 
by  the  son  of  the  great  Scipio  Africanus,  and  called  Scipio  ^Emilianus  ;  the 
names  of  the  two  families  being  so  united,  pursuant  to  the  law  of  adoption. 
Our  Scipio  supported,  with  equal  lustre,  the  honour  and  dignity  of  both  houses, 
being  possessed  of  all  the  exalted  qualities  of  the  sword  and  gown.§  The 
whole  tenor  of  his  life,  says  a  historian,  whether  with  regard  to  his  actions, 
his  thoughts,  or  his  words,  was  conspicuous  for  its  great  beauty  and  regularity. 
He  distinguished  himself  particularly,  a  circumstance  seldom  found  at  that 
time  in  persons  of  the  military  profession,  by  his  exquisite  taste  for  polite  litera- 
ture and  all  sciences,  as  well  as  by  the  uncommon  regard  he  showed  to  learned 
men.  It  is  universally  known  that  he  was  reported  to  be  the  author  of 
Terence's  comedies,  the  most  polite  and  elegant  v/ritings  of  which  the  Romans- 
could  boast.  We  are  told  of  Scipio,||  that  no  man  could  blend  more  happily 
repose  and  action,  nor  employ  his  leisure  hours  with  greater  delicacy  and  taste  : 
thus  was  he  divided  between  arm^  and  books,  between  the  military  labours  of 
the  camp,  and  the  peaceful  employment  of  the  cabinet ;  in  which  he  either 
exercised  his  body  in  toils  of  w^ar,  or  his  mind  in  the  study  of  the  sciences. 
By  this  he  showed,  that  nothing  does  greater  honour  to  a  person  of  distinction, 
of  whatever  quality  or  profession,  than  the  adorning  his  soul  with  knowledge.^ 
Cicero,  speaking  of  Scipio,  says, IF  that  he  always  had  Xenophon's  works  in 
his  hands,  which  are  so  famous  tor  the  solid  and  excellent  instructions  they  con- 
tain, both  in  regard  to  war  and  policy. 

He  owed  this  exquisite  taste  for  polite  learning  and  the  sciences,  to  the  ex 
cellent  education  which  Paulus  jEmilius  bestowed  on  his  children.  He  had 
put  them  under  the  ablest  masters  in  every  art,  and  did  not  spare  any  expense 
on  that  occasion,  though  his  circumstances  were  very  narrow  ;  Paulus  jEmilius 
himself  was  present  at  all  their  lessons,  as  often  as  the  affairs  of  governme/it 
would  permit,  becoming,  by  this  means,  their  chief  preceptor.** 

The  strict  union  between  Polybius  and  Scipio  finished  the  exalted  qualities, 
which,  by  the  superiority  of  his  genius  and  disposition,  and  the  excellency  of 
his  education,  were  already  the  subject  of  admiration.!!  Polybius,  with  a  great 
number  of  Achaians,  whose  fidelity  the  Roipans  suspected  during  the  war  with 


*  Appian.  1.  xvii.  p.  833.  f  Ibid.  p.  83.  t  Ibid.  p.  733. 

\  Scipio  jKmilianus,  vir  avitis  P.  Africani  paternisque  L.  Pauli  virtutibns  simlllimus,  omnibus  brill 
togas  dotibus,  inj^eniique  ac  studiorum  eminentissimus  seculi  sui,  qui  nihil  in  vita  nisi  laudandum  aut  fcoit, 
aut  dixit,  ant  sensit. — Vel.  Paterc.  1.  i.  c.  12. 

II  Neque  enim  quisquam  hoc  Sciplone  ele^^antius  intervalla  neg-otiornm  otio  dispiinxit ;  semperquc  aul 
belli  aut  pacis  serviit  artlbus,  semper  inter  arma  ac  studia  versatus,  aut  corpus  periculis,  aut  animum  disc* 
plinis  exercuit. — Vel.  Paterc.  c.  13. 

IT  Africanus  iomperSocraticum  Xenophontcm  in  manibui  habebat. — Tusc.  Quaest.  l.J  n.  62 
•*  Plut  in  Vita  Mmil.  Paul  tt  Kxcerpt.  c  Polyb.  p.  147—16* 


CARTHAGINIANS. 


261 


Perseus,  was  detained  in  Rome,  where  his  merit  soon  attracted  notice  and 
made  his  conversation  the  desire,  of  all  persons  of  the  highest  quality  in  thai 
city.  Scipio,  when  scarcely  eighteen,  devoted  himself  entirely  to  Polybiu^j 
Rnd  considered  as  the  greatest  felicit}'-  of  his  life,  the  opportunity  he  had  oi 
being  instructed  by  so  great  a  master,  whose  society  he  preferred  to  all  the  vain 
and  idle  amusements  which  are  generally  so  eagerly  pursued  by  young  persons. 

The  first  care  of  Polybius  was  to  inspire  Scipio  with  an  aversion  for  those 
equally  dangerous  and  ignominious  pleasures,  to  which  the  Roman  youth  were 
«o  strongl}'  addicted  ;  the  greatest  part  of  them  being  already  depraved  and  cor- 
rupted, by  the  luxury  and  licentiousness  which  riches  and  new  conquest  had 
.ntroduced  into  Rome.  Scipio,  during  the  first  five  years  that  he  continued  irj 
50  excellent  a  school,  made  the  greatest  improvement  in  it ;  and,  despi^Jing 
the  levity  and  wantonness,  as  well  as  the  pernicious  examples  of  persons  of  the 
same  age  with  himself,  he  was  looked  upon,  even  at  that  time,  as  a  shiiung 
model  of  discretion  and  wisdom. 

From  hence  the  transition  was  easy  and  natural,  to  generosity,  to  a  noble 
disregard  of  riches,  and  to  a  laudable  use  of  them  ;  all  virtues  so  requisite  in 
persons  of  illustrious  birth,  and  which  Scipio  carried  to  the  most  exalted  pitch, 
^s  appears  from  some  instances  of  this  kind  related  by  Polybius,  and  highly 
n^orthy  our  admiration. 

-Smiiia,*  wife  of  the  first  Scipio  Africanus,  and  mother  of  him  who  .id 
adopted  the  Scipio  mentioned  here  by  Polybius,  had  bequeathed,  at  her  death. 


rrhich  were  worn  by  women  of  her  high  rank,  possessed  a  great  number  of  gold 
and  silver  vessels  used  in  sacrifices,  together  with  several  splendid  equipages, 
and  a  considerable  number  of  slaves  of  both  sexes  ;  the  whole  suited  to  the 
august  house  into  which  she  had  married.  At  her  death,  Scipio  made  over 
all  those  rich  possessions  to  Papiria,  his  mother,  who,  having  been  divorced  a 
considerable  time  before  by  Paulus  iEmilius,  and  not  being  in  circumstances 
to  support  the  dignity  of  her  birth,  lived  in  great  obscurity,  and  never  appear- 
ed in  the  assemblies  or  public  ceremonies.  But  when  she  again  frequented 
them  with  a  magnificent  train,  this  noble  generosity  of  Scipio  did  him  great 
honour,  especially  in  the  minds  of  the  ladies,  who  expatiated  on  it  in  all  their 
conversations,  and  in  a  city  whose  inhabitants,  says  Polybius,  were  not  easily 
prevailed  upon  to  part  with  their  money. 

Scipio  was  no  less  admired  on  another  occasion.  He  was  bound,  by  a  condi- 
tion in  the  will,  to  pay  at  three  different  times,  to  the  two  daughters  of  Scipio, 
his  grandfather  by  adoption,  half  their  portion,  which  amounted  to  fifty  thou- 
sand French  crowns.t  The  time  for  the  paj^ment  of  the  first  sum  having  expired, 
Scipio  put  all  the  money  into  the  hands  of  a  banker.  Tiberius  Gracchus,  and 
Scipio  Nasica,  who  had  married  the  two  sisters,  imagining  that  Scipio  had 
Tttade  a  mistake,  went  to  him  and  observed,  that  the  laws  allowed  him  three 
years  to  pay  the  sum,  and  at  three  difterent  times.  Young  Scipio  answered, 
that  he  knew  very  well  what  the  laws  directed  on  this  occasion ;  that  they 
might  indeed  be  executed  in  their  greatest  rigour  with  strangers,  but  that  friends 
ana  relations  ought  to  treat  one  another  with  a  more  generous  simplicity  ;  and 
therefore  desired  them  to  receive  the  whole  sum.  They  were  struck  with  such 
admiral'on  at  the  generosity  of  their  kinsman,  that  in  their  return  home  they 
reproached  themselves  for  their  narrow  way  Qf  thinking,  at  a  time  when  they 
made  the  greatest  figure,  and  had  a  higher  regard  paid  to  them  than  any  family 
in  Rome.J  This  generous  action,  says  Polybius,  was  the  more  admired,  be- 
cause no  person  in  Rome,  so  far  from  consenting  to  pay  fifty  thousand  crowns 
before  they  were  due,  would  pay  even  a  thousand  before  the  time  for  payment 
had  elapsed. 

It  was  from  the  same  noble  spirit  that,  two  years  after,  Paulus  ^milius  his 
father  being  dead,  he  made  over  to  his  brother  Fabius,  who  was  not  so  wealthy 


a  great  estate 


diamonds  and  jewels 


•  Sh«  wa«  •ister  of  Paulu«  ^milius,  father  of  the  second  Scipio  Africanus. 

T^i  aoTovjiii«»i>Koviai- 


262 


HISTORY  THE 


as  himseli,  the  part  of  their  father's  estate  which  was  Scipio's  due,  (amouinifig 
to  above  three-score  thousand  crowns,^*  that  there  might  not  be  so  greata  dis 
paritj^  between  his  fortune  and  that  ot  his  brother. 

This  Fabius  being  desirous  to  exhibit  a  show  of  gladiators  after  his  father's 
decease,  in  honour  of  his  memory,  as  was  the  custom  in  that  age,  and  not  being 
able  to  defray  the  expenses  on  this  occasion,  which  amounted  taa  very  heavy 
sum,  Scipio  made  him  a  present  of  fifteen  thousand  crowns,t  in  order  to  defray 
at  least  half  the  charges  of  it. 

The  splendid  presents  which  Scipio  had  made  his  mother  Papiria  reverted 
lo  him  by  law,  as  well  as  equity,  after  her  demise  ;  and  his  sisters,  according 
to  the  custom  of  those  times,  had  not  the  least  claim  to  them.  Nevertheless, 
Scipio  thought  it  would  have  been  dishonourable  in  him,  had  he  taken  lliem 
bacK  again.  He  therefore  made  over  to  his  sisters  whatever  he  had  presented 
to  their  mother,  which  amounted  to  a  very  considerable  sum,  and  by  thisfresli 
proof  of  his  glorious  disregard  of  wealth,  and  the  tender  friendship  he  had  foi 
his  family,  acquired  the  applause  of  the  whole  city. 

These  different  benefactions,  which  amounted  altogether  to  a  prodigior.s 
sum,  seem  to  have  received  a  brighter  lustre  from  the  age  at  which  he  be- 
stowed them,  he  being  then  very  young  ;  and  still  more,  from  the  circumstancer. 
of  the  time  when  they  were  presented,  as  well  as  the  kind  and  obliging  beha- 
viour  he  assumed  on  those  occasions. 

The  incidents  I  have  here  given  are  so  repugnant  to  the  maxims  of  this  age 
tliat  there  might  be  reason  to  fear  the  reader  would  consider  them  merely  as 
the  rhetorical  flourishes  of  a  historian,  who  was  prejudiced  in  favoyr  of  hi^ 
hero,  if  it  was  not  well  known  that  the  predominant  characteristic  of  Polybiiis^ 
by  whom  they  are  related,  is  a  sincere  love  of  truth,  and  an  utter  aversion  ta 
adulation  of  every  kind.    In  the  very  passage  whence  this  relation  is  extract 
ed,  he  thought  it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  be  a  little  guarded,  where  he 
expatiates  on  the  virtuous  actions  and  rare  qualities  of  Scipio ;  and  he  ob 
serves,  that  as  his  writings  were  to  be  perused  by  the  Romans,  who  were  per 
fectly  well  acquainted  with  all  the  particulars  of  this  great  man's  life,  he  would 
certainly  be  animadverted  upon  by  them,  should  he  venture  to  advance  an}' 
falsehood ;  an  aflfront,  to  which  it  is  not  probable  an  author,  who  has  the  lecsl 
regard  for  his  reputation,  would  expose  himself,  especially  if  no  advantage 
was  to  accrue  to  him  from  it. 

We  have  already  observed,  that  Scipio  had  never  gone  into  the  fashionable 
debaucheries  and  excesses  to  which  the  young  people  at  Rome  so  wantonlj 
abandoned  themselves.  But  he  was  sufficiently  compensated  for  this  self-de 
nial  of  all  destructive  pleasures,  by  the  vigorous  health  he  enjoyed  all  the  resi 
of  his  life,  which  enabled  him  to  taste  pleasures  of  a  much  purer  and  more 
exalted  kind,  and  to  perform  the  great  actions  that  reflected  so  much  gioiy 
upon  him. 

Hunting,  which  was  his  favourite  exercise,  contributed  also  very  much  to 
invigorate  his  constitution,  and  enabk  him  to  endure  the  hardest  toils.  Mace- 
donia, whither  he  followed  his  father,  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  indulging, 
tc»  the  utmost  of  his  desire,  his  passion  in  this  respect ;  for  the  chase,  which 
was  the  usual  diversion  of  the  Macedonian  mcmrchs,  having  been  laid  aside 
for  some  years  on  account  of  the  wars,  Scipio  found  there  an  incredible  quan 
City  of  game  of  every  kind.  Paulus  -^milius,  studious  of  procuring  his  son 
virtuous  pleasures  of  every  kind,  in  order  to  divert  his  mind  from  those  which 
reason  prohibits,  gave  him  full  liberty  to  indulge  himself  in  his  favourite  sporl, 
during  all  the  time  that  the  Roman  forces  continued  in  that  country,  after  the 
victory  he  had  gained  over  Perseus.  The  illustrious  youth  employed  his  lei- 
sure hours  in  an  exercise  which  so  well  suited  his  age  and  inclination  ;  and 
was  as  successful  in  this  innocent  war  against  the  beasts  of  Macedonia,  as  his 
father  hai  been  in  that  which  he  had  carried  on  against  the  inhabitants  of  the 
countiy 


t  Or  416,500. 


CARTHAGINLAN8. 


263 


ft  was  at  Scipio^s  return  from  Macedon  that  he  met  with  Polybius  in  Pome, 
<iKl  contracted  the  strict  friendship  with  him,  which  was  aftenvards  so  br.no6- 
cJal  to  our  young  Roman,  and  did  him  almost  as  much  honour  in  after  a^es  as 
ail  his  conquests.  We  find  by  histor}',  that  Polybius  lived  with  the  two  bro- 
thers. One  day,  when  he  and  Scipio  were  alone,  the  latter  opened  himself 
freely  to  him,  and  complained,  but  in  the  mildest  and  most  gentle  terms,  tha/ 
he,  in  their  convci'sations  at  table,  always  directed  himself  to  his  brother  I 
bius,  and  never  to  him.  *'  I  am  sensible,"  says  he,  that  this  indifference 
arises  from  your  supposing,  with  all  our  citizens,  that  I  am  a  heedless  3'^oung 
man,  and  wholly  averse  to  the  taste  which  now  prevails  in  P.ome,  because  i 
do  not  plead  at  the  bar,  nor  study  the  graces  of  elocution.  But  how  should  1 
do  this?  I  am  constantly  told  that  the  Romans  expect  a  geneial,  and  not  an 
orator,  from  the  house  of  the  Scipios.  I  will  confess  to  you,  pardon  the  sin- 
cerity with  which  I  reveal  my  thoughts,  that  your  coldness  and  indifference 
grieve  me  exceedingly."  Polybius,  surprised  at  these  unexpected  words,  made 
bcipio  the  kindest  answer,  and  assured  the  illustrious  y»uth,  that  though  he 
always  directed  himself  to  his  brother,  yet  this  was  not  out  of  disrespect  to 
him,  but  only  because  Fabius  was  the  eldest ;  not  to  mention,  continued  Poly- 
bius, that,  knowing-  you  possessed  but  one  soul,  I  conceived  that  I  addressed 
both,  when  I  spoke  to  either  of  you.  He  then  assured  Scipio,  that  he  was  en- 
tirely at  his  command ;  that,  with  regard  to  the  sciences,  for  which  he  disco- 
vered the  happiest  genius,  he  would  have  opportunities  sufficient  to  improve 
himself  in  them,  from  the  great  number  of  learned  Grecians  who  re^^orted  daily 
to  Rome ;  but  that,  as  to  the  art  of  war,  which  was  properly  his  profession 
and  favourite  study,  he,  Polybius,  might  be  of  some  little  service  to  him.  He 
had  no  sooner  spoke  these  words,  than  Scipio,  grasping  his  hand  in  a  kind  of 
rapture ;  "Oh  1  when,"  says  he,  "  shall  I  see  the  happy  day,  when,  disen- 
gaged from  all  other  avocations,  and  living  with  me,  you  will  be  so  much  my 
friend  as  to  improve  my  understanding,  and  regulate  my  affections  ?  It  is  then 
I  shall  think  myself  worthy  of  my  illustrious  ancestors."  From  that  time  Po- 
lybius, overjoyed  to  see  so  young  a  man  breathe  s  noble  sentiments,  de- 
voted himself  particularly  to  our  Scipio,  who  for  ever  after  paid  him  as  much 
reverence  as  if  he  had  been  his  father. 

Scipio,  however,  did  not  only  esteem  Polybius  as  an  excellent  historian,  but 
valued  him  much  more,  and  reaped  much  greater  advantages  from  him,  by  his 
being  so  able  a  warrior,  and  so  profound  a  politician.  Accordingly,  he  con- 
sulted him  on  every  occasion,  and  always  took  his  advice,  even  when  he  was 
at  the  head  of  his  arBiy ;  concerting  in  private  with  Polybius,  all  the  opera- 
tions of  the  campaign,  all  the  movements  of  the  forces,  all  enterprises  agains* 
the  enemy,  and  the  several  measures  proper  for  rendering  them  successful. 

In  a  word,  it  was  the  common  report,  that  our  illustrious  Roman  did  not 
perform  any  great  or  good  action,  but  when  he  was  advised  to  it  by  Polybius  ; 
ner  ever  commit  an  error,  except  when  he  acted  without  consulting  him.* 

I  flatter  myself  that  the  reader  will  excuse  this  long  digression,  which  may 
be  thought  foreign  to  my  subject,  as  I  am  not  writing  the  Roman  history.  How 
ever,  it  appeared  to  me  so  well  adapted  to  the  general  design,  I  propose  tc 
myself  in  this  work,  viz.  the  cultivating  and  improving  the  minds  of  youth, 
that  I  could  not  forbear  introducing  it  here,  though  I  was  sensible  this  is  not 
altogether  its  proper  place.  And  indeed  these  examples  show  how  important 
it  is  that  youn^  people  should  receive  a  liberal  and  virtuous  education,  and 
the  great  benefit  they  derive  from  associating  and  corresponding  early  with 
persons  of  merit ;  for  these  were  the  foundations  whereon  were  built  the  fame 
and  glory  which  have  rendered  Scipio  immortal.  But  above  all,  how  noble 
an  example  for  our  age,  in  which  the  most  inconsiderable  and  even  trifling 
concerns  often  create  feuds  and  animosities  between  brothers  and  sisters,  and 
d'sturb  the  peace  of  fa-milies,  is  the  generous  desinterestedness  of  Scipio,  who, 


*  P&us&D.  in  Arcad.  I  r  'v'u  §  SOS. 


f64 


HISTORY  OF  THB 


whenever  he  had  an  opportunity  of  serving  his  relations,  took  a  delight  in 
bestowing  the  largest  sums  upon  them !  I'his  excellent  passage  of  Polybius 
had  escaped  me,  by  its  not  being  inserted  in  the  folio  edition  of  his  works. 
It  belongs  indeed  naturall}^  to  the  book  where,  treating  of  the  taste  with  re- 
gard to  solid  glory,  I  mentioned  the  contempt  in  which  the  ancients  held 
riches,  and  the  excellent  use  they  made  of  them.  I  therefore  tnought  myseli 
indispensably  obliged  to  restore,  on  this  occasion,  to  young  students,  what  I 
afterwards  could  not  but  blame  myself  for  omitting. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  FAMILY  AND  POSTERITY  OF  MASINISSA. 

I  PROMISED,  after  finishing  what  related  to  the  republic  of  Carthage,  to 
return  to  the  family  and  posterity  of  Masinissa.  This  piece  of  histoi7  forms 
a  considerable  part  of  that  of  Africa,  and  therefore  is  not  quite  foreign  to  my 
subject. 

From  Masinissa's  having  declared  for  the  Romans  in  the  time  of  the  first 
Scipio,  he  had  always  adhered  to  that  honourable  alliance,  with  an  almost  un- 
paralleled zeal  and  fidelity.  Finding  his  end  approaching,  he  WTote  to  the 
proconsul  of  Africa,  under  whose  standards  the  younger  Scipio  then  fought,  to 
desire  that  Roman  might  be  sent  to  him  ;  adding,  that  he  should  die  w^th  satis- 
faction, if  he  could  but  expire  in  his  arms,  after  having  made  him  executor  to 
his  will.  But,  believing  that  he  should  be  dead  before  it  could  be  possible  for 
him  to  receive  this  consolation,  he  sent  for  his  wife  and  children,  and  spoke  to 
them  as  follows  :  I  know  no  nation  but  the  Romans,  and,  among  this  nation, 
no  family  but  that  of  Scipio.  I  now,  in  my  expiring  moments,  empower 
Scipio  jfemilianus  to  dispo.-^e,  in  an  absolute  manner,  of  all  my  possessions, 
and  to  divide  my  kingdom  among  my  children.  I  require,  that  whatever 
Scipio  may  decree,  shall  be  executed  as  punctually  as  if  1  myself  had  ap- 
pointed it  by  my  will."  After  saying  these  words,  he  breathed  his  last,  being 
upwards  of  ninety  years  of  age.* 

This  prince,  during  his  youth,  had  met  with  strange  reverses  of  fortune, 
having  been  dispossessed  of  his  kingdom,  obliged  to  fly  from  province  to 
province,  and  a  thousand  times  in  danger  of  his  life.t  Being  supported,  says  - 
the  historian,  by  the  divine  protection,  he  was  afterwards  favoured,  till  his  ( 
death,  with  a  perpetual  series  of  prosperity,  unruffled  by  any  unfortunate  ac-  ; 
cident;  for  he  not  only  recovered  his  own  kingdom,  but  added  to  it  that  of  \ 
Syphax  his  enemy  ;  and  extending  his  kingdom  from  Mauritania  as  far  as  Cy-  ; 
rene,  he  became  the  most  powerful  prince  of  all  Africa.    He  was  blessed,  till 
he  left  the  world,  with  the  greatest  health  and  vigour,  which  was  doubtless  ow-  , 
i]ig  to  his  extreme  temperance,  and  the  toils  he  perpetually  sustained.  Though 
ninety  years  of  age,  he  performed  all  the  exercises  used  by  young  men,  Jand 
always  rode  without  a  saddle  ;  and  Polybius  observes,  a  circumstance  pre- 
served by  Plutarch,§  that  a  day  after  a  great  victory  over  the  Carthaginians,  j 
Masinissa  was  seen,  sitting  at  the  door  of  his  tent,  eating  a  piece  of  brown 
Dread. 

He  left  fifty-four  sons,  of  whom  three  only  were  legitimate,  viz.  Micipsa,  Gu-  I 
(ussa,  and  Mastanabal.    Scipio  divided  the  kingdom  between  these  three,  and  i 
gave  considerable  possessions  to  the  rest ;  but  the  two  last  dying  soon  after.  Mi-  j 
cipsa  became  sole  possessor  of  these  extensive  dominions.    He  had  two  sons, 
Adherbal  and  Hiempsal,  whom  he  educated  in  his  palace  with  Jugurtha  his  I 
oephew,  Mastanabal's  son,  of  whom  he  took  as  much  care  as  he  did  of  his  own  I 
children. II     This  last-mentioned  prince  possessed  several  eminent  qualities,  I 


♦  A.  M.  3857.    A.  Rome,  601.    App.  p.  65.    Val.  Max.  1.  x.  c.  2.  t  Apipian,  p.  65. 

X  Cicero  introduces  Cato,  speaking  as  follows  of  Masinissa's  vigorous  constitution  :  Arbitror  te  auflire, 
Scipio,  hoipe»  tuus  Masinissa  qua:  faciat  hodie  nonaginta  annos  natus  ;  cum  ingressus  iter  pedibui  sit,  ia 
tquum  omnio  non  ascendere  ;  cum  equo,  ex  equo  non  defendere  ;  nullo  imbre,  nullo  frig'ore  adduci,  ut  capitt 
•perto  sit ;  summam  esse  in  co  corporis  siccitatem.  Itaque  exequi  omnia  regis  officia  et  munera.— D« 
8«nectute.  i 

{  An  leni  {^er«nda  lit  R«ff.  f>  Ttt  ({  All  thiahiatorj  of  Jnn^tirtha  it  citract^^€  from  SaHutl 


CAR  riFAGIMANfl. 


which  gained  him  universal  esteem.  Jugiirtha,  who  was  nnely  shaped,  and 
very  h?nd5ome,of  the  most  delicate  wit  and  the  most  solid  judgment,  did  not 
devote  himself,  as  young  men  commonly  do,  to  a  life  of  luxury  and  pleasure. 
He  used  to  exercise  himself  with  persons  of  his  sge,  in  running,  riding  a-  i 
throwing  the  javelin;  and  though  he  surpassed  ,all-his  companions,  the^e  was 
not  one  of  them  but  loved  him.  /  The  chase  l  is  only  delight,  but  it  was 
that  of  lions  and  other  savage  be^^Sfts..  To  finish  hi't  character,  he  excelled  in 
all  things,  and  spoke  very  little  oji^ilrriself ;  ^^/tmmwn^/acer^',  d  nunimum  ipse 
de  se  loquiJ^  ^ 

So  conspicuous  an  assemblage  of  fine  talents  pnd  perfections,  began  lo  ex- 
cite the  jealousy  of  Micipsa.  He  was  himself  in  the  decline  of  life,  and  his 
children  very  young,  tie  knew  the  prodigious  lengths  which  ambition  is  ca- 
pable of  going,  when  a  crown  is  in.  view  ;  and  that  a  man,  with  talents  much 
inferior  to  those  of  Jugurtha,  might.  be  dazzled  by  so  resplendent  a  temptation, 
especially  when  united  with  such  favourable  circumstances.!  In  order,  there 
fore,  to  remove  a  competitor,  so  d^cgerous  with  regard  to  his  children,  he  gave 
Jugurtha  the  command  4)f  Ae  forces  which  he  sent  to  the  assistance  of  the  Ro- 
mans, who,  at  that  tirti^g^erfe  b  s^ng  Numantia,  under  the  conduct  of  vScipio. 
Knowing  Jugurtha  wa^^teijaf  .by  the  most  heroic  bral^ery,  he  flattered  him- 
self that  he  probably  woiuo^  :i  upon  danger,  and  lose  his  life.  In  this,  he 
was  mistaken.  This  young  V-  mce  joined  to  an  undaunted  courage,  the  utnjost 
cahnness  of  mind  ;  preserving  a  just  medium  between  a  timorous  foresight  and 
an  impetuous  rashness,  a  circumstance  very  rarely  found  in  persons  of  his  age. J 
In  this  campaign,  he  won  the  esteem  and  friendship  of  the  whole  army.  Scipio 
'Sent  him  back  to  his  uncle  with  letters  of  recommendation,  and  the  most  advan- 
tageous testimonials  of  his  conduct,  ajter  having  given  him  very  prudent  advice 
with  regard  to  it;  for  knowing  manlcind  so  well, he  in  all  probability  had  dis- 
covered certain  sparks  of  ambition  in  that  prince^  which  he  feared  one  day 
would  break  out  into  a  flame. 

Micipsa,  pleased  with  the  great  character  that  was  sent  him  of  his  nephew, 
changed  his  behaviour  towards  him,  and  resolved,  if  possible,  to  win  his  affec- 
tion by  kindness.  Accordingly  adopted  him  ;  •  and,  by  his  will,  made  \\\n\ 
joint-heir  with  his  two  sons.  Fh  *  afterwards  his  end  approaching,  he  sen 
for  all  three,  and  bid  them  draw  jll  *s  bed,  where,  in  presence  of  his  whole 
court,  he  put  Jugurtha  in  mind  m^f^K^  e  had  been  to  him^  conjuring  him, 
in  the  name  of  the  gods,  to  defJi^^d  >rotect  his  children  on  all  occasions  ; 
who,  being  before  related  to  hiMjKk'  3  ties  of  blood,  were  now  become  hi^ 
brethren,  by  his  (Micipsa's)  boiMpr^.  .e  told  him,  that  neither  arms  noi  trea- 
sure constitute  the  strength  of  a  KmgJ  .n,  but  friends,  who  are  not  won  by  arms 
nor  gold,  but  by  real  services  and  inviolable  fidelity. §  Now  where,  says 
he,  caryv^nd  better  friends  than  our  brothers  ?  And  how^  can  that  man,  whf> 
beconlSI^'Sjemy  to  his  relations,  repose  any  confidence  in,  or  dej)end  on  stran 
rers  ?  He  exhorted  his  sons  to  pay  the  highest  reverence  to  Jugurtha  ;  and  \\ 
have  no  contention  with  him,  but  in  their  endeavours  to  equal,  and,  if  possible 
surpass  his  exalted  merit.  He  concluded  with  entreating  them  to  observe  fo? 
ever  an  inviolable  attachmerl  tc  .lie  Romans;  and  to  consider  them  as  their 
benefactors,  their  patrons,  and  masters.  A  few  days  after  this  Micipsa  expired.!! 

But  Jurgurtha  soon  threw  off  the  mask,  and  began  by  ridding  himself  of 
Hiempsal,  who  had  expressed  himself  to  him  with  great  freedom,  by  instigat- 
ing his  murder. IF    This  bloody  action  proved  but  too  evidently  to  Adherbal, 


*  Appiiin,  Val.  Max.  1.  v.  c.  2. 
t  TetTcbat  cum  natura  mortalium  avida  imperii,  et  pracceps  ad  explcndam  animi  ctipidlnein  pr<etercft 
opporliitiitas  sutE  liberorumque  aetatis,  qua?  etlam  mediocres  viros  spe  prreda;  transversos  agit,— Sallast. 

I  Ac  sane,  quod  diificiUimum  imprimis  est,  et  praelic  strenuus  erat,  et  bonus  c.onsilio  ;  quorum  jiltpruis 
•1  proridentia  timorem,  alterum  ex  audacia  temeritatem  adferre  plerumque  soi't. 

}  Non  erercitus,  neque  thesauri,  praesidia  r^gni  sunt,  venim  amici ;  qnos  nttque  armU  cog;er«,  a«qu« 
*aro  par«re  queas  ;  oiEcio  et  6de  pariuntur.  Quis  autem  amicio**  qnam  floater  fratri  ?  ant  quero  alicnuat  6 
lem  invcnif.  «i  tuis  hostis  fuf.ris  ? 

I  A     '  388"».    A.  Rome,  Ml.  ^  A.  M.  A  Home,  f^32 

12 


f64 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


wbenerer  he  had  an  opportunity  of  serving  his  relations,  look  a  delight  in 
bestowing  the  largest  sums  upon  them !  Tins  excellent  passage  of  Polybius 
had  escaped  me,  by  its  not  being  inserted  in  the  folio  edition  of  his  works. 
It  belongs  indeed  naturall}^  to  the  book  where,  treating  of  the  taste  with  re- 
gard to  solid  glory,  I  mentioned  the  contempt  in  which  the  ancients  held 
riches,  and  the  excellent  use  they  made  of  them.  I  therefore  tnought  myseli 
indispensably  obliged  to  restore,  on  this  occasion,  to  young  students,  what  I 
afterwards  could  not  but  blame  myself  for  omitting. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  FAMILY  AND  POSTERITY  OF  MASINISSA. 

I  PROMISED,  after  finishing  what  related  to  the  republic  of  Carthage,  to 
return  to  the  family  and  posterity  of  Masinissa.  This  piece  of  histoiy  forms 
a  considerable  part  of  that  of  Africa,  and  therefore  is  not  quite  foreign  to  my 
subject. 

From  Masinissa's  having  declared  for  the  Romans  in  the  time  of  the  first 
Scipio,  he  had  always  adhered  to  that  honourable  alliance,  with  an  almost  un- 
paralleled zeal  and  fidelity.  Finding  his  end  approaching,  he  wrote  to  the 
proconsul  of  Africa,  under  whose  standards  the  younger  Scipio  then  fought,  to 
desire  that  Roman  might  be  sent  to  him  ;  adding,  that  he  sht  ^  i'le  with  satis- 
faction, if  he  could  but  expire  in  his  arms,  after  having  made  i  .  executor  to 
his  will.  But,  believing  that  he  should  be  dead  before  it  coulobe  possible  for 
him  to  receive  this  consolation,  he  sent  for  his  wife  and  children,  and  spoke  to 
them  as  follows  :  "  I  know  no  nation  but  the  Romans,  and,  among  this  nation, 
no  family  but  that  of  Scipio.  I  now,  in  my  expiring  moments,  empower 
Scipio  iEmilianus  to  dispose,  in  an  absolute  manner,  of  all  my  possessions, 
and  to  divide  my  kingdom  among  my  children.  I  require,  that  whatever 
Scipio  may  decree,  shall  be  executed  as  punctually  as  if  1  myself  had  ap- 
pointed it  by  my  w  .  "  7^  ^^^r  saying  these  words,  he  breathed  his  last,  being 
upwards  of  ninety  y  ^  ^ 

This  prince,  dux.hajihiy^uth,  had  met  with  strange  reverses  of  fortune, 
having  been  disposs^eafcjMBf  his  kingdom,  obliged  to  fly  from  province  to 
province,  and  a  thoulsM(^mes  in  danger  of  his  hfe.t  Being  supported,  says 
the  historian,  by  the^Kine  protection,  he  was  afterwards  favoured,  till  his 
death,  with  a  perpetiJal  series  of  prosperity,  unruffled  by  any  unfortunate  ac- 
cident; for  he  not  only  recovered  his  own  kingdom,  but  added  to  it  that  of 
Syphax  his  enemy  ;  and  extending  his  kingdom  from  Mauritania  as  far  as  Cy-  - 
rene,  he  became  the  most  powerful  prince  of  all  Africa.    He  was  blessed,  till  I 
be  left^^'-<^  world,  with  the  greatest  health  and  vigour,  which  was  doubtless  ow-  i 
ing        At  A  treme  temperance,  and  the  toils  he  perpetually  sustained.  Though  1 
nincv/ yi-Al's  of  age,  he  performed  all  the  exercises  used  by  young  men,  Jand 
always4;olfe  without  a  saddle  ;  and  Polybius  observes,  a  circumstance  pre- 
served b^^lutarch,§  that  a  day  after  a  great  victory  over  the  Carthaginians, 
Masinissa  fvas  seen,  sitting  at  the  door  of  his  tent,  eating  a  piece  of  brown 
Dread. 

He  left  fifty-four  sons,  of  whom  three  only  were  legitimate,  viz.  Micipsa,  Gu- 
(ussa,  and  Mastanabal.  Scipio  divided  the  kingdom  between  these  three,  and 
gave  considerJible  possessions  to  the  rest ;  but  the  two  last  dying  soon  after,  Mi- 
cipsa became  sole  possessor  of  these  extensive  dominions.  He  had  two  sons, 
Adherbal  and  Hiempsal,  whom  he  educated  in  his  palace  with  Jugurtha  his 
nephew,  Mastanabal's  son,  of  whom  he  took  as  much  care  as  he  did  of  his  own 
children. II     This  last-mentioned  prince  possessed  several  eminent  qualities, 


♦  A.  M.  3857.    A.  Rome,  601.    App.  p.  65.    Val.  Ma>.  1.  x.  c.  2.  t  Apipian,  p.  66. 

X  Cicero  introduces  Cato,  spesiking  as  follows  of  Masinissa^s  vigorous  constitution :  Arbitror  te  auflire, 
Scipio,  hospcs  tuus  Masinissa  qua;  faciat  hodie  nonaginta  annos  natus  ;  cum  ingressus  iter  pedibut  sit,  ia 
tquum  omnio  non  ascendere  ;  cum  equo,  ex  equo  non  defenderc  ;  nullo  imbre,  nullo  frig^ore  adduci,  ut  capit* 
•perto  sit ;  summam  eiie  in  co  corporis  siccitatem.  Itaque  exequi  omnia  regis  officia  et  munera.— D« 
Senectute. 

<  An  seni  (ereada  lit  Ratf.  f«  TS)  ||  All  thiahistorj  of  Jufrurtha  it  extnicti«4  from  Sallutt 


CARTIIAGIMANR 


which  gained  him  universal  esteem.  Jugiirtha,  who  was  nnely  shaped,  and 
very  handsome, of  the  most  delicate  wi*  and  the  most  solid  judgment,  did  not 
devote  himself,  as  young  men  commonly  do,  to  a  life  of  luxury  and  pleasure, 
lie  used  to  exercise  himself  with  persons  of  his  a^e,  in  running,  riding  a-  i 
throwing  the  javelin;  and  though  he  surpassed  ,all'his  con^panions,  the-?  was 
not  one  of  them  but  loved  him.  /  The  chase  l  is  only  delight,  but  it  was 
that  of  iions  and  otlier  savage  belsrts..  To  finish  hiM  character,  he  excelled  in 
all  things,  and  spoke  very  little  ojf^irr'iself ;  ^:>/?*rVm?m  /ricerr,  it  r.iinimvm  ipse 
de  se  loqui.*  ^  \ 

So  conspicuous  an  assemblage  of  fine  talents  pnd  perfections,  began  lo  ex- 
cite the  jealousy  of  Micipsa.  He  was  himself*  in  the  decline  of  life,  and  his 
children  very  young.  He  knew  the  prodigious  lengths  which  ambition  is  ca- 
pable of  going,  when  a  crown  is  in.  view  ;  and  that  a  man,  with  talents  much 
mferior  to  those  of  Jugurtha,  mighl  be  dazzled  by  so  resplendent  a  temptation, 
especially  when  united  with  such  favourable  circumstances.!  In  order,  there 
fore,  to  remove  a  competitor,  so  d^.Bgerous  with  regard  to  his  children,  he  gave 
Jugurtha  the  command  .©f  .the  forces  which  he  sent  to  the  assistance  of  the  Ro- 
mans, who,  at  that  time,.-were  besiegjng  Numantia,  under  the  conduct  of  vScipio. 
Knowing  Jugurtha  was  actuated  by  the  most  heroic  bra^xr}%  he  flattered  him- 
self that  he  probably  would  rush  upon  danger,  and  lose  his  life.  In  this,  he 
was  mistaken.  This  young  prince  joined  to  an  undaunted  courage,  the  utnjost 
cahnness  of  mind  ;  preserving  a  just  medium  between  a  timorous  foresight  and 
an  impetuous  rashness,  a  circumstance  very  rarely  found  in  persons  of  his  a^e.J 
In  this  campaign,  he  won  the  esteem  and  friendship  of  the  whole  army.  Scipio 
•sent  him  back  to  his  uncle  with  letterS  of  recommendation,  and  the  most  advan- 
tageous testimonials  of  his  conduct,  ajter  having  given  him  very  prudent  advice 
with  regard  to  it;  for  knowing  manlcind  so  well,  he  in  all  probability  had  dis- 
covered certain  sparks  of  ambition  in  that  prin(ie^  which  he  feared  one  day 
would  break  out  into  a  flame. 

Micipsa,  pleased  with  the  great  character  that  was  sent  him  of  his  nepiiew, 
changed  his  behaviour  towards  him,  and  resolved,  if  possible,  to  win  his  affec- 
tion by  kindness.  Accordingly  he  adopted  him  ;  •  and,  by  his  will,  made  \\\\\\ 
joint-heir  with  his  two  sons.  Finding  afterwards  his  end  approaching,  he  sen 
for  all  three,  and  bid  them  draw  nea/his  bed,  w-here,  iu  presence  of  his  who'e 
court,  he  put  Jugurtha  in  mind  how>good  he  had  been  to  him,  conjuring  him, 
in  the  name  of  the  gods,  to  defend  and  protect  his  children  on  all  occasions  ; 
who,  being  before  related  to  him  by  the  ties  of  blood,  were  now  become  hi^ 
brethren,  by  his  (Micipsa's)  bounty.  He  told  him,  that  neither  arms  noi  trea- 
sure constitute  the  strength  of  a  kingdom,  but  friends,  who  are  not  won  by  arms 
nor  gold,  but  by  real  services  and  inviolable  fidelity. §  Now  where,  says 
he,  can  we  find  better  friends  than  our  brothers  ?  And  how^  can  that  man,  wh?> 
becomes  an  enemy  to  his  relations,  repose  any  confidence  in,  or  dej)end  on  stran 
pers  ?  He  exhorted  his  sons  to  pay  the  highest  reverence  to  Jugurtha  ;  and  \\ 
have  no  contention  with  him,  but  in  their  endeavours  to  equal,  and,  if  possible 
surpass  his  exalted  merit.  He  concluded  with  entreating  them  to  observe  fo? 
ever  an  inviolable  attachmeri  tc  ,*he  Romans;  and  to  consider  them  as  their 
benefactors,  their  patrons,  and  masters.  A  few  days  after  this  Micipsaexpired.il 

But  Jurgurtha  soon  threw  off  the  mask,  and  began  by  ridding  himself  of 
Hiempsal,  who  had  expressed  himself  to  him  with  great  freedom,  by  instigat- 
ing his  murder. IT    This  bloody  action  proved  but  too  evidently  to  Adheroal, 


*  Appiiin,  Val.  Max.  1.  v.  c.  2. 
t  Terrebat  cum  natura  mortalium  avida  imperii,  et  prajceps  ad  explcndam  anlmi  ciipidinein  pneterca 
opporliinitas  sii»k  liberorumque  aitatis,  qua?  etiam  mediocres  viros  spe  prfcda*.  transversos  agit,— Sallast. 

I  Ac  sane,  quod  difficillimum  imprimis  est,  et  praslic  strenuus  erat,  et  bonus  conjillo  ;  quorum  alteruns 
•I  providentia  timorem,  allerum  ex  audar.ia  temTitatem  adferre  plerumque  solrt. 

}  Non  cxercitus,  neque  thesauri,  praesidia  fgni  lunt,  vernm  amiei ;  qiios  n«que  arm;8  cog^ere,  a«^u« 
*im>  par«re  queas  ;  officio  et  fide  panuntur.  Quis  autcm  amicior  qnam  fpater  fratri  ?  aut  quem  Alicnuat  6 
lem  invenif.  si  tuis  liostis  fu^ris  ? 

I  A     '  388"».    A.  Rome,  531.  ^  A.  M.  5089     A  Home.  f>32 


266 


HJflToRY  OF  THK 


what  he  himself  might  naturally  fear.  Numidia  was  now  divided,  and 
severally  with  the  two  brothers.  Mighty  armies  were  raised  by  each  part3\ 
Adherbal,  after  losing  the  greatest  part  of  his  fortresses,  was  vanquished  in 
battle,  and  forced  to  make  Rome  his  asylum.  This  however  gave  Jugurtha 
no  very  great  uneasiness,  as  he  knew  that  money  was  all-powerful  in  that  city. 
He  therefore  sent  deputies  thither,  with  orders  for  them  to  bribe  the  chief 
senators.    In  the  first  audience  to  which  they  were  introduced,  Adherbal  re- 

E resented  the  unhappy  condition  to  which  he  was  reduced,  the  injustice  and 
arbarity  of  Jugurtha,  the  murder  of  his  brother,  the  loss  of  almost  all  bis 
fortresses  ;  but  the  circumstance  on  which  he  laid  the  greatest  stress  was,  the 
commands  of  his  dying  father,  viz.  to  put  his  whole  confidence  in  the  Romans  ; 
declaring,  that  the  friendship  of  this  people  would  be  a  stronger  support  both 
to  himself  and  his  kingdom,  than  all  the  troops  and  treasures  in  the  universe. 
His  speech  was  of  great  length,  and  extremely  pathetic.  Jugurtha 's  deputies 
made  only  the  following  answer :  that  Hiempsal  had  been  killed  by  the  Nu- 
midians,  on  account  of  his  great  cruelty  ;  that  Adherbal  was  the  aggressor, 
and  yet,  after  having  been  vanquished,  was  come  to  make  complaints,  because 
he  had  not  committed  all  the  excesses  he  desired ;  that  their  sovereign  entreat* 
ed  the  senate  to  judge  of  his  behaviour  and  conduct  in  Africa,  from  what  he 
had  shown  at  Numantia  ;  and  to  lay  a  greater  stress  on  his  actions,  than  on  the 
accusations  of  his  enemies.  But  these  ambassadors  had  secretly  employed 
an  eloquence,  much  more  prevalent  than  that  of  words,  which  had  not  proved 
ineffectual.  The  whole  assembly  was  for  Jugurtha,  a  few  senators  excepted, 
who  were  not  so  void  of  honour  as  to  be  corrupted  by  money.  The  senate 
came  to  this  resolution,  that  commissioners  should  be  sent  from  Rome,  to  divide 
the  provinces  equally  upon  the  spot  between  the  two  brothers.  The  readei 
will  naturally  suppose,  that  Jugurtha  was  not  sparing  of  his  treasure  on  tbisoc 
casion  ;  the  division  was  made  to  his  advantage,  and  yet  a  specious  appear 
ance  of  equity  was  preserved. 

This  first  success  of  Jugurtha  augmented  his  courage  and  assurance.  He 
accordingly  attacked  his  brother  hj  open  force  ;  and  while  the  latter  lost  hii 
time  in  sending  deputations  to  the  Romans,  he  stormed  several  fortresses,  car- 
ried  on  his  conquests,  and,  after  defeating  Adherbal,  besieged  him  in  Cirtha 
the  capital  of  his  kingdom.  During  this  interval,  ambassadors  arrived  frorr 
Rome  with  orders,  in  the  name  of  the  senate  and  people,  to  the  two  kings,  to 
lay  down  their  arms,  and  cease  all  hostilities.  Jugurtha,  after  protesting  thai 
he  would  obey,  with  the  most  profound  reverence  and  submission,  the  com 
mands  of  the  Roman  people,  added,  that  he  did  not  believe  it  was  their  inten 
tion,  to  hinder  him  from  defending  his  own  life  against  the  treacherous  snares 
which  his  brother  had  laid  for  it.  He  concluded  with  saying,  that  he  would 
send  ambassadors  forthwith  to  Rome,  to  inform  the  senate  of  his  conduct.  By 
this  evasive  answer  he  eluded  their  orders,  and  would  not  even  permit  the 
deputies  to  wait  on  Adherbal. 

Though  the  latter  was  so  closely  blocked  up  in  his  capital,  he  yet  found 
means  to  send  to  Rome,  to  implore  the  assistance  of  the  Romans  against  his 
brother,  who  had  besieged  him  five  months,  and  intended  to  take  away  his 
life.*  Some  senators  were  of  opinion,  that  war  ought  to  be  proclaimed  immedi- 
ately against  Jugurtha  ;  but  still  his  mfluence  prevailed,  and  the  Romans  only 
ordered  an  embassy  to  be  sent,  composed  of  senators  of  the  highest  distinc- " 
lion,  among  whom  was  iEmilius  Scanrus,  a  factious  man,  who  had  a  great  in- 
fluence over  the  nobility,  and  concealed  the  blackest  vices  under  the  specious 
appearance  of  virtue.  Jugurtha  was  terrified  at  first ;  but  he  again  found  aa 
opportunity  to  elude  their  demands,  and  accordingly  sent  them  back  withojt 


♦  He  chose  two  of  the  nimblest  of  those  who  had  followed  him  into  Cirtha  ;  who,  induced  by  the  great 
rewards  he  promised  them,  and  pitying  his  unhappy  circumstances,  undertook  to  pass  througfh  the  enemy'i 
camp,  in  the  ni^ht,  to  the  neighbouring  shore,  and  from  thence  to  Rome. — Ex  iis  qui  una  Cfrtham  profi^ 
raati  du««  maximc  impigros  delegit;  cosmulta  pollicendo,  ac  miserando  casum  suum,  confirmat  uti  per  hc-i 
tium  aaioiti?aei  ooctu  ad  p^vximum  mare«  deio  Romam  pen^^erent.  -Sallust. 


2G7 


running  to  any  conclusion.  Upcri  this  Adherbal,  who  had  lost  all  hopes,  sur 
rendered,  upon  condition  of  having  his  life  spared ;  nevertheless,  he  was  iiib 
mediately  murdered,  with  a  great  number  of  Nuinidians. 

Although  the  greatest  part  of  the  people  at  Rome  were  struck  with  horror 
at  this  news,  Jugurtha's  money  again  obtained  him  defenders  in  the  senate. 
But  C.  Memmius,  a  tribune  of  the  people,  an  active  man  who  hated  the  no- 
bility,  prevailed  upon  the  former  not  to  suffer  so  horrid  a  crime  to  go  unpun- 
ished ;  and  accordingly  war  being  proclaimed  against  Jugurtha,  Calpurnius 
Bestia,  the  consul,  was  appointed  to  cany  it  on.  HtB  was  endued  with  excel- 
lent qualities,  but  they  were  all  destroyed,  and  rendered  useless  by  his  ava- 
rice.* Scaurus  set  out  with  him.  They  at  first  took  several  towns  ;  but  Ju- 
gurtha's bribes  checked  the  progress  of  thes^e  conquests  ;  and  Scaurusf  himself, 
who,  till  now,  had  expressed  the  strongest  animosity  against  this  prince,  could 
not  resist  so  powerful  an  attack.  A  treaty  was  therefore  concluded  ;  Juguitha 
feigned  to  submit  to  the  Romans,  and  thirty  elephants,  some  horses,  with  a 
very  considerable  sum  of  money,  were  delivered  to  the  quaestor. J 

cut  now  the  indignation  of  the  people  in  general  at  Rome  displayed  itself 
in  the  strongest  manner.  Memmius  the  tribune,  fired  tliv?m  by  hi»  speeches. 
He  caused  Cassius,  who  was  piaetor,  to  be  appointed  to  attend  Jugurtha,  and 
to  engage  him  to  come  to  Rome,  under  the  guarantee  of  the  Romans,  in  order 
that  an  inquiry  might  be  made  in  his  presence  who  those  persons  were  that 
had  taken  bribes.  Accordingly,  Jugurtha  was  forced  to  come  to  Rome.  The 
sight  of  him  raised  the  anger  of  the  people  still  higher,  but  a  tribune  having 
been  bribed,  he  prolonged  the  session,  and  at  last  dissolved  it.  A  Numidian 
prince,  grandson  of  Masinissa,  called  Massiva,  being  at  that  time  in  the  city, 
was  advised  to  solicit  for  Jugurtha's  kingdom ;  which  coming  to  the  ears  of  the 
latter, he  got  him  assassinated  in  the  midst  of  Rome.  However,  the  murderer 
was  seized,  and  delivered  up  to  the  civil  magistrate,  and  Jugurtha  was  com- 
manded to  depart  from  Italy.  Upon  leaving  the  city,  he  turned  his  eyes  seve 
ral  times  towards  it,  and  said,  "  Rome  wants  only  a  purchaser ;  and  were  one 
to  be  found,  it  were  inevitably  ruined. "§ 

The  war  now  recommenced.  At  first  the  indolence,  or  perhaps  connivance, 
of  Albinus  the  consul,  caused  it  to  progress  very  slowly  ;  but  afterwards,  when 
he  returned  to  Rome  to  hold  the  public  assemblies, ||  the  Roman  army,  by  the 
unskilfulness  of  his  brother  Aulus,  having  marched  into  a  defile  from  whence 
there  was  no  getting  out,  surrendered  ignominiously  to  the  enemy,  who  forced 
the  Romans  to  submit  to  the  ceremony  of  passing  under  the  yoke,  and  made 
them  engage  to  leave  Numidia  in  ten  days. 

The  reader  will  naturally  suppose,  that  so  shameful  a  peace,  concluded  with- 
out the  authority  of  the  people,  was  considered  in  a  most  odious  light  at  Rome. 
They  could  not  flatter  themselves  with  the  hopes  of  being  successful  in  this 
war,  till  the  conduct  of  it  was  given  to  L.  Metellus  the  consul.  To  all  the 
other  virtues  which  constitute  the  great  captain,  he  added  a  perfect  disregard 
of  wealth;  a  quality  most  essentially  requisite  against  such  an  enemy  as  Ju- 
gurtha, who  hitherto  had  always  been  victorious,  rather  by  money,  than  by  the 
sword. IF  But  the  African  monarch  found  Metellus  as  inaccessible  in  this  as  io 
all  other  respects.  He  therefore  was  forced  to  venture  his  life,  and  exert  his 
utmost  bravery,  through  the  deficiency  of  an  expedient  which  now  began  to 
fail  him.  He  accordingly  signalized  himself  in  a  surprising  manner ;  and 
showed  in  this  campaign,  all  that  could  be  expected  from  the  courage,  abili- 
ties, and  attention  of  an  illustrious  general,  to  whom  despair  adds  new  vigour, 
and  suggests  new  views  :  he  was,  however,  unsuccessful,  because  opposed  l)y 


*  Multae  bonaeque  art«.«  animi  et  corpons  erant,  quasomnes  avarilia  prfepedicbat. 
t  Magnitudine  pecunias  a  bono  honestoque  in  pravum  abstractus  est. 
t  A.  M.  3894.    A.  Rome,  683.  Anf.  J.  C.  110. 
}  Pcslquain  Roma  e^ressus  est,  fertur  saepe  taciius  eo  respiciens,  postremo  dixlsse.    Urbem  vcnalem  c\ 
mature  pcriturans,  siemptorem  invenerit. 

II  For  electing  man^Istratet.-"Sal 
V  In  Numidian  profici?citnr,  magna  s^e  civium,  cum  propter  artcs  bonas,  tma  maxim«  qwoi  uircnvm  d» 
^tiaj  iiwj«''jxn  aoimum  jerebat. 


968 


HlliTOIlY  OF  THE 


1  consul  who  did  not  suffer  the  most  inconsiderable  error  to  escape  him,  nor 
ever  let  slip  an  opportunity  of  taking  advantage  of  the  enemy. 

Jugurtha's  greatest  concern  was,  how  to  secure  himself  from  traitors.  From 
the  time  he  had  been  told  that  Bomilcar,  in  whom  he  reposed  the  utmost  con 
fidence,  had  a  design  upon  his  life,  he  enjoyed  no  peace.  He  did  not  believe 
himself  safe  anywhere  :  but  all  things,  by  day,  as  well  as  night,  the  citizen  a? 
well  as  foreigner,  were  suspected  by  him  ;  and  the  blackest  terrors  sat  lor 
ever  brooding  over  his  mind.  He  never  got  any  sleep,  except  by  stealth  ;  and 
often  changed  his  bed,  in  a  manner  unbecoming  his  rank.  Starting  sometime? 
from  his  slumbers,  he  would  snatch  his  sword,  and  break  into  loud  cries ;  s»j 
strongly  was  he  haunted  bv  fear,  and  so  strangely  did  he  act  the  madman. 

Marius  was  lieutenant  or  Metellus.  His  boundless  ambition  induced  him  tc 
endeavour  secretly  to  lessen  this  general's  character,  in  the  minds  of  his  sol- 
diers; and  becoming  soon  his  professed  enemy  and  slanderer,  he  at  last,  by 
the  most  grovelling  and  perfidious  arts  prevailed  so  far  as  to  supplant  Metei- 
lus,  and  get  himself  nominated  in  his  place,  to  carry  on  the  war  against  Jugur- 
tha.  With  whatever  strength  of  mind  Metellus  might  be  endued  on  other  oc- 
casions, he  was  totally  dejected  by  this  unforeseen  blow,  which  even  forced 
tears  from  his  eyes,  and  such  expressions  as  were  altogether  unworthy  so  great 
a  man.*  There  was  something  very  dark  and  vile  in  this  procedure  of  Marius  ; 
a  circumstance  that  displays  ambition  in  its  native  and  genuine  colours,  and 
shows  that  it  extinguishes,  in  those  who  abandon  themselves  to  it,  all  sense  of 
honour  and  integrity.  Metellus  avoided  a  man  whose  sight  he  could  not  bear, 
arrived  in  Rome,  and  was  received  there  with  universal  acclamations.  A  tri- 
umph was  decreed  him,  and  the  surname  of  Numidlcus  conferred  upon  him.f 

I  thought  it  would  be  proper  to  suspend,  till  I  came  to  the  Roman  history, 
an  account  of  the  events  that  happened  in  Africa  under  Metellus  and  Marius, 
all  which  are  very  circumstantially  described  by  Sallust,  in  his  admirable  his- 
tory of  Jugurtha.    I  therefore  hasten  to  the  conclusion  of  this  war. 

Jugurtha  being  greatly  distressed  in  his  affairs,  had  recourse  to  Bocchus  king 
of  Mauritania,  whose  daughter  he  had  married.  This  country  extends  from 
Numidia,  as  far  as  beyond  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  opposite  to  Spain.  J 
The  Roman  name  was  scarcely  known  in  it,  and  the  people  as  little  known  to 
the  Romans.  Jugurtha  insinuated  to  his  father-in-law,  that  should  he  suffer 
Numidia  to  be  conquered,  his  kingdom  would  doubtless  be  involved  in  its  ruin  • 
especially,  as  the  Romans,  who  were  sworn  enemies  to  monarchy,  seemed  to 
nave  vowed  the  destruction  of  all  the  thrones  in  the  universe.  He  therefort 
prevailed  upon  Bocchus  to  enter  into  a  league  with  him ;  and  accordingly  re- 
ceived, on  different  occasions,  very  considerable  succours  from  the  king. 

This  confederacy,  which  was  strengthened  on  either  side  by  no  other  tie 
than  that  of  interest,  had  never  been  close,  and  a  late  defeat  which  Jugurtha 
met  with,  broke  at  once  all  the  bands  of  it.  Bocchus  now  meditated  the  dark 
design  v)f  delivering  up  his  son-in-law  to  the  Romans.  For  this  purpose  be 
had  desired  Marius  to  send  him  a  trusty  person.  Sylla,  who  was  an  officer  of 
uncommon  merit,  and  served  under  him  as  quaestor,  was  thought  eveiy  way 
qualified  for  this  negotiation.  He  was  not  afraid  to  put  himself  into  the  hands 
\)f  the  barbarian  king  ;  and  accordingly  set  out  for  his  court.  Being  arrived, 
Bocchus,  who,  like  the  rest  of  his  countrymen,  did  not  pride  himself  in  sin* 
terity,  was  for  ever  projecting  new  designs,  debated  within  himself,  whether  it 
would  not  be  his  interest  to  deliver  up  Sylla  to  Jugurtha.  He  was  a  long  time 
fluctuating  with  uncertainty,  and  between  contrary  opinions  :  and  the  sudden 
changes  which  displayed  themselves  in  his  countenance,  in  his  air,  and  his 
whole  person,  showed  evidently  how  strong  his  mind  w^*  affected.  At  length 
returning  to  his  first  design,  he  made  his  terms  with  Sylla,  and  delivered  up 
Jugurtha  into  his  hands,  who  was  sent  immediately  to  Marius. 


♦  Q,aibui  tebus  supra  booum  atquc  huneslum  pcrculsus,  neque  lacrymas  lenere  neque  inodcrari  ]]ng\t*ai 
nr  %greg'u»  in  aliis  artibus,  nvmis  inollitcr  R-igritudinem  v-a  w. 

♦A.M.  38M.    A.  Rame,  642»  t  Now  coor>prehen^insr  Fez  MrTcs:<JO,  <tc 


CAKTHAGLXlAXa 


263 


Sylla,  »ays  Plutarch,*  acted  on  this  occasion  like  a  ycv.Tig  man  fired  with  a 
strong  thirst  of  glory,  the  sweets  of  which  he  had  just  begun  to  taste,  in- 
stead of  ascribing  to  the  general  under  whom  he  fought  all  the  honour  of  this 
event,  as  his  duty  required,  and  which  ought  to  be  an  inviolable  maxim,  ho 
reserved  the  greatest  part  of  it  to  himself,  and  had  a  ring  made,  which  he 
always  wore,  wherein  he  was  represented  receiving  Jugurtha  from  the  hands 
of  Bocchus  ;  and  this  ring  he  used  ever  after  as  his  signet.  But  Marius  was 
so  highly  exasperated  at  this  kind  of  insult,  that  he  could  never  forgive  him  ; 
a  circumstance  that  gave  rise  to  the  implacable  hatred  between  these  two  Ro 
mans,  which  afterwards  broke  out  witk  so  much  fury,  and  cost  the  republic  s<? 
much  blood.t 

Marius  entered  Rome  in  triumph,  exhibitmg  such  a  spectacle  to  the  Ro- 
mans, as  they  could  scarce  believe  they  saw,  when  it  passed  before  their  eyes ; 
1  mean,  Jugurtha  in  chains ;  that  so  formidable  an  enemy,  during  whose  life 
they  could  not  flatter  themselves  with  the  hopes  of  being  able  to  put  an  end 
to  this  war;  so  well  was  his  courage  sustained  by  stratagem  and  artifice,  and 
his  genius  so  fruitful  in  finding  new  expedients,  even  when  his  affairs  were  most 
desperate.J  We  are  told,  that  Jugurtha  ran  distracted,  as  he  proceeded  in  the 
triumph  ;  that  after  the  ceremony  was  ended,  he  was  thrown  into  prison  ;  and 
that  the  lictors  were  so  eager  to  seize  his  robe,  that  they  rent  it  in  several 
pieces,  and  tore  away  the  tips  of  his  ears,  to  get  the  rich  jewels  with  which 
they  were  adorned.  In  this  condition,  he  was  cast,  quite  naked,  and  in  liie 
utmost  terrors,  into  a  deep  dungeon,  where  he  spent  six  days  in  struggling  ^vith 
hunger  and  the  fear  of  death,  retaining  a  strong  desire  of  life  to  his  last  gasj' : 
an  end,  continues  Plutarch,  worthy  of  his  wickecf  deeds;  Jugurtha  having  been 
always  of  opinion,  that  the  greatest  crimes  rr,  ght  be  committed  to  satiate  hi? 
ambition,  ingratitude,  perfidy,  black  treachery,  and  inhuman  barbarity. 

Juba,  king  of  Mauritania,  reflected  so  much  honour  on  polite  literature  and 
the  sciences,  that  I  could  not  without  impropriety  omit  him  in  the  history  of 
Masinissa,  to  whom  his  father,  who  also  was  named  Juba,  was  great-grandson, 
and  grandson  of  Gulussa.  The  elder  Juba  signalized  himself  in  the  war  be 
tween  Caesar  and  Pompey,  by  his  inviolable  attachment  to  the  party  of  the 
latter  hero.  He  slew  himself  after  the  battle  of  Thapsus,  in  which  his  forces, 
and  those  of  Scipio,  were  entirely  defeated.  Juba,  his  son,  then  a  child,  was- 
delivered  up  to  the  conqueror,  and  was  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  ornaments 
of  his  triumph.  It  appears  from  history,  that  a  noble  education  v/as  bestowed 
upon  Juba  in  Rome,  where  he  imbibed  such  a  variety  of  knowledge,  as  after- 
wards enabled  him  to  rival  the  most  learned  Grecians.  He  did  not  leave  that 
city  till  he  went  to  take  possession  of  his  father's  dominions.  Augustus  re- 
stored them  to  him,  when  by  the  death  of  Mark  Antony,  the  provinces  of  the 
empire  were  absolutely  at  his  disposal. §  Juba,  by  the  lenity  of  his  govern- 
ment, gained  the  hearts  of  all  his  subjects  :  w^ho,  out  of  a  grateful  sense  of  the 
felicity  they  had  enjoyed  during  his  reign,  ranked  him  in  the  number  of  t\ieh 
gods.  Pausanias  speaks  of  a  statue  which  the  Athenians  erected  to  his  honour. 
It  was  indeed  just,  that  a  city,  which  had  been  consecrated  in  all  ages  U 
the  muses,  should  give  public  testimonies  of  its  esteem  for  a  king  who  madf 
so  bright  a  figure  among  the  learned.  Suidas  ascribes  several  works  to  this 
prince,  of  which  only  the  fragments  are  now  extant. ||  He  had  written  the 
history  of  Arabia  ;  the  antiquities  of  Assyria,  and  those  of  the  Romans;  the 
history  of  theatres,  of  painting,  and  painters  ;  of  the  nature  and  properties  of 
different  animals,  and  of  grammar,  &c.  a  catalogue  of  all  which  is  given  \u 
Abbe  Sevin's  short  dissertations  on  the  life  and  works  of  the  younger  Juba,^ 
whence  1  have  extracted  these  few  particulars. 


*  Oja  TfOJ (pj\(^T(^or  d^Tj  56^r\s  jajtvaU^i^  nux  rivr/xH  ixsr^iw  to  svtvx'^I^cl. — Pint.  Pre<sp.  Reip.  O*© 
t»nd.  p.  806. 

f  Vlut.  in  Vit.  Marii.  J  A.  M.  3901.    A.  Rome,  645.    Ant.  J.  C.  103.— PJaut.  IbkL 

J  A.  M.  3974.    A.  Bornr.  719.    Ant.  J.  C.  30.  ||  In  voce  Ictas. 

ir  Vo!   IV.  of  th*r  ■M<>rroir<  of  lb«  Academy  of  Belle*  Lettrcs.  p  467 


BOOK  THIRD, 

rim 

HISTORY 

OF  THE 

ASSYRIANS. 


PLAN. 

i^kMk  will  coa*Ain  the  history  of  the  Assyrian  empire,  both  of  NineVch  and  Bfcbylon,  tke  hl^tes 
of  the  Medes.  and  tbe  kingdom  of  the  Lydians. 


CHAPTER  L 

THE  PIRST  EMPIRE  OP  THE  ASSYaiANS. 


SECTION  I. — DURATION  OF  THAT  EMPIRE, 

The  Assyrian  empire  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  powerful  in  the  vroria. 
With  respect  to  its  duration,  two  opinions  have  chiefly  prevailed.  Some  au- 
thors, as  Ctesias,  whose  opinion  is  followed  by  Justin,  give  it  a  duration  of 
thirteen  hundred  years  ;  others  reduce  it  to  five  hundred  and  twenty,  of  which 
number  is  Herodotus.  The  diminution,  or  probably  the  interruplion  of  power, 
which  happened  in  this  vast  empire,  might  possibly  give  occasion  to  this  differ- 
ence of  opinion,  and  may  perhaps  serve  in  some  measure  to  reconcile  it. 

T^e  history  of  those  early  times  is  so  obscure,  the  monuments  which  convoy 
it  down  to  us  so  contrary  to  each  other,  and  the  systems  of  the  moderns  upo?i 
that  matter  so  different,  that  it  is  difficult  to  lay  down  any  opinion  about  it,  a? 
certain  and  incontestable  But,  where  certainly  is  not  to  be  had,  I  suppose  a 
reasonable  person  willbe  satisfied  with  prcibabiiily ;  and,  in  my  opinion, a  man 
can  hardly  be  deceived,  if  he  makes  the  Assyrian  empire  equal  in  antiquity 
with  the  city  of  " Babylon,  its  capital.  Now  we  learn  from  the  Holy  Scripture, 
that  this  was  built  by  Nimrod,  who  certainly  was  a  great  conqueror,  and  in  all 
probability,  the  first  and  most  ancientthat  ever  aspired  after  that  denomination. 

The  Babylonians,  as  Callisthenes,  a  philosopher  in  Alexander's  reljtiue,  wrote 
to  Aristotle,  reckoned  themselves  to  be  at  least  of  1903  years  standing,  when 
that  prince  entered  triumphant  into  Babylon  ;  which  carries  their  origin  as  far 
hack  as  the  year  of  the  world  1771,  that  is  to  say,  115  years  after  the  delude. t 
This  computation  comes  \\i(hin  a  fevv  years  of  the  time  we  suppose  Nimrod  to 
have  founded  thatcil.y.  Indeed  this  testimony  of  Callisthenes,  as  it  does  m-t 
agree  with  any  other  accounts  of  that  maUer,  is  not  esteeme  I  authentic  by  the 
learned;  but  the  conform iiy  we  find  between  it  and  the  Holy  Scripture  should 
make  us  regard  it. 

Upon  these  grounds,  I  think  we  may  allow  Nimrod  to  have  been  the  founder 
of  the  first  Assyrian  empire,  which  subsisted,  with  more  or  less  extent  and 


*  They  that  are  curious  to  mak<^  deeper  researches  into  thi>  matter,  may  read  the  dij^ertations  of  tbhi 
l^aonier,  and  Mr.  Frevet,  ujion  the  Assyrian  empin-,  in  iha  jVIerr.oirs  .  f  the  Academv  of  Be!le«  L*itr«», 
fcr  the  first,  see  Y  d.  111.  and  for  the  other.  Vol.  V.  as  also  what  f<;ther  ToumeraiDe  ha«  trrttten  upos 
subject,  in  his  edition  of  Menochiffs. 

t  rf>rpHyr.  apod  S-jMp.'^c.  ie  lib,  ij.  de  C»is. 


272 


ttBSTORY  01-  THE 


eloiy,  upwards  of  1450  yeans,  from  the  lime  of  Nimrod  to  that  of  Sardaiiap? 
Fus,  the  last  king ;  that  is  to  say,  from  the  year  of  the  world  1800  to  the  year 

Nimrod.t  He  is  the  same  with  Be]us,|  who  was  afterwards  worshipped  as 
a  g:od,  under  that  appellation. 

He  was  the  son  of  Chus,  grandson  of  Cham,  and  great-grandson  of  Noah. 
He  was,  says  the  Scripture,  a  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord,^  In  applyin<r 
himself  to  this  laborious  and  dangerous  exercise,  he  had  two  things  in  view"; 
I  lie  first  was  to  gain  the  people  's  affection,  by  delivering  them  from  the  fjuiy 
and  dread  of  wild  beasts  ;  the  next  was,  to  train  up  numbers  of  young  people, 
by  this  exercise  of  hunting,  to  endure  labour  and  hardship,  to  form  them  1o  the 
use  of  arms,  to  inure  them  to  a  kind  of  discipline  and  obedience,  that  at  a  pro- 
per time  after  they  had  been  accustomed  to  his  orders,  and  habituated  to  arms, 
he  might  make  use  of  them  fo»'  ether  purposes  more  serious  than  hunting. 

In  ancient  history  we  find  Sume  footsteps  remaining  of  this  artifice  of  Nim 
rod,  whom  the  writer-?  have  confounded  withNinus,  his  son  :  for  Diodorus  has 
these  words  ;  "  Ninus,the  mosft  ancient  of  the  Assyrian  kings  mentioned  in  his- 
tory, performed  great  actions.  Being  naturally  of  a  warlike  disposition,  and 
ambitious  of  glory  which  results  from  valour,  he  armed  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  young  men,  that  were  brave  and  vigorous  like  himself;  trained  them 
up  a  long  time  in  laborious  exercises  and  hardships,  and  by  that  means  accus- 
tomed tliem  to  bear  the  fatigues  of  war  patiently,  and  to  face  dangers  with  cou- 
rage and  intrepidity.  ^'11 

What  the  same  author  adds,  that  Ninus  entered  into  an  alliance  with  thekir  g 
of  the  Arabs,  and  joined  forces  with  him,  is  taken  from  ancient  tradition,  which 
informs  us,  that  the  sons  of  Chus,  the  brothers  of  Nimrod,  all  settled  themselves 
in  Arabia,  along  the  Persian  gulf,  from  Havila  to  the  ocean,  and  lived  near 
enough  their  brother  to  lend  him  succours,  or  to  receive  them  from  him.  And 
what  the  same  historian  further  sbjs  of  Ninus,  that  he  was  the  first  king  of  the 
Assyrians,  agrees  exactly  with  what  the  Scripture  says  of  Nimrod,  that  he  be- 
srnn  to  be  mighty  upon  the  earth;  that  is,  he  procured  himself  settlem.ents,  built 
cities,  subdued  his  neighbours,  united  different  people  under  one  and  the  same 
authority,  by  the  band  of  the  same  polity  and  the  same  laws,  and  formed  them 
into  one  state ,  which  for  those  early  times  was  of  a  considerable  extent,  though 
bounded  by  the  rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris  ;  and  which  in  succeeding  ages 
made  new  acquisitions  by  degrees,  and  at  length  extended  its  conquests  very 
far.H 

The  capital  city  of  his  kingdom^  says  the  Scripture,  ta^'as  Babylon,^^  Most  of 
the  profane  historians  ascribe  the  foundmgof  Babylon  to  Semiramis,tt  the  rest 
to  Belus.  It  is  evident  that  both  the  one  and  the  other  are  rnistaken,  if  they 
speak  of  the  first  founding  of  that  city ;  for  it  owes  its  beginning  neither  to  Se- 
miramis,  nor  to  Nimrod,  but  to  the  foolish  vanity  of  those  persons  mentioned 
in  Scripture, J]:  who  desired  to  build  a  tower  and  a  city,  that  should  render 
their  memory  imm.ortal. 

Josephus  relates,  upon  the  testimony  of  a  Sibyl,  which  must  have  been  ver^ 
ancient,  and  whose  fictions  cannot  be  imputed  to  the  indiscreet  zeal  of  any 
Christains,that  the  gods  threw  down  the  tower  by  an  impetuous  wind,  or  a  vio- 
lent hurricane. §§  Had  this  been  the  case,  Nimrod's  temerity  must  have  been 
still  the  greater,  'o  rebuild  a  city  and  a  tower,  which  God  himself,  had  over- 
thrown with  sucli  marks  of  his  displeasure.  But  the  Scripture  says  no  such 
thing  ;  and  it  is  very  probable  the  building  remained  in  the  condition  it  was 
when  God  put  an  end  to  tlie  work  by  the  confusion  of  languages  ;  and  that 


*  Here  I  depart  from  the  opinion  of  Bishop  Usher,  my  ordinary  g-uide,  with  respect  to  the  duration  of 
the  Assyrian  empire,  Avhich  he  iupposes,  with  Herodotus,  to  have  lasted  but  520'years ;  but  the  time  wlie» 
Nimrod  lived,  and  Sardanapalu*  died,  I  take  from  him. 

t  A.  M.  1800.     Ant.  J.  C.  ?5204.  %  Belus,  or  Baal,  signifies  Lord.  }  Gen.  x,  9 

H  Lib.  ii.  p.  90.  IT  Ibid.  **  Gen.  x.  10. 

^  Semiramii  eaia  condiderat,  rel,  ul  plcriqu*  trndidere,  Belus,  cujus  refjia  ostenditur. — Curt.  1.  r.  c.  1 
U  Gen.  «»  V  {{  Hist  Jud.  1,  i.  c.  4 


AS8Y&IANH. 


273 


tibe  towei  consecrated  to  Belus,  which  is  described  hy  Herodotus,*  was  thii 
very  tower  which  the  sons  of  men  pretended  to  raise  to  the  clouds. 

It  is  also  probable,  that  this  ridiculous  design  being  defeated  by  such  an 
astonishing  prodigy  as  none  could  be  the  author  of  but  God  himself,  every  bcdy 
abandoned  the  place  which  had  given  him  offence  ;  and  that  Nimrod  was  tne 
first  who  encompassed  it  afterwards  with  walls,  settled  therein  his  friends  and 
confederates,  and  subdued  those  that  lived  round  about  it,  beginnmg  his  empire 
in  that  place,  but  not  confining  it  to  so  narrow  a  compass ;  Fuit principium  reg- 
ni  ejus  Babylon.  The  other  cities  which  the  Scripture  speaks  of  in  the  smrie 
place,  were  in  the  land  of  Shinar,  which  was  certainly  the  province  of  which 
jBabylon  became  the  metropolis. 

From  this  country  he  went  into  that  which  has  the  nan«e  of  Assyria,  and  there 
built  Nineveh:  De  terra  ilia  egressus  est  Assur^et  (zdijicavit  Nineven.]  This 
is  the  sense  in  which  many  learned  men  understand  the  word  Assur,  looking 
upon  it  as  the  name  of  a  province,  and  not  of  the  first  man  who  possessed  it ; 
as  if  it  were,  egressus  est  in  Jlssur,  in  Assyriam,  And  this  seems  to  be  the 
most  natural  construction,  for  many  reasons  not  neccessary  to  be  recited  in  this 
place.  The  country  of  Assyria,  in  one  of  the  prophets,  J  is  described  by  the 
particular  character  of  being  the  land  of  Nimrod  :  Etpascent  terrain  Assur  in 
gladio^  et  terram  Kimrod  in  lancets  ejus  ;  et  liberabit  ab  Assur,  cum  venerit  in 
terrain  nostram.  It  derived  its  name  from  Assur  the  son  of  Shem,  who  without 
doubt  had  settled  himself  and  family  there,  and  was  probably  driven  out,  or 
brought  under  subjection,  by  the  usurper  Nimrod. 

This  conqueror,  having  possessed  himself  of  the  provinces  of  Assur,§  did  not 
ravage  them,  like  a  tyrant,  but  filled  them  with  cities,  and  made  himself  as 
much  beloved  by  his  new  subjects  as  he  was  by  his  old  ones  ;  so  that  the  his- 
torians,II  who  have  not  sufficiently  examined  this  affair,  have  thought  that  he 
made  use  of  the  Assyrians  to  conquer  the  Babylonians.  Among  other  cities, 
he  built  one  larger  and  more  magnificent  than  tne  rest,  which  he  called  Nine- 
veh, from  the  name  of  his  son  Ninus,  in  order  to  immortalize  his  memory. 
The  son,  in  his  turn,  out  of  veneration  for  his  father,  was  willing  that  they  who 
had  served  him  as  their  king  should  adore  him  as  their  god,  and  induce  othei 
nations  to  render  him  the  same  worship.  For  it  appears  plainly,  that  Nimrod 
is  the  famous  Belus  of  the  Babylonians,  the  first  king  whom  the  people  deified 
for  his  great  actions,  and  who  showed  other^he  way  to  that  sort  of  immortal 
ity  which  may  result  from  human  accomplishments. 

I  intend  to  speak  of  the  mighty  strength  and  greatness  of  the  cities  of  Baby 
Ion  and  Nineveh,  under  the  kings  to  v/hom  their  building  is  ascribed  by  pro 
fane  authors,  because  the  Scripture  says  little  or  nothing  on  that  subject.  This 
silence  of  Scripture,  so  little  satisfactory  to  our  curiosity,  may  become  an  in- 
structive lesson  for  our  piety.  The  holy  penman  has  placed  Nimrod  and 
Abraham,  as  it  were,  in  one  view  before  us ;  and  seems  to  have  put  them  so 
near  together,  on  purpose  that  we  should  see  an  example  in  the  former,  of  what 
is  admired  and  coveted  by  men  ;  and  in  the  latter,  of  what  is  acceptable  and 
\vell-pleasing  to  God. IT  These  two  persons,  so  unlike  each  other,  are  tlie 
two  first  and  chief  citizens  of  two  different  cities,  built  from  different  motives, 
and  with  different  principles  ,  the  one,  self-love,  and  a  desire  of  temporal  ad- 
vantages, carried  even  to  the  contemning  of  the  Deity  ;  the  other,  the  love  of 
God,  even  to  self  humiliation. 

Ninus.  I  have  already  observed,  that  most  of  the  profane  authors  look 
upon  him  as  the  first  founder  of  the  Assyrian  empire,  and  for  that  reason 
ascribe  to  him  a  great  part  of  his  f^ither  Nimrod's  or  Belus's  actions. 

Having  a  design  to  enlarge  his  conquests,  the  first  thing  he  did  was  to  pre- 
pare troops  and  officers  capable  of  promoting  his  designs.    And  having  receive  d 


*  Lib.  11.  c.  181.  t  Gen.  X.  n.  J  Mic.  v.  6.  ^  Gen.  x.  11,  12.  (|  Died. )  i'l.  p  90. 

If  Fcccrunt  civitates  qnas  amores  duo  :  terrenam  scilicet  amor  sui  usque  ad  contenaptuni  Uei ;  coeleale»a 
lepo  nmor  Dei  utque  »<{  cont«mptuin  sul. — St.  Auf.  de  Civ.  D?i.  lib.  slv.  c.  28. 

Vol  I. 


274 


HISTORV  OF  THE 


powerful  succours  from  the  Arabians,  his  neighbours,  he  took  the  field,  and  m 
the  space  of  seventeen  years  conquered  a  vast  extent  of  country,  from  Egypt, 
9S  far  as  India  and  Bactriana,  which  he  did  not  then  venture  to  attack.* 

At  his  return,  before  he  entered  upon  any  new  conquests,  he  conceived  the 
design,  of  immortahzing  his  name  by  the  building  of  a  city  answerable  to  the 
greatness  of  his  power ;  he  called  it  Nineveh,  and  built  it  on  the  eastern  banks 
of  the  Tigris.!  Possibly  he  did  no  more  than  finish  the  work  his  father  had 
begun.  His  design,  says  Diodorus,  was  to  make  Nineveh  the  largest  and  no- 
blest city  in  the  world,  and  not  leave  it  in  the  powder  of  those  that  came  aftei 
him,  ever  to  build,  or  hope  to  build  such  another.  Nor  was  he  deceived  ir 
his  view,  for  never  did  any  city  rival  the  greatness  and  magnificence  of  this  :  it 
was  one  hundred  and  fifty  stadia,  or  eighteen  miles  and  three  quarters  in  length, 
and  ninety  stadia,  or  eleven  miles  and  one  quarter,  in  breadth  ;  and  conse- 
quently was  an  oblong  square.  Its  circumference  was  four  hundred  and  eighty 
stadia,  or  sixty  miles.  For  this  reason  we  find  it  said  in  the  prophet  Jonah, 
thai  Nineveh  was  an  exceeding  great  city,  of  three  days  journey ; I  which  is  to 
be  understood  of  the  whole  circuit  or  compass  of  the  city.§  'The  w^alls  of  it 
were  a  hundred  feet  high,  and  of  such  a  thickness,  that  three  chariots  mieht  go 
abreast  upon  them  with  ease.  They  were  fortified  and  adorned  with  fifteen 
hundred  towers  two  hundred  feet  high. 

After  he  had  finished  this  prodigious  work,  he  resumed  his  expedition  against 
the  Bactrians.  His  army,  according  to  the  relation  of  Ctesias,  consisted  of 
seventeen  hundred  thousand  foot,  two  hundred  thousand  hoise,  and  about  six- 
teen thousand  chariots,  armed  with  scythes.  Diodorus  adds,  that  this  ought 
not  to  appear  incredible,  since,  not  to  mention  the  innumerable  armies  of  Da 
rius  and  Xerxes,  the  single  city  of  Syracuse,  in  the  time  of  Dionysius  the 
tyrant,  furnished  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  foot,  and  twelve  thousand 
horse,  besides  four  hundred  vessels  well  equipped  and  provided.  And  a  little 
before  Hannibal's  time,  Italy,  including  the  citizens  and  allies,  was  able  to 
send  into  the  field  nearly  a  million  of  men.  Ninus  made  himself  master  of  a 
great  number  of  cities,  and  at  last  laid  siege  toBactria,  the  capital  of  the  coun- 
try. Here  he  would  probably  have  seen  all  his  attempts  miscarry,  had  it  nc^ 
been  for  the  diligence  and  assistance  of  Semiramis,  wife  to  one  of  his  chief  ol 
ficers,  a  woman  of  an  uncommon  courage,  and  particularly  exempted  from  the 
weakness  of  her  sex.  She  was  born  at  Ascalon,  a  city  of  Syria.  I  think  it 
needless  to  recite  the  account  Diodorus  gives  of  her  birth,  and  of  the  miracu- 
lous manner  of  her  being  nursed  and  brought  up  by  pigeons,  since  that  his 
torian  himself  looks  upon  it  only  as  a  fabulous  story.  It  was  Semiramis  that 
directed  Ninus  how  to  attack  the  citadel,  and  by  her  means  he  look  it,  and 
then  became  master  of  the  city,  in  which  he  found  an  immense  treasure.  The 
husband  of  this  lady  having  killed  himself,  to  prevent  the  effects  of  the  king's 
threats  and  indignation,  who  had  conceived  a  violent  passion  for  his  wife,  Ninus 
married  Semiramis. 

After  his  return  to  Nineveh,  he  had  a  son  by  her,  w^hom  he  called  Ninyas. 
Not  long  after  this  he  died,  and  left  the  queen  the  government  of  the  kingdom. 
She  in  honour  of  his  memory,  erected  him  a  magnificent  monument,  which 
remained  a  long  time  after  the  ruin  of  Nineveh. 

I  find  no  appearance  of  truth  in  what  some  authors  relate  concerning  the 
manner  of  Semiramis's  coming  to  the  throne.  According  to  them,  having  se- 
cured the  chief  men  of  the  state,  and  attached  them  to  her  interest  by  her 
benefactions  and  promises,  she  solicited  the  king  with  great  importdnity  to  put 
(he  sovereign  power  into  her  hands  for  the  space  of  five  days.    He  yielded 


*  Diod.  1.  ii.  p.  90—95. 

f  Diodorus  says,  it  was  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  and  speaks  of  it  as  if  it  was  so,  in  man^  places* 
4at  he  is  mistaken.  {  Jcnah,  iii.  3. 

}  It  If  hard  to  believe,  th*t  Piod  >rus  does  not  speak  of  the  magnitude  of  Nineveh  with  some  exa}C£rerm 
Hon :  therefore,  some  learr  td  men  have  reduced  the  stadium  to  little  more  than  one  half,  and  reckon 
A  them  to  the  Roman  mill  iaaC^.ad  of  eifht. 


ABSYRlAWa. 


274 


>.o  her  entreaties,  and  all  the  provinces  of  the  empire  were  commanded  to  obey 
•:^miriirnis.  These  orders  were  executed  but  too  exactly  for  the  unfortunate 
Ninus,  who  was  put  to  death,  either  immediately,  or  after  some  years  impri- 
sonmeixt.''' 

SfMiRAMis.  This  princess  applied  all  her  thoughts  to  immortalize  her  name, 
and  to  cover  the  meanness  of  her  extraction  by  the  greatness  of  her  deeds 
and  enterprises .t  She  proposed  to  herself  to  surpass  all  her  predecessors  in 
magnificence,  and  to  that  end  she  undertook  the  building  of  the  mighty  Baby- 
\on,l  in  which  work  she  employed  two  millions  of  men,  who  were  collected 
out  of  all  the  provinces  of  her  vast  empire.  Some  of  her  successors  endea- 
voured to  adorn  that  city  with  new  works  and  emlellishments.  I  shall  here 
speak  of  them  altogether,  in  order  to  give  the  reader  a  more  cl^ar  and  dis- 
tinct idea  of^  that  stupendous  city. 

The  prmcipal  works,  which  rendered  Babylon  so  famous,  were  the  walls  ot 
the  city  ;  the  quays  and  the  bridge  ;  the  lake,  banks,  and  canals  made  for  the 
draining  of  the  river ;  the  palaces,  hanging  gardens,  and  the  temple  of  Belus  ; 
works  of  such  surprising  magnificence,  as  is  scarcely  to  be  comprehended 
Dr.  Prideaux  having  treated  this  matter  with  great  extent  and  learning,  I  have 
only  to  copy,  or  rather  abridge  them. 

I.  THE  WALLS. 

Babylon  stood  on  a  large  flat  or  plain,  in  a  very  rich  and  deep  soil.§  The 
walls  were  every  way  prodigious.  They  were  eighty-seven  feet  thick,  three 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  and  four  hundred  and  eighty  furlongs,  or  sixty  of 
our  miles  in  circumference.  These  walls  were  drawn  round  the  city  in  the 
form  of  an  exact  square,  each  side  of  which  was  one  hundred  and  twenty  fur 
longSjII  or  fifteen  miles,  in  length,  and  all  built  of  large  bricks  cemented  toge- 
ther with  bitumen,  a  glutinous  slime  arising  out  of  the  earth  in  that  country, 
which  binds  in  building  much  stronger  and  firmer  than  lime,  and  soon  grows 
much  harder  than  the  bricks  or  stones  themselves,  which  it  cements  together. 

These  walls  were  surrounded  on  the  outside  with  a  vast  ditch,  full  of  water, 
and  lined  with  bricks  on  both  sides.  The  earth  that  was  dug  out  of  it,  was 
made  into  the  bricks  wherewith  the  walls  were  built ;  and  therefoi-e,  from  the 
vast  height  and  breadth  of  the  walls,  may  be  inferred  the  greatness  of  the  ditch. 

On  every  side  of  this  great  square  were  twenty-five  gates,  that  is,  a  hundred 
in  all,  which  were  all  made  of  solid  brass ;  and  hence  it  is,  that  when  God 
promised  to  Cyrus  the  conquest  of  Babylon,  he  tells  him,  That  he  would  break 
in  pieces  before  him  the  gates  of  brass. ^  Between  every  two  of  these  gates 
were  three  towers,  and  four  more  at  the  four  corners  of  this  great  square,  and 
three  between  each  of  these  corners  and  the  next  gate  on  either  side  ;  every 
one  of  these  towers  was  ten  feet  higher  than  the  walls.  But  this  is  to  be  un- 
derstood only  of  those  parts  of  the  wall  where  there  was  need  of  towers. 

From  the  twenty-five  gates  in  each  side  of  this  great  square  extended 
twenty-five  streets,  in  straight  lines  to  the  gates,  which  were  directly  over 
against  them,  in  the  opposite  side  ;  so  that  the  whole  number  of  the  streets 
were  fifty,  each  fifteen  miles  long,  twenty-five  of  which  passed  one  way,  and 
twenty-five  the  other,  crossing  each  other  at  right  angies.  And  besides  these, 
there  were  also  four  half  streets,  which  had  houses  only  on  one  side,  and  the 
wall  on  the  other  ;  these  went  round  the  four  sides  of  the  city  next  the  walls, 
and  were  each  of  them  two  hundred  feet  broad  ;  the  rest  were  about  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty.   By  these  streets  thus  crossing  each  other,  the  whole  city  was 

*  Plut.  in  Mor.  p.  753.  f  Diod.  1.  li.  p.  95. 

t  We  are  not  to  wonder,  if  we  find  the  founding  of  a  city  ascribed  to  different  person*.  It  is  comnoa. 
tteatinong  profane  writers,  to  say,  suc'ha  prince  built  such  a  city,  whether  be  was  the  persoB  that  ir^t 
ftwdcdit,  or  that  only  embellished  or  enlarged  it. 

§■  Her.  1.  i.  c.  178, 180.    Diod.  1.  ii.  p.  95,  96,    Q,.  Curt.  1.  r.  c.  1. 
)(  I  relate  things  as  I  find  them  in  the  ancient  authors,  \yhich  Dean  Prideaux  has  also  done  ;  bat  I  ca» 
fe«t  iMlp  beUeving  that  great  abatements  are  to  be  made  in  what  they  say  at  to  the  immense  txt«Ot«f 


^76 


HJSTORY  OF  TUB 


divided  into  six  hundred  aiid  seventy-six  squares,  c/icli  of  which  wa»  four  hl^ 
^  long-s  and  a  half  on  every  side,  that  is,  two  milts  and  a  quarter  in  circumfe- 
rence. Round  these  squares,  on  every  side  towards  the  streets,  stood  the 
houses,  which  were  not  contiguous,  but  had  void  spaces  between  them,  ail 
built  three  or  four  stories  high,  and  embellished  with  all  manner  of  ornamenU 
towards  the  streets.  The  space  within,  in  the  middle  of  each  square,  was 
likewise  all  vacant  ground,  employed  for  yards,  gardens,  and  other  such  uses  ; 
so  that  Babylon  was  greater  m  appearance  than  reality,  nearly  one  half  of  the 
city  being  taken  up  in  gardens  and  other  cultivated  lands,  as  we  are  told  by 
Q.  Curtiu^.* 

II.  THE  QUAYS  AND  BRIDGE. 

A  BRANCH  of  the  river  Euphrates  ran  quite  across  the  city,  from  the  north  to 
the  south  side.;  on  each  side  of  the  river  w^as  a  quay,  and  a  high  wall,  built 
of  brick  and  bitumen,  of  the  same  thickness  as  the  walls  that  went  round  the 
city.  In  these  walls,  opposite  to  every  street  that  led  to  the  river,  w  ere  gates 
of  brass^  and  from  them  descents  by  steps  to  the  river,  for  the  convenience  of 
the  inhaoitants,  who  used  to  pass  over  from  one  side  to  the  other  in  boats, 
having  nc  other  way  of  crossing  the  river  before  the  building  of  the  bridge. 
These  brazen  gates  were  always  open  in  the  day-time,  and  shut  in  the  night.t 

The  bridge  was  not  inferior  to  any  of  the  other  buildings  either  in  beautv 
or  magnificence  ;  it  was  a  furlong  in  length,  and  thirty  feet  in  breadth,  bui\. 
with  wonderful  art,  to  supply  the  defect  of  a  foundation  in  the  bottom  of  the 
river,  which  was  sandy  .J  The  arches  w  ere  made  of  huge  ston€<«,  fastened  to- 
gether with  chams  of  iron  and  melted  lead.  Before  they  began  to  build  the 
bridge,  they  turned  the  course  of  the  river,  and  laid  its  channel  dry,  having 
another  view  in  so  doing  besides  that  of  laying  the  foundations  more  commo- 
dioiisly,  as  I  shall  hereafter  explain.  And  as  every  thing  was  prepared  be- 
forehand, both  the  bridge  and  the  quays,  which  I  have  already  described, 
were  built  in  that  interval. 

III.  THE  LAKE,  DITCHES,  AND  CANALS  MADE  FOR  THE  DRAINING  OF  THE  RIVER. 

These  works,  objects  of  admiration  for  the  skilful  in  all  ages,  were  still 
more  useful  than  magnificent.  In  the  beginning  of  the  summer,  the  melting 
of  the  snow  upon  the  mountains  of  Armenia,  causes  a  vast  increase  of  waters 
which  running  into  the  Euphrates  in  the  months  of  June,  Ju\j^  and  August,  ^ 
Riakes  it  overflow  its  banks,  and  occasions  such  another  inundation  as  the  Nile 
does  in  Egypt.S 

To  prevent  the  damage  which  both  the  city  and  country  received  from  these 
inundations,  at  a  very  considerable  distance  above  the  town,  two  artificial  ca- 
nals were  cut,  which  turned  the  course  of  these  waters  into  the  Tigris  before 
they  reached  Babylon.jl  And  to  secure  the  country  yet  more  from  the  dan- 
ger of  inundations,  and  to  keep  the  river  within  its  channel,  they  raised  pro- 
digious as  tificial  banks  on  both  sides  the  river,  built  with  brick,  cemented  with 
bituijien,  which  began  at  the  head  of  the  artificial  canals,  and  extended  below 
vhe  citv.*il 

To  facilitate  the  making  of  these  w^orks,  it  was  necessary  to  turn  the  course 
of  the  river  another  way  ;  for  which  purpose,  to  the  w^est  of  Babylon,  wa« 
du?g  a  prodigious  artificial  lake,  forty  miles  square,**  one  hundred  and  sixty  ra 
compass,  and  thirty-five  feet  deep  according  to  Herodotus,  and  seventy-fire 
feet  according  to  Megasthenes.  Into  this  lake  the  whole  river  was  turned  by 
an  artificial  canal,  cut  from  the  west  side  of  it,  till  the  whole  work  was  finished, 

*  Quint.  Curt/1.  v.  c.  1.  f  Her.  1.  i.  c.  180.  186.    Diod.  i  ii.  p.  96. 

X  Diodorus  says  this  bridg-e  vi  is  five  furlongs  in  length,  which  can  hardly  be  true,  since  the  Euphratei 
fras  but  one  furlong  broad. — Strab.  1.  xvi.  p.  758. 

I  Strab.  1.  xvi.  p.  740.    Plin.  1.  v.  c.  26.       |I  Abyd.  ap.  Ens.  Prsep.  Evar^.  1.  ix 
IT  Abyd.  ib.  Her.  1.  i.  c.  185. 
The  author  follows  Herodotus,  who  makes  it  four  hundred  and  twenty  furlongs,  or  fifty-two  miles  tquar* 
^tl  choose  to  follow  Dean  Pi  ideaux,  who  in  that  prefers  the  account  of  Megaath^Des' 


AK«YRIAN». 


277 


when  il  vFas  made  to  flow  in  its  former  channel.  But  that  the  Euphrates,  in 
the  time  of  its  increase,  might  not  overflow  the  city  through  the  gates  on  ita 
sides,  this  lake,  with  the  canal  from  the  river,  was  still  preserved.  The  wa 
ter  received  into  the  lake  at  the  time  of  these  overflowings,  was  kept  then^  all 
tlic  y^ar,  as  in  a  common  reservoir,  for  the  benefit  of  the  country,  to  be  let  out 
by  Sluices  at  convenient  times  for  watering  the  lands  below  it.  The  lake, 
ih.erefore,  was  equally  useful  in  securing  the  country  from  inundations,  and 
rendering  it  fertile.  I  relate  the  wonders  of  Babylon  as  they  are  deliv(Med 
down  to  us  by  the  ancients,  but  there  are  some  of  them  which  are  scarcely  to 
be  comprehended  or  believed,  of  which  number  is  the  lake  I  have  desriibed. 
I  mean  with  respect  to  its*  vast  extent. 

Berosus,  Megasthenes,  and  Abydenus,  quoted  by  Josephus  and  Eusebius 
made  Nebuchadnezzar  the  author  of  most  of  these  works  ;  but  Herodotus  as 
cribes  the  bridge,  the  two  qua^^s  of  the  river,  and  the  lake,  to  Nitocris,  the 
daughter-in-law  of  that  monarch.    Perhaps  Njtocris  might  only  finish  what 
6er  father  left  imperfect  at  his  death,  on  which  account  that  historian  might 
^ive  her  the  honour  of  the  whole  undertaking. 

IV.  THE  PALACES  AND  THE  HANGING  GARDENS. 

At  the  two  ends  of  the  bridges  were  two  palaces,  which  had  a  communica- 
tion w^ith  each  other  by  a  vault,  built  under  the  channel  of  the  river  at  the 
time  of  its  being  dry.*  The  old  palace,  which  stood  on  the  east  side  of  the 
river,  was  thirty  furlongs,  or  three  miles  and  three  quarters,  in  compass  ;  near 
which  stood  the  temple  of  Belus,  of  which  we  shall  soon  speak.  The  new 
palace,  w^hich  stood  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  opposite  to  the  other,  was 
sixty  furlongs,  or  seven  miiles  and  a  half,  in  compass.  It  was  surrounded  witb 
three  walls,  one  within  another,  with  considerable  spaces  between  them. 
These  w^aUs,  as  also  those  of  the  other  palace,  were  embellished  with  an  infi- 
nite variety  of  sculptures,  representing  all  kinds  of  animals  to  the  life.  Among 
them  was  a  curious  hunting-piece,  in  which  Semiramis,  on  horseback,  v»'as 
throwing  her  javelin  at  a  leopard,  and  her  husband  Ninus  piercing  a  lien. 

In  this  last,  or  new  palace,  were  the  hanging  gardens,  so  celebrated  amor:g 
the  Greeks.  TJhey  contained  a  square  of  four  plethra,  that  is,  of  four  hundred 
teet,  on  every  side,  and  were  carried  aloft  into  the  air,  in  the  manner  of  seve- 
ral large  terraces,  one  above  another,  till  the  height  equalled  that  of  the  wai'«- 
of  the  city.  The  ascent  was  from  terrace  to  terrace,  by  stairs  ten  feet  wide . 
The  whole  pile  was  sustained  by  vast  arches,  raised  upon  other  arches,  one 
ftbove  another,  and  strengthened  by  a  wall  twenty  two  feet  thick,  surrounding  it 
on  every  side.  On  the  top  of  the  arches  were  first  laid  large  flat  stones,  sixtet-n 
feet  long,  and  four  broad  ;  over  these  was  a  layer  of  reeds,  mixed  with  a  great 
quantity  of  bitumen,  upon  which  were  two  rows  of  bricks,  closely  cemented 
together  with  plaister.  The  whole  was  covered  with  thick  sheets  of  lead,  upon 
which  lay  the  mould  of  the  garden.  And  all  this  flooring  was  contrived  to 
keep  the  moisture  of  the  mould  from  running  through  the  arches.  The  mould, 
or  earth,  laid  here,  was  so  deep,  that  the  greatest  trees  might  take  root  in  it: 
and  with  such  the  terraces  were  covered,  as  well  as  with  all  other  plants  and 
flowers  that  were  proper  for  a  garden  of  pleasure.  In  the  upper  terrace  ther? 
was  an  engine,  or  kind  of  pump,  by  which  water  was  drawn  up  out  of  the  river, 
and  from  thence  the  whole  garden  was  watered.  In  the  spaces  between  thf 
•everal  arches,  upon  which  this  who^e  structure  rested,  were  lai^e  and  magni 
ficent  apartments,  that  were  very  light,  and  had  the  advantage  of  a  heautifui 
prospecl.t 

Amytis,  the  wife  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  having  been  bred  in  Media,  (for  she 
was  the  daughter  of  Astyages,  the  kizig  of  that  country,)  was  highly  pleased 
with  the  mountains  and  woody  parts  of  that  country.  And  as  she  desired  to 
have  something  like  it  in  Babylon,  Nebuchodonosor,  to  gratify  her,  caused 


*  Diod  1.  ii      9e,  97. 
f  Diod.  p.  98,  90     St»abf..  I.  x\ i.  p.  Qiiinl.  Curt.  1.  r  r.  1. 


HIJS'nmY  OF  TT!E 


this  prodigious  edifice  to  be  erected.*  Diodorus  gives  rr.udi  the  same  sorount 
of  the  matter,  but  without  naming  the  persons. 

V.  THE  TEMPLE  OF  BELUS. 

Another  of  the  great  works  at  Babylon  was  the  temple  of  Beius,  winch 
stood,  as  I  have  mentioned  already,  near  the  old  palace. t  U  was  most  re- 
markable for  a  prodigious  tower  that  stood  in  the  middle  of  it.  At  the  foun 
dation,  according  to  Herodotus,  it  was  a  square  of  a  furlong  on  each  side,  thai 
18,  half  a  mile  in  the  whole  compass  ;  and,  according  to  Strabo,  it  was  also  a 
furlong  in  height.  It  consisted  of  eight  towers,  built  one  above  the  other  ;  and 
because  it  decreased  gradually  to  the  top,  Strabo  calls  the  whole  a  pyramid. 
It  is  not  only  asserted,  but  proved,  that  this  tower  far  exceeded  the  greatest  of 
the  pyramids  of  Egypt  \n  height.  Therefore  we  have  good  reason  to  believe, 
a3  Bochartus  asserts,  that  this  is  the  very  same  tower  which  was  built  there 
at  the  confusion  of  languages  ;  and  the  rath<  *,  because  it  is  attested  by  several 
profane  authors,  that  this  tower  was  entirely  built  of  bricks  and  bitumen,  as 
the  Scripture  says  the  tower  of  Babel  was.  The  ascent  to  the  top  was  by  stairs 
round  the  outsicie  of  it ;  that  is,  perhaps,  there  was  an  easy  sloping  ascent  In 
the  side  of  the  outer  wall,  which  turning  by  very  slow  degrees  in  a  spiral  line 
eight  times  round  the  tow^er  from  the  bottom  to  the  top,  had  the  same  appear- 
ance as  if  there  had  been  eight  towers  placed  upon  one  another.  In  these 
different  stories  were  many  large  rooms,  with  arched  roofs  supported  by  pil- 
lars. Over  the  whole,  on  the  top  of  the  tower,  was  an  observatory,  by  means  of 
which  the  Babylonians  became  more  expert  in  astronomy  than  all  other  nations, 
and  made  in  a  short  time  the  great  progress  in  it  ascribed  to  them  in  history.J 

But  the  chief  use  to  which  this  tower  was  designed,  was  the  worship  of  the 
god  Belus,  or  Baal,  as  also  that  of  several  other  deities  :  for  which  reason  there 
was  a  multitude  of  chapels  in  the  different  parts  of  the  tower.  The  riches  of 
this  temple  in  statues,  tables,  censers ,%cups,  and  other  sacred  vessels,  all  of 
massy  gold,  were  immense.  Among  other  images,  there  was  one  of  forty  leet 
high,  which  weighed  a  thousand  Babylonish  talents.  The  Babylonish  talent, 
according  to  Pollux,  in  his  Onomasticon,  contained  seven  thousand  Attic 
drachmas,  and  consequently  was  a  sixth  part  more  than  the  Attic  talent,  which 
contains  but  six  thousand  drachmas. 

According  to  the  calculation  which  Diodorus  makes  of  the  riches  contained 
in  this  temple,  the  sum  total  amounts  to  six  thousand  three  hundred  Babylo- 
nish talents  of  gold. 

The  sixth  part  of  six  thousand  three  hundred,  is  one  thousand  and  fifty  : 
consequently,  six  thousand  three  hundred  Babylonish  talents  of  gold,  are  equi 
valent  to  seven  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty  Attic  talents  of  gold. 

Now,  seven  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty  Attic  talents  of  silver,  are 
worth  upwards  of  two  millions  and  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling.  The 
proportion  between  gold  and  silver  among  the  ancients,  we  reckon  as  ten  to 
one  ;  therefore,  seven  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty  Attic  talents  of  goU) 
aiiiount  to  above  one-and- twenty  millions  sterling.§ 

This  temple  stood  till  the  time  of  Xerxes ;  but  he  on  nis  return  from  his 
Grecian  expedition,  demolished  it  entirely,  after  having  first  plundered  it  of 
all  its  immense  riches.  Alexander,  on  his  return  to  Babylon  from  his  Indian 
expedition,  purposed  to  have  rebuilt  it ;  and,  in  order  thereto  set  ten  ihou- 
saiKl  men  to  work,  to  rid  the  place  of  its  rubbish  ;  but  after  ihej  niad  laboured 
herein  two  months,  Alexander  died,  and  that  put  an  end  to  the  undertaking.!! 

Such  were  the  chief  works  which  rendered  Babylon  so  famous.  Some  ot 
them  are  ascribed  by  profane  authors  to  Semiramis,  to  whose  history  it  is  now 
time  to  return. 

When  she  had  finished  all  these  great  undertakings,  she  thought  proper  to 
make  a  tou  :  t\irough  the  several  parts  of  her  empire ;  and.  wherever  she  came, 

♦  Beroj.  ap.  Jo*,  con.  App.  1.  i.  c.  6.       |  Herod.  1.  i.  c.  181.    Dlod.  1.  ii.  p.  98.    Strabo,  1.  Kvi.  p  19$ 
X  Phal.  part  I.Li.  c.  9.  {  |93,240,000. 

il  ffenid.  1.  i.  c.  H3.    Strabo.  I.  xr-  #.  738.    Arr5an.  1.  vil.  p.  4«0 


279 


ied  monuments  of  her  magnificence,  by  majy  noble  structures  which  she  erect- 
ed, either  for  the  convenience  or  ornament  o^  her  cities  ;  she  applied  herself 
particularly  to  have  water  brought  by  aqueducts  to  such  places  as  wanted  it,  and 
to  make  the  highways  easy,  by  cutting  through  mountains,  and  filling  up  val- 
itys.  In  the  time  of  Diodorus,  there  were  still  monuments  to  be  seen  in  many 
places,  with  her  name  inscribed  upon  them.* 

The  authority  this  queen  had  over  her  people  seems  very  extraordinary, 
5ince  we  find  her  presence  alone  capable  of  appeasing  a  sedition.!  One  day, 
as  she  was  dressing  herself,  word  was  brought  her  of  a  tumult  in  the  city. 
►  Whereupon  she  went  out  immediately,  with  her  head  half  dressed,  and  did 
not  return  till  the  disturbance  was  entirely  appeased.  A  statue  was  erected 
in  remembrance  of  this  action,  representing  hei  in  that  very  condition  and  un- 
diess,  which  had  not  hindered  her  from  flying  to  her  duty. 

Not  satisfied  with  the  vast  extent  of  dominions  left  her  by  her  husband,  she 
enlarged  them  by  the  conquest  of  a  great  part  of  Ethiopia.  While  she  was 
in  that  country,  she  had  the  curiosity  to  visit  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Ammon, 
to  inquire  of  the  oracle  how  long  she  had  to  live.  According  to  Diodorus,  the 
answer  she  received  was,  that  she  should  not  die  till  her  son  Ninyas  conspired 
against  her ;  and  that  after  her  death,  one  part  of  Asia  would  pay  her  divine 
honours. 

Her  greatest  and  last  expedition  was  against  India.  On  this  occasion  she 
raised  an  innumerable  army  out  of  all  the  provinces  of  her  empire,  and  ap- 
pointed Bactra  for  the  rendezvous.  As  the  strength  of  the  Indians  consisted 
chiefly  in  their  great  number  of  elephants,  this  artful  queen  had  a  multitude 
of  camels  accoutred  in  the  form  of  elephants,  in  hopes  of  deceiving  the  enemy. 
It  is  said  that  Perseus  long  after  used  the  same  stratagem  against  the  Romans, 
but  neitherof  them  succeeded  in  this  design.  The  Indian  king,  having  notice 
of  her  approach^  sent  ambassadors  to  ask  her  who  she  was,  and  with  what 
right,  having  never  received  any  injuiy  from  him,  she  came  wantonly  to  at- 
tack his  dominions ;  adding,  that  her  boldness  should  soon  meet  with  the 
punishment  it  deserved.  Tell  your  master,  replied  the  queen,  that  in  a  little 
time  I  myself  will  let  him  know  who  I  am.  She  advanced  immediately  to- 
wards the  riverj:  from  which  the  country  takes  its  name ;  and  having  prepared 
a  sufficient  number  of  boats,  she  attempted  to  pass  it  with  her  army.  Their 
passage  was  a  long  time  disputed,  but  after  a  bloody  battle,  she  put  her  ene- 
mies to  flight.  More  than  a  thousand  of  their  boats  were  sunk,  and  above  a 
hundred  thousand  of  their  men  taken  prisoners.  Encouraged  by  this  success, 
she  advanced  directly  into  the  country,  leaving  sixty  thousand  men  behind  to 
guard  the  bridge  of  boats  which  she  had  built  over  the  river.  This  was  just 
what  the  king  desired,  who  fled  on  purpose  to  bring  her  to  an  engagement  in 
the  heart  of  his  country.  As  soon  as  he  thought  her  far  enough  advanced,  he 
faced  about,  and  a  second  engagement  ensued,  more  bloody  than  the  first 
The  disguised  camels  could  not  long  sustain  the  shock  of  the  elephants,  which 
routed  her  army,  crushing  whatever  came  in  their  way.  Semiramis  did  all 
that  could  be  done  to  rally  and  encourage  her  troops,  but  in  vain.  The  king, 
perceiving  her  engaged  in  the  fight,  advanced  towards  her,  and  wounded  her 
m  two  places,  but  not  mortally.  The  swiftness  of  her  horse  soon  carried  her 
beyond  the  reach  of  her  enemies.  As  her  men  crowded  to  the  bridge,  to  re- 
pass the  river,  great  numbers  of  them  perished,  through  the  disorder  and  con- 
fusion unavoidable  on  such  occasions.  When  those  that  could  save  themselves 
were  safely  over,  she  destroyed  the  bridge,  and  by  that  means  slopped  the 
•nemy  ;  and  the  king  likewise,  in  obedience  to  an  oracle,  had  given  orders  to 
his  troops  not  to  pass  the  river,  nor  pursue  Semiramis  any  farther.  The  queen, 
having  made  an  exchange  of  prisoners  at  Bactra,  returned  to  her  own  doniin- 
lons  with  scarcely  one  third  of  her  army,  which,  according  to  Ctesias,  consisted 
of  three  hundred  thousand  foot,  and  fifty  thousand  horse,  besides  the  camels 
and  chariots  armed  for  war,  of  which  she  had  a  very  considerable  number. 


•  Dioa       X  p.  100  ^102.  t  Val.  Max.  l.b  \x.  c  S.  i  Ud-^. 


280 


rirsTORY  or  i  hs 


She,  and  Alexander  after  her,  wf ''e  the  only  persons  that  ever  ventured  to  CAnnr 
the  war  bej^ond  the  river  Indus. 

I  must  own  I  am  somewhat  puzzled  with  a  difficulty  which  may  be  raised 
against  the  extraordinary  things  related  of  Ninus  and  Semiramis,  as  tliey  do 
not  seem  to  agree  with  the  tim.es  so  near  the  deluge  ;  such  vast  armies,  1  mean, 
such  a  numerous  cavalry,  so  many  chariots  armed  with  scythes,  and  such  im- 
mense treasures  of  gold  and  silver,  all  which  seem  to  be  of  a  later  date.  The 
same  thing  may  likewise  be  said  of  the  magnificence  of  the  buildings  ascribe*! 
to  them.  It  is  probable  the  Greek  historians,  who  came  so  many  ages  after- 
wards, deceived  by  the  similarity  of  names,  through  their  ignorance  in  chro- 
nology, and  the  resemblance  of  one  event  to  another,  may  have  ascribed  to 
more  ancient  princes,  such  acts  as  belonged  to  those  of  a  later  date  ;  or  may 
have  attributed  a  number  of  exploits  and  enterprises  to  one,  which  ought  tc 
be  divided  among  a  series  of  them,  succeeding  one  another. 

Semiramis,  some  time  after  her  return,  discovered  that  her  son  was  plotting 
against  her,  and  one  of  her  principal  officers  had  offered  him  assistance.  She 
then  called  to  mind  the  oracle  of  Jupiter  Ammon,  and  believing  that  her  end 
approached,  without  inflicting  any  punishment  on  the  officer,  who  was  taken 
into  custody,  she  voluntarily  abdicated  the.  throne,  put  the  government  into 
the  hands  of  her  son,  and  withdrew  from  the  sight  of  men,  hoping  speedily  to 
have  divine  honours  paid  to  her,  according  to  the  promise  of  the  oracle.  And 
indeed  we  are  told  she  was  worshipped  by  the  Assyrians  under  the  form  of  a 
dove.    She  lived  sixty-two  years,  of  which  she  reigned  forty-two. 

There  are  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Belles  Lettres,  two  learnet? 
dissertations  upon  the  Assyrian  empire,  and  particularly  on  the  reign  and  ac- 
tions of  Semiramis.* 

What  Justin!  says  of  Semiramis,  namely,  that  after  her  husband's  decease, 
not  daiing  either  to  commit  the  government  to  her  son,  who  was  then  too  young, 
or  openly  to  take  it  upon  herself,  she  governed  under  the  name  and  authority 
of  Ninyas ;  and  that,  after  having  reigned  in  that  manner  more  than  forty 
ears,  falling  passionately  in  love  with  her  own  son,  she  endeavoured  to  bring 
im  to  a  criminal  compliance,  and  was  slain  by  him  ;  all  this  is  so  void  of  every 
appearance  of  truth,  that  to  undertake  to  confute  it,  would  be  but  losing  time. 
It  must,  however,  be  owned,  that  almost  all  the  authors  who  have  spoken  of 
Semiramis,  give  us  but  a  disadvantageous  idea  of  her  chastity. 

I  do  not  know  but  the  glorious  reign  of  this  queen,  might  partly  induce 
PlatoJ  to  maintain  in  his  commonwealth,  that  w^omen,  as  well  as  men,  should 
be  admitted  into  the  management  of  public  affiairs,  the  conducting  of  armies, 
and  the  government  of  states  ;  and,  by  necessary  consequence,  ought  to  be 
trained  up  in  the  same  exercises  as  men,  as  well  for  the  forming  of  the  body 
as  the  mind.  Nor  does  he  so  much  as  except  tho?e  exercises,  wherein  it  was 
customary  to  fight  perfectly  naked,  alleging,  that  the  virtue  of  the  sex  would 
be  a  sufficient  covering  for  them.§ 

t  is  just  matter  of  astonishment  to  find  a  philosopher  so  judicious  in  other 
respects,  openly  combating  the  most  common  and  most  natural  maxims  of  mo- 
desty and  decency,  which  virtues  are  the  principal  ornament  of  the  sex,  and 
insisting  *so  strongly  upon  a  principle,  sufficiently  confuted  by  the  constant 
practice  of  all  ages,  and  of  almost  all  nations  in  the  world. 

Aristotle,  wiser  in  this  than  his  master  Plato,  without  doing  the  least  injus- 
tice to  the  real  merit  and  essential  qualities  of  the  sex,  has  with  great  judg- 
ment marked  out  the  diffisrent  ends  to  which  man  and  woman  are  ordained, 
from  the  different  qualities  of  body  and  mind  wherewith  they  are  endowed  by 
the  Author  of  Nature,  who  has  given  the  one  strength  of  body,  and  intre- 
pidity of  mind,  to  enable  him  to  undergo  the  greatest  hardships,  and  face  the 
most  imminent  dangers ;  while  the  other,  on  the  contrary,  is  of  a  weak  and 
delicate  constitution,  accompanied  with  a  natural  softness  and  modest  timidity, 


•  Vol  HI.  p.  313,  &c.  t  I-'b-  i.  c.  2.  I  Lib.  v.  d^.  lUp.  p.  4;l--4i7 


£^81 


f^liich  render  her  more  fit  for  a  sedentary  life,  and  dispose  her  to  keep  within 
the  precincts  of  the  house,  to  employ  herself  in  a  prudent  and  industrious 
economy.* 

Xenophon  is  of  the  same  opinion  with  Aristotle,  and  in  order  to  set  off  the 
occupation  of  the  wife,  who  confines  herself  within  her  house,  agreeably  com- 
pares her  to  the  mother-bee,  commonly  called  the  queen  of  the  bees,  who  alone 
^overn^  and  has  the  superintendence  of  the  whole  hive  ;  who  distributes  all 
Iheir  employments,  encourages  their  industry,  presides  over  the  building  of 
J^ieir  jittle  cells,  takes  care  of  the  nourishment  and  subsistence  of  her  nume- 
rous family  ;  regulates  the  quantity  of  honey  appointed  for  that  purpose,  and 
at  tixed  and  j>roper  seasons  sends  abroad  the  new  swarms  in  colonies  to  relieve 
and  discharge  the  hive  of  its  superfluous  inhabitants.  He  remarks,  with  Aris- 
totle, the  difference  of  constitution  and  inclinations,  designedly  given  by  the 
Author  of  Nature  to  man  and  woman,  to  point  out  to  each  of  them  their 
proper  and  respective  offices  and  functions.! 

This  allotment,  far  from  degrading  or  lessening  the  woman,  is  really  for  her 
advantage  and  honour,  in  confiding  to  her  a  kind  of  domestic  empire  and  go- 
vernment, administered  only  by  gentleness,  reason,  equity,  and  good  nature  ; 
and  in  giving  her  frequent  occasions  to  exert  the  most  valuable  and  excellent 
qualities  under  the  inestimable  veil  of  modesty  and  submission.  For  it  must 
ingenuously  be  owned,  that  at  all  times,  and  in  all  conditions,  there  have  been 
women  who  by  a  real  and  solid  merit,  have  distinguished  themselves  above 
*heir  sex  ;  as  there  have  been  innumerable  i'^stances  of  men,  who,  by  their 
defects  have  dishonoured  theirs.  But  these  are  only  particular  cases,  which 
form  no  rule,  and  which  ought  not  to  prevail  against  an  establishment  founded 
in  nature,  and  prescribed  by  the  Creator  himself. 

NiNYAS.  This  prince  was  in  no  respect  like  those  from  whom  he  descended, 
and  to  whose  throne  he  succeeded.  Wholly  intent  upon  his  pleasures,  he  kept 
himself  shut  up  in  his  palace,  and  seldom  showed  himself  to  his  people.  To 
keep  them  in  their  duty,  he  had  always  at  Nineveh  a  certain  number  of  regu- 
lar troops,  furnished  every  year  from  the  several  provinces  of  his  empire,  at 
the  expiration  of  which  term  they  were  succeeded  by  the  like  number  of  other 
troops  on  the  same  conditions ;  the  king,  placing  a  commander  at  the  head  of 
them,  on  wliose  fidelity  he  could  depend.  He  made  use  of  this  method,  that 
the  officei^  might  not  have  time  to  gain  the  affections  of  the  soldiers,  and  so 
form  any  conspiracies  against  him. J 

His  successors  for  thirty  generations  followed  his  example,  and  even  ex- 
ceeded him  in  indolence.  Their  history  is  absolutely  unknown,  no  vestige  of 
it  remaining. 

In  Abraham's  time,  the  Scripture  speaks  of  Amraphael,  king  of  Sennaar, 
the  country  where  Babylon  was  situated,  who,  with  two  other  princes,  followed 
Chedorlaomer,  king  of  the  Elamites,  whose  tributary  he  probably  w^as,  in  the 
war  carried  on  by  the  latter  against  five  kings  of  the  land  of  Canaan.^ 

It  was  under  the  government  of  these  inactive  princes,  that  Sesostris,  king 
of  Egypt,  extended  his  conquests  so  far  in  the  East.  But  as  his  power  was 
of  short  duration,  and  not  supported  by  his  successors,  the  \ssyrian  empire 
soon  returned  to  its  former  state. 1| 

Plato,  a  curious  observer  of  antiquities,  makes  the  kingdom  of  Troy,  in  the 
time  of  Priam,  dependent  on  the  A^ssyrian  empire.  And  Ctesias  says  that 
Teutamus,  the  twentieth  king  after  Ninyas,  sent  a  considerable  body  of  troops 
to  the  assistance  of  the  Trojans,  under  the  conduct  of  Memnon,  the  son  of 
Tithonus,  at  ^he  c*ime  yvhen  the  Assyrian  empire  had  subsisted  above  a  thou- 
sand ye^rs  ;  which  agrees  exactly  with  the  time  wherein  I  have  placed  the 
foundation  t  f  that  empire. ^IF  But  the  silence  of  Homer  concerning  so  mighty 
a  people,  and  which  must  necessarily  have  been  well  known,  renders  this  fac* 


♦  De  Cura  Rei  Fam.  1.  i.  c.  3.  t  I>e  Administr.  "Oom.  p.  83S.  i  Diod.  1.  ii.  p.  108 

i  A.  M.  209-2.    Ant.  .1,  C.  191?,  ||  A.  M.  2513.    Ant.  J.  C.  H91 

IT  A.  M.  nil).    Ant.  .1.  C.  11S4     r>e  Le^.  I.  -  i.  p.  finS 


HISTORY  OP  THE 

exceedingly  doubtful.  And  it  must  be  owned,  that  whatever  relates  to  th« 
times  of  the  ancient  history  of  the  Assyrians  is  attended  with  great  difficulties, 
into  which  my  plan  does  not  permit  me  to  enter. 

PuL.  The  Scripture  informs  us,  that  Pul,  king  of  Assyria,  being  come  into 
the  land  of  Israel,  had  a  thousand  talents  of  silver  given  him  by  Menahem» 
king  of  the  ten  tribes,  to  engage  him  to  lend  him.assistance,  and  secure  him 
on  his  throne.* 

This  Pul  is  supposed  to  be  the  king  of  Nineveh,  who  repented,  with  all 
people^  at  the  preaching  of  Jonah. 

He  is  also  thought  to  be  the  father  of  Sardanapalus,  the  last  kingo^  the  As- 
syrians, called,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  eastern  nations,  Sardan-pul ; 
that  is  to  say,  Sardan  the  son  of  Pul. 

Sardanapalus. t  This  prince  surpassed  all  his  predecessors  in  effeminacy, 
luxury,  and  cowardice.  He  never  went  out  of  his  palace,  but  spent  all  of  his 
time  among  a  company  of  women,  dressed  and  painted  like  them,  and  em- 
ployed like  them  at  the  distaff.  He  placed  all  his  happiness  and  glory  in  the 
possession  of  immense  treasures,  in  feasting  and  rioting,  and  indulging  himself 
in  all  the  most  infamous  and  criminal  pleasures.  He  ordered  two  verses  to  be 
put  upon  his  tomb  when  he  died,  which  imported,  that  he  carried  away  with 
him  all  that  he  had  eaten,  and  all  the  pleasures  he  had  enjoyed,  but  left  ail 
the  rest  behind  him. 

Haec  habeo  quae  edi,  quaeque  cxsaturata  libido 
Hausit :  at  ilia  jacent  multa  et  praeclara  relicta4 

An  epitaph,  says  Aristotle,  fit  for  a  hog. 

Arbaces,  governor  of  Media,  having  found  means  to  get  into  the  palace,  and 
with  his  own  eyes  to  see  Sardanapalus  in  the  midst  of  an  infamous  seraglio, 
enraged  at  such  a  scene,  and  not  able  to  endure  that  so  many  brave  men  should 
be  subject  to  a  prince  more  soft  and  effeminate  than  the  women  themselves, 
immediately  formed  a  conspiracy  against  him.  Belesis  governor  of  Babylon, 
and  several  others,  entered  into  it.  On  the  first  rumour  of  this  revolt,  the  king 
hid  himself  in  the  inmost  part  of  his  palace.  Being  obliged  afterwards  to  tako 
the  field  with  some  forces  which  he  had  assembled,  he  was  overcome  and  pui- 
sued  to  the  gates  of  Nineveh  ;  wherein  he  shut  himself,  in  hopes  the  rebels 
would  never  be  able  to  take  a  city  so  well  fortified,  and  stored  with  provisions 
for  a  considerable  time :  the  siege  proved  indeed  of  very  great  length.  It  had 
been  declared  by  an  ancient  oracle,  that  Nineveh  could  never  be  taken,  unless 
the  river  became  an  enemy  to  the  city.  These  words  buoyed  up  Sardanapa- 
lus, because  he  looked  upon  the  thing  as  impossible.  But  when  he  saw  that 
the  Tigris  by  a  violent  inundation,  had  thrown  down  twenty  stadia§  of  the  city 
wall,  and,  by  that  means  opened  a  passage  to  the  enemy,  he  understood  the 
meaning  of  the  oracle,  and  thought  himself  lost.  He  resolved,  however,  to  die 
in  such  a  manner,  as,  according  to  his  opinion,  should  cover  the  infamy  of  his 
scandalous  and  effeminate  life.  He  ordered  a  pile  of  wood  to  be  made  in  his 
palace,  and  setting  fire  to  it,  burnt  himself,  his  eunuchs,  his  women,  and  his 
treasures. II  Athenseus  makes  these  treasures  amount  to  a  thousand  myriads 
of  talents  of  gold,1[  and  ten  times  as  many  talents  of  silver,  wnich,  without 
reckoning  any  thing  else,  is  a  sum  that  exceeds  all  credibility.  A  myriad 
contains  ten  thousand ;  and  one  single  myriad  of  talents  of  silver  t§  worth 
thirty  millions  of  French  money,  or  about  six  millions  two  lijndred  and  six- 
teen thousand  dollars.  A  man  is  lost  if  he  attempts  to  sum  up  the  whole 
value  ;  which  induces  me  to  believe  that  Athenasus  must  have  very  much  ex 
aggerated  in  his  computation  ;  we  may,  however,  be  assured  from  his  accounJ 
that  the  treasures  were  immensely  great. 


•  A.  M.  3233.    Ant.  J.  C.  771.    2  Kin^s  xv.  19. 
t  Diod.  1.  ii.  p.  109—115.    Ath.  1.  xii.  p.  529,  530.    Just.  1.  i.  c.  3. 
t  Kcrv*  Ix"  "oflTO-*  Jq^ayov,  xal  l(p6€ji(Ta,  vat  ^£t'  Jjcotoj  TtfTrv'  'nrahv  T(i(5f'  roKKa.  xal  6K^^a  vavrt. 
kt'kEivrai     Ctoid  aliud,  inquit  Aristotele*,  in  bovis,  non  in  regis  sepulchro,  inscriberes  ?    Haec  habere  ft 
»9rtiium  Aicit.  quae  ne  vivis  quidem  diutius  habenat,  quam  frgcbattir. — Cic.  Tusc.  Q,ua!st.  lib.  v.  n.  10| 
I  TwQ  wilet  »7d  a  b^lf.  j?  A-  M.  3-357-    Apt.  J.  C.  747.  Ahnvi  $  6.216.000,000 


ASSYRIAN!! 


PluUrch,  :n  nis  second  treatise,  dedicated  to  the  praise  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  wherein  he  exaniines  in  what  the  true  greatness  of  princes  consists,  a^ 
ter  having  shown  that  it  can  arise  from  nothing  but  their  own  personal  merit, 
confinns  it  by  two  different  examples,  taken  from  the  history  of  the  Assyrians/ 
Semiramis  and  Saidanapalus,  says  he,  both  governed  the  same  kingdom;  both 
had  the  same  people,  the  same  extent  of  country,  the  same  revenues,  the  same 
forces  and  number  of  troops ;  but  they  had  not  the  same  dispositions,  ror  the 
same  views.  Semiramis  raising  herself  above  her  sex,  built  magniticent  cities, 
equipped  fleets,  armed  legions,  subdued  neighbouring  nations,  penetrated  inio 
Arabia  and  Ethiopia,  and  carried  her  victorious  arms  to  the  extremities  of  Asia, 
spreading  consternation  and  terror  every  where  ;  whereas  Sardanapalus,  as  if 
ie  had  entirely  renounced  his  sex,  spent  all  his  time  in  the  heart  of  his  palace, 
perpetually  surrounded  with  a  company  of  women,  whose  habit,  and  even 
manners  he  had  taken,  applying  himself  with  them  to  the  spindle  and  the  dis- 
taff, neither  understanding  nor  doing  any  thing  else  than  spinning,  eating,  and 
drinking,  and  revelling  in  all  manner  of  infamous  pleasure.  Accordingly,-  a 
statue  was  erected  to  him  after  his  death,  which  represented  him  in  the  pos- 
ture of  a  danc^,  with  an  inscription  upon  it,  in  which  he  addiessed  himself 
to  the  spectator  in  these  words:  Eat^drink^  and  he  merry;  every  thing  else  is 
nothing.^  An  inscription  very  suitable  to  the  epitaph  he  hiraselif  had  ordered 
to  be  put  upon  his  monument. 

Plutarch  in  this  place  judges  of  Semiramis,  as  almost  all  the  profane  histo- 
rians do  of  the  glory  of  conquerors.  But  to  judge  correctly,  it  would  be 
proper  for  us  to  ask,  was  the  unbounded  ambition  of  that  queen  much  less  cul- 
pable than  the  dissolute  effeminacy  of  Sardanapalus  ?  which  of  the  two  vices 
was  most  injurious  to  mankind  ? 

We  are  not  to  wonder  that  the  Assyrian  empire  should  fall  under  such  a 
prince ;  but  undoubtedly  it  was  not  till  after  having  passed  through  various 
augmentations,  diminutions,  and  revolutions,  common  to  all  states,  even  to  the 
greatest,  during  the  course  of  several  ages.  This  empire  had  subsisted  about 
1450  years. 

Of  the  ruins  of  this  vast  empire,  were  formed  three  considerable  kingdoms ; 
that  of  the  Medes,  which  Arbaces,  the  principal  head  of  the  conspiracy,  re- 
stored to  its  liberty  ;  that  of  the  Assyrians  of  Babylon,  which  was  given  to 
Belesis,  governor  of  that  city;  and  that  of  the  Assyrians  of  Nineveh,  whose 
first  king  took  the  name  of  Ninus  the  i^ounger. 

In  order  to  understand  the  history  of  the  second  Assyrian  empire,  which  is 
very  obscure,  and  of  which  little  is  said  by  historians,  it  is  proper,  and  even 
absolutely  necessary,  to  compare  what  is  said  of  it  by  profane  authors  with 
what  we  find  of  it  in  holy  Scripture ;  that  by  the  help  of  that  double  light  we 
may  have  the  clearer  idea  of  the  two  empires  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  which 
for  some  time  were  separate  and  distinct,  but  afterwards  united  and  con* 
founded  together,  I  shall  first  treat  of  the  secoad  Assyrian  empire,  and  then 
return  io  the  kingdom  of  the  Medes. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  SECOND  ASSlrRiAt?  EMPIRE,  BOTH  OF 
NIHSVEH  AI^B  BABYIiON. 

This  second  Assyrian  empire  continued  two  hundred  and  ten  years,  reckon 
ing  to  the  year  in  which  Cyrus,  who  was  become  absolute  master  of  the  East, 
by  the  death  of  his  father  Cambyses.  and  his  father-in-law  Cyaxares,  published 
ihe  famous  edict  whereby  the  Jews  were  permitted  to  return  into  their  own 
Ciumtiy,  after  a  captivity  of  seventy  years  at  Babylon. 


*  P^jfe  335,  336. 


)  'EcO.j.  Tr»f.  h-^fodi  jlx'li'  T5Ua  3i 


m&TORY  OF  THE 

f8l 


KIJfGS  OF  BABYLON.  I 

Hezekiah,  to^^o^g^ftir  himTh^  Babylon,  ^vith 

XsVsrojt^re^Sl^S^^^^^^^^^        I  shall  thereLe  proceed  to  the 
Lings  of  iSineveh.  | 


KINGS  OF  NINEVEH. 


Uire  who  .s  !"PP°f  i  °  ^f,^^^^^^^^^^^  Thilgamus  by  ^lian.  He 

°H  S  t,ave  taf  en  th^e  name  of  Ninus  the  Younger,  in  order  to  honour  and 
,s  said  to  have  taken  «e  "^i  ^       ^^^^       illustrious  a  prince.  , 

distinguish  his  reign     tne  name  oi  i„,piety  could  not  be  reclaimed, 

f WIS  slESr;^^^^^^ 

by  the  k>ng^  of  Syrm  aM  israe^^^^^^  F.^  fiiendship  and  assistance  ; 

longed  to  the  kingdom    J«>^f  *  .^/Jf  ""^  f^^^^^^^  such  exorbitant 

Salmanasar.11   c^aoacu^,  uik:  i^iin^^     ,         Somaria  entered  into  an  alii-  ^. 
made  himself  master  ot  FCTt,  J'K.X  StS^^        Tothij  i 

''f,lmlr,ard£  after  ba.ing  reig.ed  fourteen  years,  and  w„  s.ceeeded 

by  his  son»    . 


*fiK:^:l'^^o,,\.S.       ^A.M.S2-,6.    AD..J.C.7-3S.   2Ki»r.x"i.  «T<A.t..W». 


ASSYRIANS. 


285 


SEifNACttERiB.*  He  is  also  called  Sargon  m  Scripture  Xr  soon  as  this  prince 
•ras  settled  on  the  throne,  he  renewed  the  demand  of  Ihe  tribute  exacted  by 
his  father  from  Hezekiah.  Upon  his  refusal,  he  declared  war  against  him,  and 
entered  into  Judea  with  a  mighty  army.  Hezekiah,  grieved  to  see  his  king- 
dom pillaged,  sent  ambassadors  to  him,  to  desire  peace  upon  any  terms  he 
would  prescribe.  Sennacherib,  seemingly  pacified,  entered  into  treaty  with 
him,  aiifi  demanded  a  very  great  sum  of  gold  and  silver.  The  holy  king  ex- 
hausted both  the  treasures  of  the  temple,  and  his  own  roffers,  to  pay  it.  The 
Assyrian,  regarding^  neither  the  sanction  of  oaths  nor  treaties,  still  continued 
^.he  war,  and  pushed  on  his  conquests  more  vigorously  than  ever.  Nothing  was 
able  to  withstand  his  power;  and  of  all'the  strong  places  of  Judah,none  re- 
mained untaken  but  Jerusalem,  which  was  however  reduced  to  the  utmost  ex- 
tremity. At  this  very  juncture,  Sennacherib  was  informed  that  Tirhakah,  king 
of  Ethiopia,  who  haa  joined  forces  with  the  king  of  Egypt,  wa?  coming  up  tr 
succour  the  besieged  city.  Now,  it  was  contrary  to  the  express  command  ot 
God,  as  well  as  the  remonstrances  of  Isaiah  and  Hezekiah,  that  the  chief  ru- 
lers at  Jerusalem  had  required  any  foreign  assistance.  The  Assyrian  prince 
marched  immediately  to  meet  the  approaching  enemy,  after  having  written 
a  letter  to  Hezekiah,  full  of  blasphemy  against  the  God  of  Israel,  whom  he  in- 
solently boasted  he  would  speedily  vanquish,  as  he  had  done  all  the  gods  of 
the  other  nations  round  about  him.  In  short,  he  discomfited  the  Egyptians, 
and  pursued  them  even  into  their  own  country,  which  he  ravaged,  and  return- 
ed laden  with  spoil,  j 

It  was  probably  during  Sennacherib's  absence,  which  was  pretty  long,  or  at 
least  some  little  time  before,  that  Hezekiah  fell  sick,  and  was  cured  in  a  mi- 
raculous manner  ;  and  that,  as  a  sign  of  God's  fulfilling  the  promise  he  had 
made  him  of  curing  him  so  perfectly,  that  within  three  days  he  should  be  able 
to  go  to  the  temple,  the  shadow  of  the  sun  went  ten  degrees  backwards  upon 
the  dial  of  the  palace.  Merodach-Baladan,  king  of  Babylon,  being  informed 
'  oi  the  miraculous  cure  of  king  Hezekiah,  sent  ambassadors  to  him  with  letters 
and  presents,  to  congratulate  him  on  that  occasion,  and  to  acquaint  themselves 
with  the  miracle  that  had  happened  upon  earth  at  this  juncture,  with  respect 
to  the  sun's  retrogradation  ten  degrees.  Hezekiah  was  extremely  sensible  ol 
the  honour  done  nim  by  that  prince,  and  very  forward  to  show  his  ambassadors 
the  riches  and  treasures  he  possessed,  and  to  let  them  see  all  the  magnificence 
of  his  palace.J  Humanly  speaking,  there  was  nothing  in  this  proceeding  but 
what  was  allowable  and  commendable  ;  but  in  the  eyes  of  the  Supreme  Judge, 
which  are  infinitely  more  piercing  and  discriminating  than  ours,  this  action  dis- 
covered a  lurking  pride,  and  secret  vanity,  with  w^hich  his  righteousness  was 
offended.^  Accordingly,  he  instantly  informed  the  king,  by  his  ^TTophet  Isaiah, 
that  the  riches  and  treasures  he  had  been  showing  to  those  ambassadors  with  so 
much  ostentation,  should  one  day  be  transported  to  Babylon,  and  that  his  chil- 
dren should  be  carried  thither,  to  become  servants  in  the  palace  of  that  mon- 
arch. This  was  then  utterly  improbable  ;  for  Babylon,  at  the  time  we  are 
speaking  of,  was  in  friendship  and  alliance  with  Jerusalem,  as  appears  oy  her 
having  sent  ambassadors  thither ;  nor  did  Jerusalem  then  seem  to  -  ave  any 
thing  to  fear  but  from  Nineveh,  whose  power  was  at  that  time  formidable,  aii'd 
'aad  entirely  declared  against  her.  But  the  fortune  of  these  two  cities  was  to 
change,  and  the  word  of  God  was  literally  accomplished. 

But  to  r'^turn  to  Sennacherib  :  after  he  had  ravaged  Egypt,  and  taken  a  vas 
number  of  prisoners,  he  came  back  with  his  victorious  army,  encamped  before 
Jerusalem,  and  again  besieged  it.  The  city  seemed  to  be  inevitabfy  lost ;  it 
was  without  resource,  and  without  hope  from  the  hands  of  men,  but  had  a  pow- 
erful Protector  in  heaven,  whose  jealous  ears  had  heard  the  impious  blas- 
phemies uttered  by  thfi  king  of  Nineveh  against  his  sacred  name.  In  one  single 


*  A.  I\T.  32S'.    Ant.  J.  C.  *r.         >v.  1.    2  Kings,  xviii,  andxix. 
t  2  Kings  xix.  '  t  2  Kings,  xx.   3  Chron.  xxxii.  24—31. 


28G 


HtSrORY  OF  THE 


mght  a  hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand  men  of  his  army  perished  by  tiiQ 
»word  of  the  destroying  angel.*  After  so  terrible  a  blow,  this  pretended  king 
of  kings,  for  so  he  called  himself,  this  triumpher  over  nations,  and  conqueroi 
of  gods,  was  obliged  to  return  to  his  own  country,  with  the  miserable  remnant 
of  his  army,  covered  with  shame  and  confusion  ;  he  survived  his  defeat  only 
a  few  months,  as  a  just  retribution  to  an  offended  Gud,  whose  supreme  majesty 
he  had  presumed  to  insult,  and  who  now,  to  use  the  Scripture  terms,  having 
put  a  ringintohie  nose,  and  a  bit  into  his  mouth,  as  a  wild  beast,  made  him  re- 
turn in  that  humble  afflicted  condition,  through  those  very  countries  which  & 
little  before  had  beheld  him  so  haughty  and  imperious. 

Upon  his  return  to  JSineveh,  being  enraged  at  his  disgrace,  ne  treated  . his 
subjects  in  a  most  cruel  and  tyrannical  manner.  The  effects  of  his  fury  fell 
more  heavily  upon  the  Jews  and  Israelites,  of  whom  he  caused  great  numbers 
to  be  massacred  every  day,  ordering  their  bodies  lO  be  left  exposed  in  the 
streets,  and  suffering  no  man  to  give  them  burial.t  Tobit,  to  avoid  his  cru- 
elty, was  obliged  to  conceal  himself  for  some  time,  and  suffer  all  his  effects  to 
be  confiscated.  In  short,  the  king's  savage  temper  rendered  him  so  Insupport- 
able to  his  own  family,  that  his  two  eldest  sons  conspired  against  him,  and 
killed  him  in  the  temple,  in  Ihe  presence  of  his  god  Nisroch,  as  he  lajr  prostrate 
before  him.J  But  these  two  princes,  being  obliged,  after  this  parricide,  to  fly 
into  Armenia,  left  the  kingdom  to  Esar-haddon,  their  youngest  brother. 

EsAR-HADD0N.§  We  have  already  observed,  that  after  Merodach-Baladan. 
there  was  a  succession  of  kings  at  Babylon,  of  whom  history  has  transmitted 
nothing  but  the  names.  The  royal  family  becoming  extinct,  there  was  ar 
interregnum  of  eight  years,  full  of  troubles  and  commotions.  Esar-haddon 
taking  advantage  of  this  juncture,  made  himself  master  of  Babylon,  and  an- 
nexing it  to  his  former  dominions,  reigned  over  the  two  united  empires  thir- 
teen years. 

After  having  reunited  Syria  and  Palestine  to  the  Assyrian  empire,  which  .^ad; 
been  rent  from  it  in  the  preceding  reign,  he  entered  the  land  of  Israel,  where 
he  took  captive  as  many  as  were  left  there,  and  carried  them  into  Assyria, 
except  an  inconsiderable  number  that  escaped  his  pursuit.  And  that  the  coun-j 
try  might  not  become  a  desert,  he  sent  colonies  of  idolatrous  people,  taken  ouf 
01  the  countries  beyond  the  Euphrates,  to  dwell  in  the  cities  of  Samaria.  The 
prediction  of  Isaiah  was  then  fulfilled  ;  within  three  score  and  five  years  shall 
Ephraim  he  broken,  that  it  be  no  more  a  people  J\  This  was  exactly  the  spacei 
of  time  that  elapsed  between  the  prediction  and  the  event ;  and  the  people  of 
Israel  did  then  truly  cease  to  be  a  visible  nation,  what  was  left  to  them  being 
altogether  mixed  and  confounded  with  other  nations. 

This  prince,  having  possessed  himself  of  the  land  of  Israel,  sent  some  of  his 
generals  with  a  part  of  his  army  into  Judea,  to  reduce  that  country  likewise 
under  his  subjection.  These  generals  defeated  Manasseh,  and  having  taken 
him  prisoner,  brought  him  to  Esar-haddon,  who  put  him  in  chains,  and  car- 
ried him  to  Babylon.  But  Manasseh,  having  afterwards  appeased  tht  wrath 
of  God  by  a  sincere  and  lively  repentance,  obtained  his  liberty,  and  returned 
to  Jerusalem. IF 

Meantime,  the  colonies  that  had  been  sent  into  Samaria,  in  the  room  of  \\s 
.^ficient  inhabitants,  were  grievously  infested  with  lions.  The  king  of  Baby- 
Ion,  being  told  that  the  cause  of  this  calami-ty  was  their  not  worshiping  the  God 
of  the  country,  ordered  an  Israelitish  priest  to  be  sent  to  them,  from  among  the 
captives  taken  in  that  countiy,to  teach  them  the  worship  of  the  God  of  Israel. 
But  these  idolaters,  contented  with  admitting  the  true  God  among  their  an- 
cient divinities,  worshipped  him  jointly  with  their  false  gods.  This  comipf 
worship  continued  afterwards,  and  was  the  source  of  the  aversion  entertained 
bj  the  Jews  against  the  Samaritans.** 


•  2  Kings,  xix.  35—37.  t  Tobit,  i.  13—34.  %  2  Kings,  xk«.  47 

j  A.  M.  3294.    Ant.  J.  C.  710.    Cant.  PtoL  ||  lsa.rii.  a 

t  «Ch»04B,  Mxiii.  11,  13.  •*  2  Kiji«s,  xvii.  25.^-41. 


AS6VRIANS.  •  281 

Esar-haddon,  after  a  prosperous  reign  of  thirty-nine  years,  over  the  Assyrians. 
And  thirteen  over  the  Babylonians,  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 

Saosduc;hinus.*  This  prince  is  called  in  Scripture,  Nebuchodonosor,  which 
name  was  common  to  the  kings  of  Babylon.  To  distinguish  this  from  the 
otl  ers,  he  is  called  Nebuchodonosor  1. 

Tobit  was  still  alive  at  this  time,  and  dwelt  among  other  captives  at  Nine- 
veh. Perceiving  his  end  approaching,  he  foretold  to  his  children  the  sudden 
destruction  of  that  city,  of  which  there  ^vas  not  then  the  least  appearance,  fie 
advised  them  to  quit  the  city  before  its  ruin  came  on,  and  to  depart  as  soon  as 
fhey  had  buried  him  and  his  wife.j 

The  ruin  of  Nineveh  is  at  hand,  says  the  ^ood  old  man,  abide  no  longer  here, 
for  I  perceive  the  wickedness  of  the  city  will  occasion  its  destruction.  These 
last  words  are  very  remarkable,  the  wickedness  of  the  city  will  occasion  its  destruc- 
tion. Men  will  be  apt  to  impute  the  ruin  of  Nineveh  to  any  other  reason,  but 
we  are  taught  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  her  unrighteousness  was  the  true  cause 
of  it,  as  it  will  be  with  other  states  that  imitate  her  crimes. 

Nebuchodonosor  defeated  the  king  of  the  Medes  in  a  pitched  battle,  fough/ 
the  twelfth  year  of  his  reign,  upon  the  plain  of  Ragau ;  he  took  Ecbatana,  the 
capital  of  his  kingdom,  and  returned  triumphant  to  Nineveh.J  When  we  come 
to  treat  of  the  history  of  the  Medes,  we  shall  give  a  more  particular  account  oi 
this  victory. 

It  was  immediately  after  this  expedition,  that  Bethulia  was  besieged  by 
Holofernes,  one  of  Nebuchodonosor's  generals  ;  and  that  the  famous  enterprise 
of  Judith  was  accomplished. 

Saracus  otherwise  called  Ghyna-Ladanus.§  This  prince  succeeded  Sa- 
osduchinus,  and  having  rendered  himself  contemptible  to  his  subjects  by  his 
effeminacy,  and  the  little  care  he  took  of  his  dominions,  Nabopolassar,  a  Ba- 
bylonian by  birth,  and  general  of  his  army,  usurped  that  part  of  the  Assyrian 
empire,  and  reigned  over  it  one  and  twenty  years. 

Nabopolassar. II  This  prince,  the  better  to  maintain  his  usiirpc(i  sove- 
reignty, made  an  alliance  with  C>y  axares,  king  of  the  Medes.  With  their  joint 
forces  they  besieged  and  took  Nineveh,  killed  Saracus,  and  utterly  destroyc  i 
that  great  city.  We  shall  treat  more  extensively  of  this  great  event  when  wf 
come  to  the  history  of  the  Medes.  From  this  time  forward  the  city  of  Baby 
Ion  became  the  only  capital  of  the  Assyrian  empire. 

The  Babylonians  and  the  Medes,  having  destroyed  Nineveh,  became  so  for 
rnidable,  that  they  drew  upon  themselves  the  jealousy  of  all  their  neighbouae 
Necho,  king  of  Egypt,  was  so  alarmed  at  their  pov^^er,  that  to  stop  their  pro- 
gress, he  marched  towards  the  Euphrates,  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  and 
made  several  considerable  conquests.  See  the  history  of  the  Egyptians  for 
what  concerns  this  expedition,  and  the  consequences  that  attended  it. 

Nabopolassar  finding,  that,  after  the  taking  of  Carchemish,  by  Necho,  all 
Syria  and  Palestine  had  revolted  from  him,  and  neither  his  age  nor  infirmities 
permitting  him  to  go  in  person  to  recover  them,  he  made  his  son  Nebuchodo- 
nosor partner  with  him  in  the  empire,  and  sent  him  away  with  an  army,  to  re 
duce  those  countries  to  their  former  subjection.  If 

From  this  time  the  Jews  began  to  reckon  the  years  of  Nebuchodonosor,  viz. 
from  the  end  of  the  third  year  of  Jehoiakim,  king  of  Judah,  or  rather  froui 
the  beginning  of  the  fourth.  But  the  Babylonians  compute  the  reign  of  this 
prince  only  from  the  death  of  his  father,  which  happened  two  years  later.** 

Nebuchodonosor  II.  or  Nebuchadnezzar,  tt  This  prince  defeated  Necho's 
army  near  the  Euphrates,  and  retook  Carchemish.  From  thence  he  marched 
towards  Syria  and  Palestine,  and  reunited  those  provinces  to  his  dominions. 


♦  a.  M.  S335.    Ant.  J.  C.  669.  t  Tobit,  xiv.  5—13.  ♦  Judith,  i.  5,  6. 

{  A.  M.  S356.    Aot.  J.  C.  648.    Alex.  Polyhist.  i|  A.  M.  3578.    Ant.  J.  C.  626. 

T  Bcr»s.  apudl  Jottok  AkU^.  1.  x.  c.  11.  et  con.  Ap.  1.  i.  A.  M.  3398.    Act.  J.  C  69S 

ft  J«r-        2.   9  Kiny «,  xxiv  7. 


HISTORY  OF  THK 


He  likewise  entered  Judea,  besieged  Jerusalem,  and  took  it ;  be  caus*»d 
Jeboiakim  to  be  put  in  chains,  with  a  design  to  have  him  carried  to  Babylon; 
but  being  moved  with  his  repentance,  and  affliction,  he  restored  him  to  Tii?» 
Uirone.  Great  numbers  of  the  Jews,  and  among  them  some  children  of  the 
royal  family,  were  carried  captive  to  Babylon,  whither  all  the  treasures  of  the 
king's  palace  and  a  part  of  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  temple,  were  likewise 
transported.*  Thus  was  the  judgment  which  God  had  dt  tiounced  by  the 
propheV.  Isaiah  to  King  Hezekiah  accomplished.  From  this  famous  epoch^ 
which  was  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim  king  of  Judah,  we  are  to  date  the 
captivity  of  the  Jews  at  Babylon,  so  often  foretold  by  Jeremiah.  Daniel, 
then  but  eighteen  years  old,  was  carried  captive  among  the  rest,  and  Ezekiel 
some  time  after^vards. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  fifth  year  of  Jehoiakim,  Nabopolassar,  king  of  Baby- 
fon  died,  after  having  reigned  one  and  twenty  years.j  As  soon  as  his  son  Ne 
buchodonosor  was  informed  of  his  death,  he  set  out  with  all  'expedition  ihi 
Babylon,  taking  the  nearest  w^ay  through  the  desert,  attended  only  b}''  a  small 
retinue,  leaving  the  main  body  of  his  army  with  his  generals,  to  be  conducted 
to  Babylon  with  the  captives  and  spoils.  On  his  arrival  he  received  the  go- 
vernment from  the  hands  of  those  who  had  carefully  preserved  it  for  him,  and 
$0  succeeded  to  all  the  dominions  of  his  father,  which  comprehended  Chaldea, 
Assyria,  Arabia,  Syria,  and  Palestine,  over  which,  according  to  Ptolemy,  he 
reigned  forty-three  years. 

In  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign  he  had  a  dream,  at  which  he  was  greatly 
terrified,  though  he  could  not  call  it  again  to  mind. J  He  thereupon  consulted 
the  wise  men  and  diviners  of  his  kingdom,  requiring  of  them  to  make  known 
to  him  the  substance  of  his  dream.  They  all  answered,  that  it  was  beyond 
the  reach  of  their  art  to  divine  the  thing  itself,  and  that  the  utmost  they  could 
do  was  to  give  the  interpretation  of  his  dream,  when  he  had  made  it  known 
to  them.  As  absolute  princes  are  not  accustomed  to  mee't  with  opposition,  but 
^vill  be  obej^ed^  in  all  things,  Nebuchodonosor,  imagining  tnai  tbey  dealt  in- 
sincerely with  him,  fell  into  a  violent  rage,  and  condemned  them  all  to  death. 
Daniel  and  his  three  companions  were  included  in  the  sentence,  as  being  ranked 
among  the  wise  men.  But  Daniel,  having  first  invoked  his  God,  desired  to  be 
jntroduced  to  the  king,  to  whom  he  revealed  the  whole  substance  of  his  dream. 
'*  The  thing  thou  sawest,"  said  he,  "  was  an  image  of  an  enorm.ous  size,  and 
a  terrible  countenance.  The  head  thereof  was  of  ^^old,  the  breast  and  arms 
of  silver,  the  belly  and  thighs  of  brass,  and  the  feet  part  of  iron  and  part  oi 
clay.  And,  as  the  king  was  attentively  looking  upon  that  vision,  behold  a  stone 
was  cut  out  of  a  mountain,  without  hands,  and  the  stone  smote  the  image  upon 
his  feet,  and  brake  them  to  pieces ;  the  whole  image  was  ground  as  smal 
as  dust,  and  the  stone  became  a  great  mountain,  and  filled  the  whole  earth.'' 
When  Daniel  had  related  the  dream,  he  also  gave  the  king  the  interpretation 
thereof,  showing  him  that  it  signified  the  three  great  empires  which  were  to 
Brcceed  that  of  the  Assyrians,  namely,  the  Persian,  the  Grecian,  and  the  Ro- 
man, or,  according  to  some,  that  of  the  successors  of  Alexander  the  Great 
"  After  these  kingdoms,"  continued  Daniel,  "  shall  the  God  of  heaven  set  ud 
a  kingdom,  which  shall  never  be  destroyed;  and  this  kingdom  shall  not  be  left 
other  people,  but  shall  break  in  pieces  and  consume  all  these  kingdoms, 
and  shall  stand  for  ever."  By  which  Daniel  plainly  foretold  the  kingdom  oi 
Jesus  Christ.  The  king,  ravished  with  admiration  and  astonishment,  after  ha- 
ving acknowledged  and  loudly  declared,  that  the  God  of  the  Israelites  was  re- 
ally the  God  of  gods,  advanced  Daniel  to  the  highest  offices  in  the  kingdom, 
made  him  chief  of  the  governors  over  all  the  wise  men,  ruler  of  the  whole 
province  of  Babylon,  and  one  of  the  principal  lords  of  the  council,  that  al 


*  Dan.  i.  1—7     2  Chron.  xxxvi.  6,  7. 
t  Can.  Ptol.   Beros.  apud  Joseph.  Antiq.  1.  x.  c.  11.  el  con.  Ap.  1.  *. 
X  A.  M.3401.    Ant.  J.  C.  603.    Pan.  ©i  ii. 


ASSYRIANS. 


28y 


vvijs  Mp.ndi^A  the  court.   His  three  friends  were  also  promoted  to  honours  and 

At  this  time  Jehoiakim  revolted  from  the  kingdom  of  Babylon,  whose  gene- 
Tils  that  were  still  in  Judea,  marched  against  him,  and  committed  all  kinds  of 
lostiiitie?  upon  his  country.'^  He  slept  with  fas  fathers^  is  all  the  Scripture 
Kiy<  of  his  death.  Jeremiah  had  prophesied  that  he  should  neither  be  regret- 
ted nor  lamented  ;  but  should  be  buried  with  the  burial  of  an  ass^  drawn  and 
cast  forth  beyond  the  gates  of  Jerusalem  :  this  was  no  doubt  fulfilled,  though  il 
[S  not  known  in  what  manner. 

Jechoniast  succeeded  both  to  the  throne  and  iniquity  of  his  father.  Nebu- 
:hadnezzar's  lieutenants  continuing  the  blockade  of  Jerusalem,  in  three  months 
dme  he,  himself,  came  at  tlie  head  of  his  «irmy  and  made  himself  master  of 
^he  city.  He  plundered  both  the  temple  and  the  king's  palace  of  all  their 
treasures,  and  sent  them  away  to  Babylon,  together  with  all  the  golden  vessels 
remaining,  which  Solomon  had  made  for  the  use  of  the  temple  ;  he  carried 
away,  likewise,  a  vast  number  of  captives,  among  whom  were  king  Jeclionias, 
his  mother,  his  wives,  with  all  the  chief  officers  and  great  men  of  his  king- 
dom. In  the  room  of  Jechonias,  he  set  upon  the  throne  his  uncle  Mattaniah, 
who  was  otherwise  called  Zedekiah. 

This  prince  had  as  little  religion  and  prosperity  as  his  forefathers.^  Having 
made  an  alliance  with  Pharaoh,  king  oi  Egypt,  he  broke  the  oath  of  fidelity 
he  had  taken  to  the  king  of  Babylon.  The  latter  soon  chastised  him  for  it,  and 
immediately  laid  siege  to  Jerusalem.  The  king  of  Egypt's  arrival  at  the 
head  of  an  army,  gave  the  besieged  some  hopes ;  but  their  joy  was  of  very 
short  duration  ;  the  Egyptians  were  defeated,  and  the  conqueror  returned  tc 
Jerusalem,  and  renewed  the  siege,  which  lasted  nearly  twelve  months.  At  las' 
the  city  was  taken  bv  storm,  and  a  terrible  slaughter  ensued. §  Zedekiah'.* 
two  sons,  were,  by  Nebuchadnezzar's  orders,  killed  before  their  father's  face 
with  all  the  nobles  and  principal  men  of  Judea :  Zedekiah  himself  had  bott 
his  eyes  put  out,  was  loaded  widi  fetters,  and  carried  to  Babylon,  where  he- 
was  confined  in  prison  as  long  as  he  lived.  The  city  and  temple  were  pillaged 
and  burned  and  all  their  fortifications  demolished. 

Upon  Nebuchadnezzar's  return  to  Babylon,  after  his  successful  war  against 
ludea,  he  ordered  a  golden  statue  to  be  made  sixty  cubits  high,[l  assemblea 
all  the  great  men  of  the  kingdom  to  celebrate  the  dedication  of  it,  and  com- 
manded all  his  subjects  to  worship  it,  threatening  to  cast  those  that  should  re- 
fuse into  the  midst  of  a  burning  fiery  furnace.    It  was  upon  this  occasion,  that 
the  three  young  Hebrews,  Ananias,  Misael,  and  Azarias,  who,  with  an  invin 
cible  courage  refused  to  comply  with  the  king's  impious  ordinance,  were  pre 
served,  after  a  miraculous  manner,  in  the  midst  of  the  flames.  The  king,  him 
self,  a  witness  of  this  astonishing  miracle,  published  an  edict  whereby  all  per 
sons  whatever  were  forbid,  upon  pain  of  death,  to  speak  any  thing  against  the 
god  of  Ananias,  M'sael,  and  Azarias.  He  likewise  promoted  these  three  young 
men  to  the  highest  honours  and  employments.  IT 

Nebuchadnezzar,  in  the  twenty-first  year  of  his  reign,  and  the  fourth  after 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  marched  again  into  Syria,  and  besieged  Tyre, 
under  the  reign  of  Ithobal.  Tyre  was  a  strong  and  opulent  city,  which  hstd 
never  been  subject  to  any  foreign  power,  and  was  then  in  great  repute  lor  its 
commerce,  by  which  many  of  its  citizens  were  become  like  so  many  princes 
in  wealth,  and  magnificence.**  It  was  built  by  the  Sidcnians,  two  hundred  and 
forty  years  before  the  temple  of  Jerusalem.  For  Sidon  being  taken  by  the 
Philistines  of  Ascalon,  many  of  its  inhabitants-  made  their  escape  in  ships,  and 
founded  the  city  of  Tyre.    And  for  this  reason  we  find  it  called  in  Isaiah,  iA« 


*  2  Kinjs,  xxiv.  1,  2. 

t  Alias^  Jehoiachin.    2  Kinjs,  rxiv.  6 — 18.  +  2  King-s,  xxiv.  17—20,  and  xxr.  1— la 

{A.M.  3415.    Ant.  J.  C.  589.  |j  Ninety  feet. 

ir  Dan.  iii.  *♦  Ezek.  xxvi.  and  xxvi,     Ua.  xxiii.  8.    Just  1.  xviii.  c.  3. 

ToL.  I.  13 


i90 


lilJi'TURY  OF  TilE 


daughter  of  Sidon,'^    But  the  daughter  soon  surpassed  the  mother  in  grandein 
riches,  ana  power.    Accordingly,  at  the  time  we  are  speaking  of,  she  was  in  * 
condition  to  resist,  thirteen  years  together,  a  monarch,  to  whose  yoke  all  the  res! 
of  the  East  had  submitted. 

It  was  not  till  after  so  many  years,  that  Nebuchadnezzar  made  himself  mai- 
ler of  Tyre.t  His  troops  suffered  incredible  hardships  before  it ;  so  that,  ac- 
cording  to  the  prophet's  expression,  every  head  was  made  bald,  and  e^^ery 
shoulder  was  peeled. X  Before  the  city  was  reduced  to  the  last  extremity,  it* 
inhabitants  retired,  with  the  greatest  part  of  their  effects,  mto  a  neighbouring 
isle,  half  a  mile  from  the  shore,  where  they  built  a  new  city  ;  the  name  and  glory 
of  which  extinguished  the  remembrance  of  the  old  one,  which  from  thencefor 
ward  became  a  mere  village,  retaining  the  name  of  ancient  Tyre. 

Nebuchadnezzar  and  his  army  having  undergone  the  utmost  fatigues  du- 
ring so  long  and  difficult  a  siege,  and  having  found  nothing  in  the  place  to  re- 
quite them  for  the  service  they  had  rendered  Almighty  God,  (it  is  the  expres- 
sion of  the  prophet,)  in  executing  his  vengeance  upon  that  city,  God  was  pleased 
to  promise  by  the  mouth  ofEzekiel,  that  he  would  give  them  the  spoils  of  Egypt 
as  a  recompense. &  And  indeed  Nebuchadnezzar  conquered  Egypt  soon  after, 
as  I  have  more  fully  related  in  the  histoiy  of  the  Egyptians.  When  this  prince 
happily  finished  all  his  wars,  and  was  in  a  state  of  perfect  peace  and  tran- 
quillity, he  put  the  last  hand  to  the  building,  or  rather  to  tVe  embellishing  of 
Babylon.  The  reader  may  see  in  Josephus,|l  an  account  uf  the  magnificent 
structures  ascribed  to  this  monarch  by  several  writers.  I  have  mentioned  a 
great  part  of  them  in  the  description  already  given  of  that  stately  city.^ 

While  nothing  seemed  wanting  to  complete  Nebuchadnezzar's  happiness,  a 
frightful  dream  disturbed  his  repose,  and  filled  him  with  great  anxiety.  He 
dreamed  "  he  saw  a  tree  in  the  midst  of  the  earth,  whose  height  was  great : 
the  tree  grew  and  w^as  strong,  and  the  height  of  it  reached  unto  heaven,  and 
the  sight  thereof  to  the  end  of  the  earth.  "The  leaves  were  fair,  and  the  fruit 
much ;  and  in  it  was  meat  for  all :  the  beasts  of  the  field  had  shadov/  under  it, 
and  the  fowls  of  the  heaven  dwelt  in  the  boughs  thereof;  and  all  flesh  was  fed 
of  it.  Then  a  watcher  and  a  holy  one  came  down  from  heaven  and  cried, 
hew  down  the  tree,  and  cut  off  its  branches,  shake  off  its  leaves,  and  scatter 
its  fruit ;  ^et  the  beasts  get  away  from  under  it,  and  the  fowls  from  its  branches. 

Nevertheless,  leave  the  stump  of  its  roots  in  the  earth,  even  with  a  band  of 
iron  and  brass,  in  the  tender  grass  of  the  field;  and  let  it  be  wet  with  the  dew 
of  heaven,  and  let  its  portion  be  with  the  beasts  in  the  grass  of  the  earth.  Lei 
his  heart  be  changed  from  man's,  and  let  a  beast's  heart  be  gi'  cn  unto  him  , 
and  let  seven  times  pass  over  him.  This  matter  is  by  the  decree  of  the  watch 
crs,  and  the  demand  by  the  word  of  the  holy  ones,  to  the  intent  that  the  living 
may  know,  that  the  Most  High  ruleth  in  the  kingdom  of  men,  and  giveth  it  to 
whomsoever  he  will,  and  setteth  up  over  it  the  basest  of  inen."^ 

The  king,  justly  alarmed  at  this  terrible  dream,  consulted  all  his  wise  men 
and  magicians,  but  to  no  purpose.  He  was  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  Daniel, 
who  expounded  the  dream,  and  applied  it  to  the  king's  own  person,  plainly 
declarii^g  to  him,  "  That  he  should  be  driven  from  the  company  of  men  for 
ieven  years,  should  be  reduced  to  the  condition  and  fellowship  of  the  beasts 
of  the  field,  and  feed  upon  grass  like  a  bullock  :  that  his  kingdom  nevertheless 
ihould  be  preserved  for  him,  and  he  should  repossess  his  throne,  when  he  should 
have  learned  to  know  and  acknowledge,  that  all  power  is  from  above,  and 
Cometh  from  heaven.  After  this,  he  exhorteth  him  to  break  off  his  sins  by 
righteousness,  and  his  iniquities  by  showing  mercy  to  the  poor." 

All  these  things  came  to  pass  upon  Nebuchadnezzar,  as  the  prophet  had 
foretold.  At  the  end  of  twelve  months,  as  he  was  walking  in  his  palace,  and 
ftdoiiring  the  beauty  and  magnificence  of  his  buildings,  he  said,  "  h  noa  this 


♦  Im.  xxiii.  12.  t  Jo«'  ^nt  1.  x.c.  11.  et  con.  Ap.  1.  i.  |  Exek  xxix.  18,  l» 

I  JEsek.  xxix.  |8--?^.  •J,Antiq.  1.  x.  c.  11  IT  Dan.  ir 


AS»\"RIANS 


291 


Babylon,  which  I  have  built  for  the  house  of  the  kingdom,  by  the  might 
of  my  power,  and  for  the  honour  of  my  majesty?"  Would  a  secret  impulse 
of  complacenc}^  and  vanity  in  a  prince,  at  the  sight  of  such  noble  structures 
erected  by  himself,  appear  to  us  so  veiy  criminal?  and  yet,  hardly  were  the 
woids  out  of  his  mouth,  when  a  voict  came  down  from  heaven,  and  pronounced 
his  sentence:  In  the  same  hour,  his  understanding  went  fjom  him;  he  was 
viriven  from  men,  and  did  eat  grass  like  oxen,  and  his  body  was  v/el  with  the 
dew  of  heaven,  till  his  hairs  were  grown  like  eagles'  feathers,  and  his  nails  like 
birds'  claws." 

After  the  expiration  of  the  appointed  time,  he  recovered  his  senses,  and  the 
use  of  his  understanding  :  "  He  lifted  up  his  eyes  unto  heaven,"  says  the  Scrip- 
ture, "  and  blessed  the  Most  High;  he  praised  and  honoured  him  that  liveth 
for  ever,  whose  dominion,  and  whosie  kingdom  is  from  generation  to  generation :' ' 
confessing,  "that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  are  as  nothing  before  him, 
and  that  he  doeth  according  to  his  will  in  the  army  of  heaven,  and  among  the 
inhabitants  of  the  earth  ;  and  none  can  stay  his  hand,  or  say  unto  him,  what 
dost  thou  ?"  Now  he  recovered  his  former  countenance  and  form.  His  cour- 
tiers went  out  to  seek  him  ;  he  was  restored  to  his  throne,  and  became  greater 
and  more  powerful  than  ever.  Being  affected  with  the  most  sincere  gratitude, 
he  caused,  by  a  solemn  edict,  to  be  published  through  the  whole  extent  of  his 
dominions,  what  astonishing  and  miraculous  things  God  had  wrought  in  his 
person. 

One  year  after  this,  Nebuchadnezzar  died,  having  reigned  forty-three  years, 
reckoning  from  the  death  of  his  father.  He  was  one  of  the  greatest  monarchs 
thrt  ever  reigned  in  the  East.    He  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 

Evil-Merodach.*  As  soon  as  he  was  settled  on  the  throne,  he  released 
Jechonias,  king  of  Judah,  out  of  prison,  where  he  had  been  confined  near 
seven  and  thirty  years. 

In  the  reign  of  this  Evil-Merodach,  which  lasted  but  two  years,  the  learned 
place  Daniers  detection  of  the  fraud  practised  by  the  priests  of  Bei ;  the  inno- 
cent artifice,  by  which  he  contrived  to  kill  the  aragon  which  was  worshipped 
as  a  god ;  and  the  miraculous  deliverance  of  the  same  prophet  out  of  the  den 
of  lions,  where  he  had  victuals  brought  him  by  the  prophet  Habakkuk. 

Evil-Merodach  rendered  himself  so  odious  by  his  debauchery,  and  other  ex- 
travagancies, that  his  own  relations  conspired  against  him,  and  put  him  to  death. t 

Neriglissar,  his  sister's  husband,  and  one  of  the  chief  conspirators,  leigned 
in  his  stead.f 

Immediately  on  his  accession  to  the  crown,  he  made  great  preparations  for 
war  against  the  Medes,  which  made  Cyaxares  send  for  Cyrus  out  of  Persia  to 
his  assistance.  This  story  will  be  more  particularly  related  by  and  by,  where 
we  shall  find  that  this  prince  was  slain  in  battle,  in  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign. 

Laborosoarchod,§  his  son,  succeeded  to  the  throne.  This  was  a  veiy 
wicked  pritice.  Being  naturally  of  the  most  vicious  inclinations,  he  indulged 
them  without  restraint  when  he  came  to  the  crown  ;  as  if  he  had  been  invested 
with  sovereign  power,  only  to  have  the  privilege  of  committing  with  impunity 
the  most  infamous  and  barbarous  actions.  He  reigned  but  nine  months  ;  his 
own  subjects,  conspiring  against  him,  put  him  to  death.    His  successor  was 

Labynit,  or  Nabonid.II  This  prince  had  likewise  other  names,  and  in 
Scripture  that  of  Belshazzar.  It  is  reasonably  supposed  that  he  was  the  son 
of  Evil-Merodach,  by  his  wife  Nitocris,  arid  consequently  grandson  to  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, to  whoni,  according  to  Jeremiah's  prophepy,  the  nations  of  the 
East  were  to  be  subject,  as  also  to  his  son,  and  his  grandson  after  him :  all 
mttions  shall  serve  him,  and  his  son,  and  his  son's  son,  until  the  very  time  of  ha 
land  shall  c^mc.lF 


♦  A.  M.  3441.    Ant.  J.  C.  563.    2  Kings,  xxr.  27-~30.  t  Beros.  Mepasthen. 

X  A.yL.  3444.    Ant.  J  C.  560.    Cyrop.  1.  i.  }  A.  M.  3448.    Ant.  J.  C.  566- 

I)  A.  M.  3449     4nl.  J.  C  555  V  Jer.  xxrii.  7. 


S92 


HISTORY  OF 


Nitocris  raised  many  noble  edifices  in  Babylon  ;  she  caused  her  own  monu 
ment  to  be  placed  over  one  of  the  most  remarkable  gates  of  the  city,  w^ith  an 
inscription,  dissuading  her  successors  from  touching  the  treasures  laid  up  in  it, 
without  the  most  urgent  and  indispensable  necessity.  The  tomb  remained 
unopened  till  the  reign  of  Darius,  who,  upon  his  breaking  it  open,  instead  of 
those  immense  treasures  with  which  he  had  flattered  himself,  found  nothing 
but  the  following  inscription  :  ^ 

If  thou  hadst  not  an  insatinhle  thirst  after  money  ^  and  a  most  sordid,  avari- 
cious soul,  thou  wouldst  never  have  broken  open  the  monuments  of  the  dead^^ 

In  the  first  year  of  Belshazzar's  reign,  Daniel  had  the  vision  of  the  four 
beasts,  which  represented  the  four  great  monarchies,  and  the  kingdom  of  the 
Messiah,  which  was  to  succeed  them.t  In  the  third  year  of  the  same  reign, 
he  had  the  vision  of  the  ram  and  the  he-goat,  which  prefigured  the  destructfon 
of  the  Persian  empire  by  Alexander  the  Great,  and  the  persecution  which  An- 
tiochus  Epiphanes,  king  of  Syria,  should  bring  upon  the  Jews.J  I  shall  here- 
after make  some  reflections  upon  these  prophecies,  and  give  a  more  particular 
account  of  them. 

Belshazzar,  while  his  enemies  were  besieging  Babylon,  gave  a  great  enter- 
tainment to  his  whole  court,  upon  a  certain  festival,  which  was  annually  cele- 
brated with  great  rejoicing. §  The  joy  of  this  feast  was  greatly  disturbed  by 
a  vision,  and  still  more  so  by  the  explication  which  Daniel  gave  of  it  to  the 
king.  The  sentence  written  upon  the  wall  imported,  that  his  kingdom  was 
taken  from  him,  and  given  to  the  Modes  and  Persians.  That  very  night,  the 
city  was  taken,  and  Belshazzar  killed. 

Thus  ended  the  Babylonish  empire,  after  having  subsisted  two  hundred  ^nd 
tenyears,  from  the  destruction  of  the  great  Assyrian  empire. || 

The  particular  circumstances  of  the  siege,  and  the  taking  of  Babylon,  9^  \ 
be  related  in  the  history  of  Cyrus. 


CHAPTER  III. 

TH£  KXSTOHY  OF  THIS  HIZTGD02MC  OF  THE 

mis  DBS. 

I  OBSERVED,  in  speaking  of  the  destruction  of  the  ancient  Assyrian  empire, H 
oat  Arbaces,  general  of  the  Medes,  was  one  of  the  chief  authors  of  the  con- 
spiracy against  Sardanapalus ;  and  several  writers  believed  that  he  then  im- 
mediately became  sovereign  master  of  Media,  and  many  other  provinces,  and 
a^^sumed  the  title  of  king.  Herodotus  is  not  of  this  opinion.  I  shall  relate 
what  that  celebrated  historian  says  upon  the  subject. 

The  Assyrians,  who  had  for  many  ages  held  the  empire  of  Asia,  began  to 
decline  in  their  power  by  the  revolt  of  several  nations.  The  Medes  first  threw 
off  their  yoke,  and  maintained  for  some  time  the  liberty  they  had  acquired  by 
their  valour  ;  but  that  liberty  degenerating  into  licentiousness,  and  their  go- 
vernment not  being  well  established,  they  fell  into  a  kind  of  anarchy,  worse 
than  their  former  subjection.  Injustice,  violence  and  rapine,  prevailed  every 
where,  because  there  was  nobody  that  had  either  power  enough  to  restrain 
them,  or  sufficient  authority  to  punish  ^he  offenders.  But  all  these  disorders 
induced  the  people  to  settle  a  form  of  government,  which  rendered  the  state 
more  flourishing  than  iUever  was  jefore.** 

The  nation  of  the  Medes  was  then  divided  into  tribes.  Almost  all  the  people 
dwelt  in  vilkges,  when  Dejoces,  the  sonof  Phraortes,  a  Mede  by  birth,  erected 
the  state  into  a  monarchy.    This  person,  seeinp*  the  great  disorders  that  pre- 


*  Her.  1.  i.  cap.  ]85,  &c.  f  Dan.  vii.  %  Chap.  viii.  5  Xhap.  v. 

H  A.  M.  3468.    Ant.  J.  C.  536.  TT  A.  M.  3257.    Ant.  J.  C.  747.  Herod  ).  ».  c.  9& 


THE  MEDES 


vailed  throjgfhout  all  Media,  resolved  to  take  advantage  of  tliose  troubles,  and 
make  them  serve  to  exalt  him  to  the  royal  dignity.  He  enjoyed  great  repu- 
tation in  his  own  countr}^  and  passed  for  a  man,  not  only  regular  in  his  con- 
duct, but  possessed  of  all  the  prudence  and  equity  necessary  for  a  governor. 

As  soon  as  he  had  formed  the  design  of  obtaining  the  throne,  he  labourerl  to 
make  the  good  qualities  that  had  been  observed  in  him  moie  conspicuous  than 
ever ;  he  succeeded  so  well,  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  where  he  lived 
made  him  their  judge.  In  this  office  he  acquitted  himself  with  great  pioidence, 
and  his  cares  were  attended  with  all  the  success  expected  from  theni,  for  he 
brought  the  people  of  that  village  to  a  sober  and  regular  life.  The  inhabit- 
ants of  other  villages,  who  were  perpetually  in  disorder,  observing  the  regu- 
l^ity  Dejoces  had  introduced  in  the  place  where  he  presided  as  judge,  began 
to  address  themselves  to  him,  and  make  him  arbitrator  of  their  differences. 
The  fame  of  his  equity  daily  increasing,  all  such  as  had  any  affair  of  conse- 
quence, brought  it  before  him,  expecting  to  find  that  equity  in  Dejoces,  which 
they  could  meet  with  no  where  else. 

When  he  found  himself  thus  far  advanced  in  his  designs,  he  judged  it  a 
proper  time  vO  set  his  last  engines  to  work  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  ob- 
ject. He  therefore  retired  from  business,  pretending  to  be  over-fatigued  with 
the  multitude  of  people  that  resorted  to  him  from  all  quarters,  and  would  not 
exercise  the  office  of  judge  any  longer,  notwithstanding  all  the  importunity  of 
such  as  wished  well  to  the  public  tranquillity.  Whenever  any  persons  addressed 
themselves  to  him,  he  told  them  that  his  own  domestic  affairs  w^ould  not  allow 
him  to  attend  to  those  of  other  people. 

The  licentiousness  which  had  been  for  some  time  restrained  by  the  manag(,* 
ment  of  Dejoces,  began  to  prevail  more  than  ever,  as  soon  as  he  had  w  ith- 
drawn  himself  from  the  administration  of  affairs,  and  the  evil  increased  to  such 
a  degree,  that  the  Medes  were  obliged  to  assemble,  and  deliberate  upon  the 
means  of  curing  so  dangerous  a  disorder. 

There  are  different  sorts  of  ambition;  some  persons,  violent  and  impetuous, 
carrying  every  thing  as  it  were  by  storm,  restrained  by  no  kind  of  cruelty  or 
murder ;  another  sort,  more  gentle,  like  those  w^e  are  speaking  of,  put  on  an 
appearance  of  moderation  and  justice,  and  yet  by  clandestine  means,  arrive 
at  their  point  as  surely  as  the  other.  Dejoces,  who  saw  things  succeeding  ac- 
cording to  his  wish,  sent  his  emissaries  to  the  assembly,  after  having  instructed 
them  in  the  part  they  were  to  act.  When  expedients  for  stopping  the  course 
of  the  public  evils  came  to  be  proposed,  these  emissaries,  speaking  in  theii 
turn,  represented,  that  unless  the  state  of  the  republic  was  entirely  changed, 
their  country  would  become  uninhabitable  ;  that  the  only  m.eans  to  remedy 
the  present  disorders  was  to  elect  a  king,  who  should  have  authority  to  re- 
strain violence,  and  make  laws  for  the  government  of  the  nation.  Then  every 
man  could  prosecute  his  own  affairs  in  peace  and  safety  ;  w^hereas  the  injustice 
that  now  reigned  in  all  parts,  would  quickly  force  the  people  to  abandon  the 
country.  This  opinion  w^as  generally  approved,  and  the  whole  company  was 
convinced  that  no  expedient  could  be  devised  more  effectual  for  curing  the 
present  evil,  than  that  of  converting  the  state  into  a  monarchy.  The  only 
thing  then  to  be  done,  was  to  choose  a  king,  w^hich  did  not  take  long  for  de- 
liberation. Thej^  all  agreed  there  was  not  a  man  in  Media  so  capable  of 
governing  as  Dejoces,  so  that  he  w^as  immediately,  with  common  consent, 
elected  king. 

If  we  reflect  in  the  least  on  the  first  establishment  of  kingdoms,  in  any  age 
f)r  country  whatever,  we  shall  find  that  the  maintenance  of  order,  and  the  care 
of  the  public  good,  was  the  original  design  of  monarchy.  Indeed,  there  would 
bo  no  possibility  of  establishing  order  and  peace,  if  all  men  were  resolved  to 
be  independent,  and  would  not  submit  to  an  authority  which  takes  from  them 
a  part  of  their  liberty,  in  order  to  preserve  the  rest.  Mankind  must  be  per- 
petually at  war,  if  they  will  alvvays  be  striving  for  dominion  over  others,  or 
refuse  to  submit  to  the  strongest.   For  the  sake  of  their  own  peace  and  safety^ 


HISTORY  CF 


itkff  *^jSt  have  a  master,  and  must  consent  to  obey  bim.  This  is  the  huiriaR 
origin  of  government.  And  the  Scriptures  teach  us,  thai  Divine  Providence 
has  not  oiily  allowed  the  project,  and  the  execution  of  it,  but  consecrated  il 
likewise  by  an  immediate  communication  of  his  own  power."* 

Tnere  is  nothing  certainly  more  noble  and  great  than  to  see^  private  person, 
eminent  for  his  merit  and  virtue,  and  fitted  by  his  excellent  talents  for  the  high- 
est employment,  and  yet,  through  inclination  and  modesty,  preferring  a  life 
of  obscurity  and  retirement ;  than  to  see  ?uch  a  man  sincerely  refuse  the  offer 
made  to  him  of  reigning  over  a  whole  nation,  and  at  last  consent  to  undergo 
the  toil  of  government,  from  no  other  motive  than  that  of  being  serviceable  tc 
his  fellow-citizens.  Ilis  first  disposition,  by  which  he  declares  that  he  is  ac- 
quainted with  the  duties,  and  consequently  with  the  dangers  annexed  to  sove- 
reign power,  shows  him  to  have  a  soul  more  elevated  and  great  than  greatness 
itself;  or,  to  speak  more  justly,  a  soul  superior  to  all  ambition  ;  nothing  can 
show  him  so  perfectly  worthy  of  that  important  charge,  as  the  opinion  he  has 
of  his  not  being  so,  and  his  fears  of  being  unequal  to  it.  ^  But  when  he  gene- 
rously sacrifices  his  own  quiet  and  satisfaction  to  the  welfare  and  tranquillity 
of  the  public,  it  is  plain  he  understands  what  that  sovereign  pcwer  has  in  it 
really  good,  or  truly  valuable  ;  which  is,  that  it  puts  a  man  in  a  condition  of 
becoming  the  defender  of  his  country,  of  procuring  it  many  advantages,  and 
of  redressing  various  evils;  of  causing  law  and  justice  to  flourish,  of  bringing 
virtue  and  probity  into  reputation,  and  of  establishing  peace  and  plenty  ;  and 
he  comforts  himself  for  the  cares  and  troubles  to  which  he  is  exposed,  by  the 
pi  ospect  of  the  many  benefits  resulting  from  them  to  the  public.  Such  a  go- 
vernor was  ]Numa  at  Rome,  and  such  have  been  some  other  emperors  whom 
the  people  have  constrained  to  accept  the  supreme  power.  , 

It  must  be  owned  I  cannot  help  repeating  it,  that  there  is  nothing  more  noble 
or  great  than  such  a  disposition.  But  to  put  on  the  mask  of  modesty  and  vir- 
tue, in  order  to  satisfy  one's  ambition,  as  Dejoces  did;  to  affect  to  appear  out- 
wardly, what  a  man  is  not  inwardly,  to  refuse  for  a  time,  and  then  accept  with 
a  seeming  repugnancy,  what  a  man  earnestly  desires,  and  what  he  has  been 
labouring  by  secret  underhand  practices  to  obtain ;  has  so  much  meanness  in 
il,  that  it  necessarily  lessens  our  opinion  of  the  person,  and  greatly  eclipses  his 
merit,  be  his  talents  at  the  same  time  ever  so  extraordinaiy. 

Dejoces  reigned  fifty-three  years.t  When  Dejoces  had  ascended  the  throne, 
he  endeavoured  to  convince  the  people  that  they  were  not  mistaken  in  the 
choice  they  had  made  of  him,  for  restoring  order.  At  first,  he  resolved  to 
have  his  dignity  of  king  attended  with  all  the  marks  that  could  inspire  awe  and 
respect  for  his  person.  He  obliged  his  subjects  to  build  him  a  magnificent 
palace  in  the  place  he  appointed.  This  palace  he  strongly  fortified,  and  chose 
Jut  from  among  his  people  such  persons  as  he  judged  most  fit  to  be  his  guards. 

After  having  thus  provided  for  his  own  security,  he  applied  himself  to  polish 
and  civilize  nis  subjects,  who,  having  been  accustomed  to  live  in  the  country, 
and  in  villages,  almost  without  laws  and  without  polity,  had  contracted  a  sa- 
vage disposition.  To  this  end,  he  commanded  them  to  build  a  city,  himself 
marking  out  the  place  and  circumference  of  the  walls.  This  city  was  sur- 
rounded with  seven  distinct  walls,  all  disposed  in  such  a  manner,  that  the 
outermost  did  not  hinder  the  parapet  of  the  second  from  being  seen,  nor  the 
second  that  of  tne  third,  and  so  of  all  the  rest.  The  situation  of  the  place 
was  extremely  favourable  for  such  a  design,  for  it  was  a  regular  hill,  whose 
ascent  was  equal  on  every  side.  Within  the  last  and  smallest  enclosure  stoos 
•  the  king's  palace,  with  all  his  treasures  ;  in  the  sixth,  which  was  next  to  that, 
there  were  seveiol  apartments  for  lodging  the  officers  of  his  household  ;  and 
the  intermediate  spaces,  between  the  other  walls,  were  appointed  for  the  ha- 
bitation of  ihe  people;  the  first  and  largest  enclosure  was  about  the  size  of 
Athens.    The  name  of  the  city  was  Ecbatana. 


•  Rom  jin.  1.  % 


t  A.M.  3294.    Ant.  J.  C.  710.    Her.  1  i 


THE  MEDEfi.  0<)^ 

The  prospect  of  it  was  magnificent  and  beautiful ,  for,  besides  the  disposi 
ion  of  the  walls,  which  formed  a  kind  of  amphitheatre,  the  different  colours 
'^herewith  the  several  parapets  were  painted,  formed  a  delightful  variety. 

After  the  c'^y  was  finished,  and  Dejoces  had  obliged  part  of  the  Medes  to 
lettlein  it,  hi  turned  all  his  attention  to  composing  laws  for  the  good  of  the 
Uafe  But  being  persuaded  that  the  majesty  of  kings  is  most  respected  afar 
Dif,  major  ex  loiiginquo  reverentia^^  he  began  to  keep  himself  at  a  distance 
from  his  people,  was  almost  inaccessible  and  invisible  to  his  suljjects,  not  suf- 
fering them  to  speak,  or  communicate  their  affaiis  to  him  but  only  by  peliiions, 
and  the  interposition  of  his  officers.  And  even  those  that  had  tbe  privilege  of 
approaching  him,  might  neither  laugh  nor  spit  in  his  presence. 

This  great  statesman  acted  in  this  manner,  in  order  the  better  to  secure  to  him- 
self the  possession  of  the  crown.  For,  having  to  deal  with  men  yet  uncivi* 
lized,  and  not  very  capable  judges  of  true  merit,  he  was  afraid  that  too  great  a 
familiarity  with  him  might  induce  contempt,  and  occasion  plots  and  conspira- 
cies against  a  growing  power,  which  is  generally  looked  upon  with  envy  and 
discontent.  But  by  keejiing  himself  thus  concealed  from  the  eyes  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  making  hiro<?elf  known  only  by  the  wise  laws  he  made,  and  the  strict 
justice  he  took  care  to  administer  to  every  one,  he  acquired  the  respect  and 
esteem  of  all  his  subjects. 

It  is  said  that  from  the  innermost  parts  of  h^s  palace  he  knew  every  thing 
fnat  was  done  in  his  dominions,  by  means  of  his  emissaries,  who  brought  him 
accounts,  and  informed  him  of  all  transactions.  By  this  means,  no  crime  escaped 
either  the  knowledge  of  the  prince,  or  the  rigour  of  the  law;  and  the  punish- 
ment closely  followmg  the  offence,  kept  the  wicked  in  awe,  and  stopped  the 
course  of  violence  and  injustice. 

Things  might  possibly  pass  in  this  manner  to  a  certain  degree,  during  his  ad- 
ministration ;  but  there  is  nothing  more  obviou*  than  the  great  inconveniences 
necessarily  resulting  from  the  custom  introduced  by  Dejoces,  and  wherein 
iie  has  been  imitated  by  the  rest  of  the  Eastern  potentates  ;  the  custom,  I  mean, 
of  living  concealed  in  his  palace,  of  governing  by  spies,  dispersed  throughout 
his  kingdom,  of  relying  solely  upon  their  sincei  ity  for  the  truth  of  facts,  of  not 
suffering  truth,  the  complaints  of  the  oppressed,  and  the  just  reasons  of  inno- 
cent persons,  to  be  conveyed  to  him  in  any  of  her  way  than  through  foreign 
charmels,  that  is,  by  men  liable  to  be  prejudiced  or  corinpted  ;  men  that  stop- 
ped up  all  avenues  to  remonstrances,  or  the  reparation  of  injuries,  and  that 
were  capable  of  doing  the  greatest  injustice  themselves,  with  so  much  the 
more  ease  and  assurance,  as  their  iniquity  remained  undiscovered,  and  conse- 
quently unpunished.  But  besides  all  this,  that  very  affectation  in  princes  of 
being  invisible,  shows  them  to  be  conscious  of  their  slender  merit,  which  shuns 
the  light,  and  dares  not  stand  the  test  of  a  near  examination. 

Dejoces  was  so  wholly  taken  up  in  humanizing  and  softening  the  manners, 
and  making  laws  for  the  good  government  of  his  people,  that  he  never  engaged 
in  any  enterprise  against  his  neighbours,  though  he  reigned  for  the  long  period 
of  fifty-three  years. 

Phraortes  reigned  twenty-two  years.j  After  the  death  of  Dejoces,  his 
son  Phraortes,  otherwise  called  Aphraartes,J  succeeded.  The  sole  affinity  be- 
tween these  two  names,  would  make  one  jjelieve,  that  this  is  the  king  called 
in  Scripture  Arphaxad ;  but  that  opinion  has  many  other  substantial  reasons 
to  support  it,  as  may  be  seen  in  Father  Montfaucon's  learned  dissertation, 
of  which  I  have  made  great  use  in  this  treatise.  The  passage  in  Judith, 
that  Arpkaxad  built  a  very  strong  city^  and  caUed  it  Echatana^  has  deceived 
most  authors,  and  made  them  believe,  that  Arphaxad  must  be  Deioces,  who 
was  certainly  the  founder  of  that  city.  But  the  Greek  text  of  Judith,  which 
ihe  vulgar  translation  renders  cedi/lcavit,  only  says,  that  Arplmxad  added  ntw 


♦  Tacitus.  t  A.  M  3.347.    Ant  J.  C.  C-bl.    Her.  c.  102. 

•  He  16  called  ?»  by  F.iisel>iu«,  Chroti.  Grvc.  :in<l  ay  Qpov  Syoctl.    Judifli.  i.  I 


S96 


KJBTORY  OF 


buildings  to  EchatanaJ^  And  what  can  be  more  natural,  than  that  the  fathei 
not  having  entirely  perfected  so  con=ideiable  a  work,  the  son  should  put  th( 
last  hand  to  it,  and  make  such  additions  as  were  wanting? 

Phraorles,  being  of  a  very  warlike  temper,  and  not  contented  with  the  king- 
dom of  Media,  left  him  by  his  father,  attacked  the  Persians,  and  defeating 
them  in  a  decisive  battle,  brought  them  under  subjection  to  his  empite.  Then 
strengthened  by  the  accession  of  their  troops,  he  attacked  other  neighbom  ir.g 
nations,  one  after  another,  till  he  made  himself  master  of  almost  all  Uppe"? 
Asia,  which  comprehends  all  that  lies  north  of  Mount  Taurus,  from  Media,  ls 
far  as  the  river  Halys.t 

Elated  with  his  success,  he  ventured  to  turn  his  arms  against  the  Assyrians, 
at  that  time  mdeed,  weakened  through  the  revolt  of  several  nations,  but  yet 
very  powerful  in  themselves.  Nebuchodonosor,  their  king,  otherwise  called 
Saosduchinus,  raised  a  great  army  in  his  own  country,  and  sent  ambassadors 
to  several  other  nations  of  the  East,  to  require  their  assistance. |  They  all 
refused  him  with  contempt, and  ignominiously  treated  his  a-mbassadoi3,  lettins 
him  see  that  they  no  longer  dreaded  that  empire,  which  had  formerly  kept  thi 
greatest  part  of  them  in  a  slavish  subjection. 

The  king,  highly  enraged  at  such  insolent  treatment,  swore  by  his  throne 
and  his  reign,  that  he  would  be  revenged  of  all  those  nations,  and  put  them 
every  one  to  the  sword.  He  then  prepared  for  battle,  w^ith  what  forces  he  had, 
*n  the  plain  of  Ragau.  A  great  battle  ensued  there,  which  proved  fatal  to 
Phraortes.  He  was  defeated,  his  cavalry  fled,  his  chariots  were  overturned,  and 
thrown  into  disorder,  and  Nebuchodonosor  gained  a  complete  victory.  Then, 
taking  advantage  of  the  defeat  and  confusion  of  the  Medes,  he  entered  their 
country,  took  their  cities,  pushed  on  his  conquests  even  to  Ecbatana,  forced 
the  towers  and  the  walls  by  storm,  and  gave  the  city  to  be  pillaged  by  his  sol- 
diers, who  plundered  it,  and  stripped  it  of  all  its  ornaments. 

The  unfortunate  Phraortes,  w^ho  had  escaped  into  the  mountains  of  Ragau, 
fell  at  last  into  the  hands  of  Nebuchodonosor,  who  cruelly  caused  him  to  be 
shot  to  death  with  darts.  After  that,  he  returned  to  Nineveh  w^ith  all  his  army, 
which  was  still  very  numerous,  and  jfor  four  months  together,  did  nothing  but 
feast  and  divert  himself  with  those  that  had  accompanied  him  in  this  expe- 
dition. 

In  Judith,  we  read,  that  the  king  of  Assyria  sent  Holofernes,  with  a  pow- 
erful army,  to  revenge  himself  of  those  that  had  refused  him  succours.  The 
progress  and  cruelty  of  that  commander,  the  general  consternation  of  all  the  ~ 
people,  the  courageous  resolution  of  the  Israelites  to  withstand  him,  in  hopes 
that  their  God  would  defend  them,  the  extremity  tc  which  Bethulia  ai.d  die 
whole  nation  was  reduced,  the  miraculous  deliverance  of  that  city  by  the 
courage  and  conduct  of  the  brave  Judith,  and  the  complete  overthrow  of  tlie 
Assyrian  army,  are  all  related  in  the  same  book. 

Cyaxares  I.  reigned  forty  years.S  This  prince  succeeded  to  the  throne 
immediately  after  his  father's  death.  He  was  a  very  brave,  enterprising  prince, 
and  knew  how  to  take  advantage  of  the  late  overthrow  of  the  Assyrian  army. 
He  first  settled  himself  weH  in  his  kingdom  of  Media,  and  then  conquered  all 
Upper  Asia.  But  his  most  ardent  wish  was  to  go  and  attack  Nineveh,  to  re- 
venge the  death  of  his  father  by  the  destruction  of  that  great  city. 

The  Assyrians  came  out  to  meet  him,  having  only  the  remains  of  the  great 
army  which  was  destroyed  before  Bethulia.  A  battle  ensued,  wherein  th^ 
Assyrians  were  defeated,  and  driven  back  to  Nineveh.  Cyaxares,  pursuing  his 
victory,  laid  siege  to  the  city,  which  was  upon  the  point  of  falling  into  his 
hands,  but  that  the  time  was  not  yet  come  when  God  designed  to  punish  that 
city  for  her  crimes,  and  for  the  calamities  she  had  brought  upon  his  people,  as 


•E7r(oro5(iimcr£  \ir\  *Ex€aTttvoir.    Judith.  Text.  Gr.  \  Herod.  1.  i  c  lOa 

\  The  Greek  text  placos  these  embassies  before  the  battle. 
\  A.  M.  3309.    Aut.  J.  C.  6.15.    Herod.  1.  i.  e.  103— lOfi. 


well  as  other  nations  It  was  delivered  from  its  present  danger  in  the  follow- 
ing manner. 

A  formidable  army  of  Scythians,  from  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Palus 
Maeolis,  had  driven  the  Cimmerians  out  of  Europe,  and  was  stiii  marciiing 
under  the  conduct  of  king  Madyes  in  pursuit  of  them.  The  Cimmerians  had 
found  means  to  escape  from  the  Scythians,  who  were  advancing  into  Medea. 
Cyaxares,  hearing  of  this  irruption,  raised  the  siege  of  Nineveh  and  marched 
with  all  his  forces  against  that  mi^rhty  army,  which,  like  an  impetuous  torrent, 
;v3>  about  to  over- run  all  Asia.  The  two  armies  engaged,  and  the  Medes 
wvr,^,  vanquished.  The  barbarians  finding  no  other  obstacle  in  their  way, 
overspread  not  only  Media,  bu'.  almost  all  Asia.  After  that,  they  marched  to- 
w^Vih  Egypt,  from  whence  Psammeticus  diverted  their  course  by  presents. 
They  then  returned  into  Palestine,  where  some  of  them  plundered  the  temple 
of  Venus  at  Ascalon,  the  most  ancient  temple  dedicated  to  that  goddess.  Some 
of  these  Scythians  settled  at  Bethshean,  a  city  in  the  tribe  of  Manasseh,on 
this  side  Jordan,  which  from  them  was  afterwards  called  Scythopolis. 

The  Scythians  for  the  space  of  twenty-eight  years,  were  masters  of  Upper 
Asia ;  namely,  the  two  Armenias,  Cappadocia,  Pontus,  Colchis,  and  Iberia ; 
during  which  time  they  spread  desolation  wherever  they  came.  The  Medes 
had  no  way  of  getting  rid  of  them,  but  by  a  treacherous  stratagem.  Under 
pretence  of  cultivating  and  strengthening  the  alliance  they  had  made  together, 
they  invited  the  greatest  part  of  them  to  a  general  feast,  which  was  made  in 
every  family  Each  master  of  the  feast  made  his  guests  drunk,  and  in  that 
condition  the  Scythians  were  massacred.  The  Medes  then  repossessed  them- 
selves of  the  provinces  they  had  lost,  and  once  more  extended  their  empire 
to  the  banks  of  the  Halys,  which  was  their  ancient  western  boundary. 

The  remaining  Scythians,  who  were  not  at  the  banquet,  having  heard  of  the 
massacre  of  their  countrymen,  fled  into  Lydia  to  king  Halyttes,  who  received 
them  with  great  humanity.*  This  occasioned  a  war  between  those  two  princes. 
Cyaxares  immediately  led  his  troops  to  the  frontiers  of  Lydia.  Many  battles 
were  fought  during  the  space  of  five  years,  with  almost  equal  advantage  on 
both  sides.  The  battle  fought  in  the  sixth  year  was  very  remarkable,  on  ac- 
count of  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,  which  happened  during  the  engagement,  when 
on  a  sudden  the  day  was  turned  into  a  dark  night.  Thales,  the  Milesian,  had 
foretold  this  eclipse.  The  Medes  and  Lydians,  who  were  then  in  the  heat  of 
»he  battle,  equally  terrified  with  this  unforeseen  event,  which  they  looked  upon 
is  a  sign  of  the  anger  of  the  gods,  immediately  retreated  on  both  sides,  and 
nade  peace.  Siennesis,  king  of  Cilicia,  and  Nebuchodonosor,!  king  of  Baby- 
lon, were  the  mediators.  To  render  the  friendship  more  firm  and  inviolable, 
the  two  princes  agreed  to  strengthen  it  by  the  tie  of  marriage,  and  agreed, 
that  Halyttes  should  give  his  daughter  Aryenis  to  Astyages^  eldest  son  of 
Cyaxares. 

The  manner  those  people  had  of  contracting  alliance  with  one  another,  is 
rery  remarkable.  Besides  other  ceremonies,  which  the}^  had  in  common  with  the 
Greeks,  the  following  was  peculiar  to  themselves,  namely,  the  two  contract- 
ng  parties  made  incisions  in  their  own  arms,  and  licked  one  another's  blood. 

The  first  care  of  Cyaxares,  as  soon  as  he  found  himself  again  in  peace,  was  tc 
resume  the  siege  of  Nineveh,  which  the  irruptions  of  the  Scythians  had  obliged 
hifu  to  raise.  Nabopolassar,  king  of  Bcfbylon,  with  whom  he  had  lately  con- 
tracted a  particular  alliance,  joined  with  him  in  the  league  against  the  As^- 
<yrians.  Having,  therefore,  united  their  forces,  they  besieged  Nineveh,  took 
tt,  killed  Saracus  the  king,  and  utterly  destroyed  that  mighty  city.| 

God  had  foretold  by  his  prophets,  above  a  hundred  years  before,  that  h  > 
would  bring  vengeance  upon  that  impious  city  for  the  blood  of  his  servant;, 
9vi\h  which  the  kings  thereof  had  gorged  themselves,  like  ravenous  liou  i , 


♦  Herod.  1.  i.  c.  74.  -f  In  Herodotus  he  ir  called  Labyaetu*. 

i  A.M.  3378.    Ant.  J.  C.  6QS.    Herod.  1.  c.  206 


293 


HISTORY  OF 


that  he  himself  would  march  at  the  head  of  the  troops  iiat  should  come  !• 

besiege  it ;  that  he  would  cause  consternation  and  terror  to  go  before  them*, 
that  he  would  deliver  the  old  men,  the  mothers,  and  their  children,  into  the 
merciless  hands  of  the  soldiers  ;  that  all  the  treasures  of  the  city  should  fall 
into  the  hands  of  rapacious  and  insatiable  plunderers  ;  and  that  the  city  itself 
.  should  be  so  totally  and  utterly  destroyed,  that  not  so  much  as  a  trace  of  it 
should  be  left ;  and  that  the  people  should  ask  hereafter,  where  did  the  proud 
city  of  Nineveh  stand  ? 

But  let  us  hear  the  language  of  the  prophets  themselves  ;  "  woe  to  the 
bloody  city,  cries  Nahum  ;  it  is  all  full  of  lies  and  robbery  ;*  he  that  dasheth 
in  pieces  is  come  up  before  thy  face.  The  Lord  cometh  to  avenge  the  cruel- 
ties done  to  Jacob  and  Israel.!  I  hear  already  the  noise  of  the  whip,  and  the 
noise  of  the  rattling  of  the  wheels,  and  of  the  prancing  horses,  and  of  the  bound 
ing  chariots.  The  horseman  lifteth  up  both  the  bright  sword  and  the  glitter 
inc;  ^ij  L  i  *  The  shield  of  his  mighty  men  is  made  red  ;  the  valiant  men  are 
in  scarlet.  They  shall  seem  like  torches,  they  shall  run  like  the  lightning.§ 
God  is  jealous  ;  the  Lord  revengeth,  and  is  furious.  The  mountains  quake  at 
him.  and  the  hills  melt,  and  the  earth  is  burnt  at  his  presence  :  who  can  stand 
beio]  e  his  indignation  ?  And  who  can  abide  in  the  fierceness  of  his  anger  ?i| 
Deliold  1  am  with  thee,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts  ;  I  will  strip  thee  of  all  thy  or 
naments.^  Take  ye  the  spoil  of  silver,  take  the  spoil  of  gold  ;  for  there  is  no 
end  of  the  store  and  glory  out  of  all  the  pleasant  furniture.  She  is  empty, 
and  void,  and  waste.  Nineveh  is  destroyed  ;  she  is  overthrown,  she  is  deso- 
late.*''^ The  gates  of  the  rivers  shall  be  opened,  and  the  palace  shall  be  dis- 
solved, jj  And  Huzzab  shall  be  led  away  captive  ;  she  shall  be  brought  up, 
and  her  maids  shall  lead  her  as  with  the  voice  of  doves  tabouring  upon  their 
breasts. I  see  a  multitude  of  slain,  and  a  great  number  of  carcases  ;§§  and 
(here  is  no  end  of  their  corpses  ;  they  stumble  upon  their  corpses. ||  11  Where  is 
the  dwelling  of  lions,  and  the  feeding  place  of  the  young  lions,  where  the  lion, 
even  the  old  lion,  walked,  and  the  lion's  whelp,  and  none  made  them  afraid  : 
wheie  the  lion  did  tear  in  pieces  enough  for  his  whelps,  and  strangled  for  hia 
lionesses  :  and  filled  his  holes  with  prey,  and  his  dens  with  rapine ?irir  The 
Loi  d  shall  destroy  Assur.  He  shall  depopulate  that  city,  which  was  so  beau- 
tiful, and  turn  it  into  a  land  where  no  man  cometh,  and  into  a  desert.  It  shall 
be  a  duelling  place  for  wild  beasts,  and  the  birds  of  night  shall  lurk  therein^ 
Behold,  it  shall  be  said,  see  that  proud  city,  which  was  so  stately,  and  so  ex- 
alted ;  which  said  in  her  heart,  I  am  the  only  city,  and  besides  me  there  is  no 
o'her.  All  they  that  pass  by  her,  shall  scolf  at  her,  and  shall  insult  her  with 
hissings  and  contemptuous  gestures."*! 

The  two  armies  enriched  themselves  with  the  spoils  of  Nineveh  ;  and  Cv- 
axares  prosecuting  his  victories,  made  himself  master  of  all  the  cities  of  th** 
kingdom  of  Assyria,  except  Babylon  and  Chaldea,  which  belonged  to  Nabo- 
polassar. 

After  this  expedition,  Cyaxares  died,  and  left  his  dominions  to  his  son  As- 
tyages. 

AsTYAGES  reigned  thirty-five  years.*^  This  prince  is  called  in  Scripture 
Ahasuerus.  Though  his  reign  continued  no  less  than  thirty-five  years,  yet  we 
have  no  particulars  recorded  of  it  in  histoiy.  He  had  two  children,  whose 
names  are  famous,  namely,  Cyaxares,  by  his  wife  Aryenis,  and  Mandana  by  a 
former  marriage.    In  his  father's  lifetime,  he  married  Mandana  to  Cambyses, 


*  Nahum,  iii.  1.  t  Chap.  ii.  1,  2.  |  Chap.  iii.  2,  3.  }  Chap.  H  S,  4. 

{|  Nahum,  i.  2,  5,  6.  IT  Chap.  iii.  6.  **  Chap.  ii.  9,  10. 

The  author  in  this  place  renders  it,  her  temple  is  destroyed  to  the  foundation.  But  I  have  chosea  !• 
Mlovr  our  Eng'lish  Bible,  thoiifrh  in  the  Latin  it  is  templvm. 

\X  Nahum,  ii.  6.  Chap.  iii.  S. 

■jj^j  This  is  a  noble  image  of  the  cruel  avarice  of  the  i^ssyrian  kinga,  who  pillaged  and  plundered 
Mieir  neij^^hbouring  nations,  eipecially  Judea,  and  carried  away  the  spoils  of  them  to  Nineveh. 

Nahum.  li.  11.  J3  *t  Zephan.  ii.  13—15.  *X  A.  M.  3409.    Aat.  J  C.  S9i. 


2% 


Uhj       of  Achemenefj,  king  of  Persia  ;  from  this  mamago  sprung  Cyrus,  who 
vva^  born  but  one  year  after  the  birth  of  his  uncle  Cyaxares.    The  latter  sue 
cecded  his  father  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Medes. 

Cyaxares  II.    This  prince  is  in  Scripture  called  Darius  the  Mede. 

Cyrus,  having  taken  Babylon,  in  conjunction  with  his  uncle  Cyaxares,  left  it 
under  his  government.  After  the  death  of  his  uncle,  and  his  father  Cambyses, 
he  united  the  kingdoms  of  the  Medes  and  Persians  into  one  ;  in  the  sequel, 
therefore,  of  this  discourse,  they  will  be  considered  only  as  one  empire.  I  shall 
begin  the  history  of  that  empire  with  the  reign  of  Cyrus  ;  which  will  include 
also  what  is  known  of  the  reigns  of  his  two  predecessors,  Cyaxares  and  Asty- 
ages.  But  I  shall  previously  give  some  account  of  the  kingdom  of  Lydia,  be- 
cause Croesus,  its  king,  has  a  considerable  share  in  the  events  of  which  I  am 
to  apeak   


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  I.YDZANS. 

The  kings  who  first  reigned  over  the  Lydians,  are  by  Herodotus,  called 
Atyades  ;  that  is,  descendants  from  Atys.*  These  he  tells  us,  derived  their 
origin  from  Lydus,  the  son  of  Atys  ;  and  Lydus  gave  the  name  of  Lydians  to 
that  people,  who,  before  his  time,  were  called  Mceonians. 

These  Atyades  were  succeeded  by  the  Heraclidae,  or  descendants  of  Her- 
cules, who  possessed  this  kingdom  for  the  space  of  five  hundred  and  five  years. 

Argo,  great-grandson  of  Alcaeus,  son  of  Hercules,  was  the  first  of  the  Hera- 
:Iidae  who  reigned  in  Lydia.t 

The  last  was 

Candaules.  This  prince  was  married  to  a  lady  of  exquisite  beauty,  and 
being  infatuated  by  his  passion  for  her,  was  perpetually  boasting  of  her  charms 
to  others.  Nothing  would  serve  him  but  thatGyges,  one  of  his  chief  officers, 
should  see  and  judge  of  them  by  his  own  eyes,J  as  if  the  husband's  own  know- 
ledge of  them  was  not  sufficient  for  his  happiness,  or  the  beauty  of  his  wife 
would  have  been  impaired  by  his  silence.  For  this  purpose,  the  king  placed 
Gyges  secretly  in  a  convenient  place  ;  but  notwithstanding  that  precaution,  the 
(jueen  perceived  him  when  he  retired,  yet  took  no  manner  of  notice  of  it : 
judging,  as  the  historian  represents  it,  that  the  most  valuable  treasure  of  a 
woman  is  her  modesty ;  she  studied  a  signal  revenge  for  the  injury  she  had 
received,  and  to  punish  the  fault  of  her  husband,  committed  a  still  greater 
crime.  Possibly  a  secret  passion  for  Gyges  had  as  great  a  share  in  that  action 
as  her  resentment  for  the  dishonour  done  her.  Be  that  as  it  will,  she  sent  for 
Gyges,  and  obliged  him  to  expiate  his  crime  either  by  his  own  death  or  the 
king's,  at  his  own  option.  After  some  remonstrances  to  no  purpose,  he  resolved 
upon  the  latter,  and  by  the  murder  of  Candaules,  became  master  of  his  queen 
and  his  throne.  By  this  means  the  kingdom  passed  from  the  family  of  the 
Heraclidae  into  that  of  the  Mermnades.§ 

Archilochus,  the  poet,  lived  at  this  time,  and,  as  Herodotus  informs  u&, 
spoke  of  this  adventure  of  Gyges  in  his  poems. 

I  cannot  forbear  mentioning,  in  this  place,  what  is  related  by  Herodotus,  that 
among  the  Lydians,  and  almost  all  other  barbarians,  it  was  considered  shameful 
and  infamous  even  for  a  man  to  appear  naked.  These  instances  of  modesty, 
which  are  met  with  among  pagans,  ought  to  be  greatly  admired.  We  are 
assured,  that  among  the  Romans,  a  son,  who  was  come  to  the  age  of  maturity, 
never  went  into  the  baths  with  his  father,  nor  even  a  son-in-law  with  his  father- 
Jti-Saw ;  and  this  modesty  and  decency  were  looked  upon  by  them  as  a  law  of 


♦  Herod.  1.  i.  c.  7— 13.  t>-M.  2781.    Ant  J.  C.  122S. 

X  Non  contentus  voluptatam  suarurn  tacila  consclentia — prorsus  quasi  sUentium  d  tmnum  pal«hiltiiAiiu« 
IMet.—^uftin.  1.  i.  c.  7. 

I  A.M. 0386     Ant.  J.  C.  7ia. 


soo 


niSTOllV  OF 


nature,  the  violation  of  which  was  criminal;*    It  is  astonishing,  that  auiong'irt 

our  magistrates  take  no  care  to  preveiit  this  disorder,  which  in  the  mid^^t  of 
Pans,  at  the  season  of  bathing,  is  openly  committed  witli  impunity  ;  a  disordei 
so  visibly  contrary  to  the  ruks  of  common  decency,  so  dangerous  to  young 
persons  of  both  sexes,  and  so  severely  CQndemned  by  paganism  itself. 

Plato  relates  the  story  of  Gyges  in  a  different  manner  from  Herodotus.  He 
tells  us  that  Gyges  wore  a  ring,  the  stone  of  which,  when  turned  towards  him 
rendered  him  invisible  ;  so  that  he  had  the  advantage  of  seeing  others,  without 
being  seen  himself;  and  that  by  means  of  that  ring,  with  the  concurrence  of 
the  queen,  he  deprived  Candaules  of  his  life  and  throne.  This  probably  sig- 
nifies, that  in  order  to  compass  his  criminal  design,  he  used  all  the  tricks  and 
stratagem.s  the  world  calls  subtle  and  refined  policy,  which  penetrates  into  the 
most  secret  purposes  of  others,  without  making  the  least  discovery  of  its  own 
The  story,  thus  explained,  carries  in  it  a  greater  appearance  of  truth,  than 
what  we  read  in  Herodotus.j 

Cicero,  after  having  related  this  fable  of  Gyges's  famous  ring,  adds,  that  if 
a  wise  man  had  such  a  ring,  he  would  not  use  it  to  any  wicked  purpose  ;  be 
cause  virtue  considers  what  is  honourable  and  just,  and  has  no  occasion  foi 
darkness.! 

Gyges§  reigred  thirty-eight  years.  The  murder  of  Candaules  raised  a  se- 
dition among  the  Lydians.  The  two  parties,  instead  of  coming  tO  blows,  agreed 
to  refer  the  matter  to  the  decision  of  the  Delphic  oracle,  who  declared  in  favour 
of  Gyges.  The  king  made  large  presents  to  the  temple  at  Delphos,  which 
undoubtedly  preceded,  and  had  no  little  influence  upon  the  oracle's  answer. 
Among  other  things  of  value,  Herodotus  mentions  six  golden  cups,  weighing 
thirty  talents,  amounting  to  near  a  million  of  French  money. || 

As  soon  as  he  was  in  peaceable  possession  of  the  throne,  he 'made  war  against 
Miletus,  Smyrna,  and  Colophon,  three  powerful  cities  belonging  to  the  neigh- 
bouring states. 

After  he  had  reigned  thirty-eight  years  he  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 

Ardys,1[  who  reigned  forty-nine  years.  It  was  in  the  reign  of  this  prince 
that  the  Cimmerians,  driven  out  of  their  country  by  the  Scythian  Nomades, 
went  into  Asia,  and  took  the  city  of  Sardis,  but  not  the  citadel. 

Sadyattes*"^  reigned  twelve  years.  This  prince  declared  war  against  the 
Milesians,  and  laid  siege  to  their  city.  In  those  days  the  sieges,  which  were 
generally  nothing  more  than  blockades,  were  carried  on  very  slowly,  and  lasted 
many  years.  This  king  died  before  he  had  finished  that  of  Miletus,  and  wa? 
succeeded  by  his  son. 

HALYTTEstt  reigned  fifty-seven  years.  This  prince  made  Avar  against  Cy- 
axares,  king  of  Media.  He  likewise  drove  the  Cimmerians  out  of  Asia.  He 
attacked  and  took  the  cities  of  Smyrna  and  Clazomense.  He  vigorously  pro- 
secuted the  war  against  the  Milesians,  begun  by  his  father,  and  continued  the 
siege  of  their  city,  which  had  lasted  six  years  under  his  father,  and  continued 
as  many  under  him.  It  ended  at  length  in  the  following  manner:  Halyttes, 
upon  an  answer  he  received  from  the  Delphic  oracle,  had  sent- an  ambassador 
into  the  city,  to  propose  a  truce  for  some  months.  Thrasybulus,  tjn-ant  of  Mi- 
letus, having  notice  of  his  coming,  ordered  all  the  corn,  and  other  provisions, 
collected  by  him  and  his  subjects  for  their  support,  to  be  brought  into  the  pub* 
ic  market,  and  commanded  the  citizens,  that  at  the  appearance  of  a  gives 
signal,  there  should  be  general  feasting  and  jollity.  The  thing  was  executed 
according  to  his  orders.    The  Lydian  ambassador,  at  his  arrival,  was  in  the  ut- 


Nostro  quidem  more  cum  parentlbus  i)uberes  filii,  cum  soceris  generi,  non  lavantur.    Retinenc'a  est  iji- 
lur  huius  g-eneris  verecundia,  prarisertim  natura  ipsamajislra  et  duce. — Cic.  1.  i.  de  Olfic.  n.  129 
Nudare  se  nefasesse  credebalur. — Val.  Max.  I.  ii.  cap.  1. 

t  Plato  de  Rep.  1.  ii.  p.  359. 
}  Hunc  ipsum  annulum  si  habeat  sapiens,  nihilo  plus  sibi  licere  putet  peccare,  quam  si  non  habere!.  Ho- 
oeyta  enim  bonis  virls,  non  occulta,  quaeruntur. — Lib.  iii.  de  OflBc.  n.  38. 

S  A.  M.  3^36.    Ant.  J.  C.  718.    Hei-od.  1.  i.  c.  13,  44.  /|  About  ^213,120. 

%  X.  U.  3324     Aut.  J.  C.  680.   Herod.  1.  i.  c.  15.    **  A.  M.  3373.   Ant  J.  C.  631.  Herod.  I  l.o  16.2^ 
tt  A.  M.S885.    Ant.  J.  C.  6:9.    Herod,  c.  21  22- 


THE  lA'mAXi^ 


501 


TAOSt  surprise  to  see  such  a  plenty  in  the  market,  and  Kwcn  cheerfulness  in  lh« 
city.  His  master,  to  whom  he  gave  an  account  of  what  he  nad  seen,  con- 
cluding that  his  project  of  reducing  the  place  hy  farnine  would  never  suc- 
ceed, T3referred  peace  to  so  fruitless  a  w^ar,  and  immediately  raised  the  siege. 

Crcesus.*  His  veiy  name,  which  is  become  a  proverb,  carries  in  it  an  iilea 
of  immense  riches.  The  wealth  of  this  prince,  to  judge  of  it  only  by  the  pje 
^ents  he  made  to  the  temple  of  Delphos,  must  have  been  excessively  great. 
Most  of  those  presents  were  still  to  be  seen  in  the  time  of  Herodotus,  and  we  t- 
north  several  millions.  We  may  partly  account  for  the  treasures  of  this  prnx  r  . 
from  certain  mines  that  he  had,  situated,  according  to  Strabo,  between  Fei|i,a- 
mus  and  Atarnes  ;  as  also  from  the  little  river  Pactolus,  the  sand  of  which  Wc»s 
g-old.    But  in  Strabo's  time  this  river  had  not  the  same  advantage.! 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  this  uncommon  affluence,  did  not  enervate  or  sof- 
ten the  courage  of  Croesus.  He  thought  it  unworthy  of  a  prince  to  spend  his 
time  in  idleness  arid  pleasure.  On  the  contrary  he  was  constantly  engaged  in 
war,  made  several  conquests,  and  enlarged  his  dominions  by  the  addition  of 
all  the  contiguous  provinces,  as  Phrygia,  Mysia,  Paphlagonia,  Bithynia,  Pam- 
phylia,  and  all  the  country  of  the  Carians,  lonians,  Dorians,  and  ^Eolians.  He- 
rodotus observes,  that  he  was  the  first  conqueror  of  the  Greeks,  who  till  then 
had  never  been  subject  to  a  foreign  power.  Doubtless  he  must  mean  the  Greeks 
settled  in  Asia  Minor.J 

But  what  is  slill  more  extraordinary  in  this  prince,  though  he  w^as  so  im- 
mensely rich,  and  so  great  a  warrior,  yet  his  chief  delight  was  in  literature  and 
the  sciences.  His  court  was  the  ordinary  residence  of  those  famous  learned 
men,  so  revered  by  antiquity,  distinguished  by  the  name  of  the  seven  wise  men 
of  Greece. 

Solon,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  among  them,  after  having  established  new 
laws  at  Athens,  thought  he  might  absent  himself  for  some  years,  and  improve 
that  time  by  travelling.  He  w^ent  to  Sardis,  where  he  was  received  in  a  matj 
ner  suitable  to  the  reputation  of  so  great  a  man.  The  king,  attended  with  a 
numerous  court,  appeared  in  all  his  regal  pom.p  and  splendour,  dressed  in  the 
most  magnificent  apparel,  enriched  with  gold,  and  glittering  with  diamonds. 
Notwithstanding  the  novelty  of  this  spectacle  to  Solon,  it  did  not  appear  that 
he  was  the  least  moved  at  it,  or  that  he  uttered  a  word  w^hich  discovered  the 
least  surprise  or  admiration.  On  the  contrary,  people  of  sense  might  sufficient- 
ly discern  from  his  behaviour,  that  he  looked  upon  all  this  outward  pomp  as  an 
liidication  of  a  little  mind,w4iich  knows  not  in  what  true  greatness  and  dignity 
consist.  This  coldness  and  indifference  in  Solon's  first  approach,  gave  (lie 
kin^  no  favourable  opinion  of  his  new  guest.§ 

He  afterwards  ordered  that  all  his  treasures,  his  magnificent  apartments,  and 
costly  furniture,  should  be  exhibited  to  him  ;  as  if  he  expected,  by  the  miil- 
t'tude  of  his  fine  vessels,  diamonds,  statues,  and  paintings,  to  conquer  the  phi- 
losopher's indifference.  But  these  things  were  not  the  king;  and  it  was  the 
king  that  Solon  had  come  to  visit,  and  not  the  walls  or  chambers  of  his  palace. 
He  had  no  notionof  making  a  judgment  of  the  king,  or  an  estimate  of  his  worth  j 
by  these  outward  appendages,  but  by  himself,  and  his  ow^n  personal  qualities. 
Were'  we  to  judge  at  present  by  the  same  rule,  we  should  find  many  of  oui 
great  men  wretchedly  naked  and  destitute. 

When  Solon  had  seen  all,  he  was  brought  back  to  the  king.  Crcesus  then 
asked  him,  w^hich  of  mankind,  in  all  his  travels,  he  had  found  the  most  truly 
happy  ?  "  One  Tellus,"  replied  Solon, "  a  citizen  of  Athens,  a  very  honest  and 
good  man,  who  lived  all  his  days  without  indigence,  had  always  seen  hu  country 
in  a  flourishing  condition,  had  children  that  were  universally  esteemed,  with 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  those  children's  children,  and  at  last  died  gloriously 
in  fighting  for  his  country." 


♦  A.  M.  3442.    Ant.  J.  C.  562.  t  Str&b.  1.  xlil.  p.  025.  and  1.  xiv.  p  .6ML 

I  lUrod.  1  i.  c.  36—23.  j  Hci^d.  1.  c.  29—53.    Plut.  in  Soiene.  y.  9t,  H, 


Such  an  answer  as  this,  in  which  gold  and  silver  were  accounted  as  nothing; 
seemed  to  Croesus  to  argue  a  strange  ignorance  and  stupidity.  However,  as 
he  flattered  himself  of  being  ranked  in  the  second  degree  of  happiness,  he  asked 
him,  "  who  of  all  those  he  had  seen,  was  the  next  in  felicity  to  Tellus  ?"  Solon 
answered,  Cleobis  and  Biton,  of  Argos,  two  brothers,*  who  had  left  behind 
them  a  perfect  pattern  of  fraternal  afieclion,  and  of  the  respect  due  from  chil- 
dren to  their  parents.  Upon  a  solemn  festival,  when  their  mother,  a  priestess 
of  Juno,  was  to  go  to  the  temple,  the  oxen  that  were  to  draw  her  not  being 
ready,  the  two  sons  put  themselves  to  the  yoke,  and  drew  their  mother's  chariot 
thither,  which  was  above  fiv^e  miles  distant.  All  the  mothers  of  the  place 
filled  with  admiration,  congratulated  the  priestess  on  the  piety  of  her  sons 
She,  in  the  transports  of  her  joy  and  thankfulness,  earnestly  entreated  the  go(i 
dess  to  reward  her  children  with  the  best  thing  that  heaven  can  give  to  mai^. 
Her  prayers  were  heard.  When  the  sacrifice  was  over,  her  two  sons  fell  asleep 
in  the  very  temple,  and  there  died  in  a  soft  and  peaceful  slumber.j  In  honoui 
of  their  piety,  the  people  of  Ai^os  consecrated  statues  to  them  in  the  temple 
of  Delphos.'^ 

"  What  then,"  says  Croesus,  in  a  tone  that  showed  his  discontent,  "  you  do 
not  reckon  me  in  the  number  of  the  happy  ?"  Solon,  who  was  not  willing  either 
to  flatter,  or  exasperate  him  any  farther,  replied  calmly:  "King  of  Lydia, 
besides  many  other  advantages,  the  gods  have  given  us  Grecians  a  spii  it  of 
moderation  and  reserve,  which  has  produced  among  us  a  plain,  popular  kind 
of  philosophy,  accompanied  with  a  certain  generous  freedom,  void  of  pride  or 
ostentation,  and  therefore  not  well  suited  to  the  courts  of  kings  ;  this  philo- 
sophy, considering  what  an  infinite  number  of  vicissitudes  and  accidents  the 
life  of  man  is  liable  to,  does  not  allow  us  either  to  glory  in  any  prosperity  we 
ourselves  enjoy,  or  to  admire  happiness  in  others,  which  perhaps  may  prove 
only  transient  or  superficial."  From  hence  he  took  occasion  to  represent  to 
him  farther,  "  that  the  life  of  man  seldom  exceeds  seventy  years,  which  make 
up  in  all  six  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  days,  of  which  no  two  are  exactly 
alike  ;  so  that  the  time  to  come  is  nothing  but  a  series  of  various  accidents 
which  cannot  be  foreseen.  Therefore,  in  our  opinion,"  continued  he,  '  no 
man  can  be  esteemed  happy,  but  he  whose  happiness  God  continues  to  the 
end  of  his  life  ;  as  for  others,  who  are  perpetuall}'  exposed  to  a  thousand  dag- 
gers, we  account  their  happiness  as  uncertain  as  the  crown  is  to  a  person  that 
is  still  engaged  in  battle,  and  has  not  yet  obtained  the  victory."  Solon  re- 
tired, when  he  had  spoken  these  words,  which  served  only  to  mortify  Crcesus, 
but  not  to  reform  him.J 

^^sop,  the  author  of  the  fables,  was  then  at  the  court  of  this  prince,  by  whom 
he  was  very  kindly  entertained.  He  was  concerned  at  the  unhandsome  treat- 
ment Solon  received,  and  said  to  him  by  way  of  advice,§  "  Solon,  we  must 
either  not  come  near  princes  at  all,  or  speak  things  that  are  agreeable  to  them." 

Say  rather,"  replied  Solon,  "  that  we  should  either  never  come  near  them 
a(  all,  or  else  speak  such  things  as  may  be  for  their  good." 

In  Plutarch's  time,  some  of  the  learned  were  of  opinion,  that  this  interviev/ 
between  Solon  and  Croesus  did  not  agree  with  the  dates  of  chronology.  But 
as  those  dates  are  very  uncertain,  that  judicious  author  did  not  think  this  ob- 
jection ought  to  prevail  against  the  authority  of  several  creditable  writei-s,  by 
whom  this  story  is  attested. 

What  we  have  now  related  of  Croesus  is  a  very  natural  picture  of  the  be- 
bavioifr  of  kings  and  great  men,  who  for  the  most  part  are  seduced  by  flattery  j 
and  shows  us,  at  the  same  time,  the  two  sources  from  whence  that  blindness 


]  The  fatigue  of  drawing  the  chariot  might  be  the  cause  of  it. 
t  Avn-haai  ^tv,  a  vshrhcras  5i  tov  Kforcrov. 
}  *n  XdXcov  (i(pn  ToU  ^aaikevai  deT  tos  hm^afi  us  hdisa  'oixiKeTv-  Kai  o  Eo'Xwv.   Mi  A»  (f rjr£»ciJUL' * 
tis  ^Krra  h  u)S     ifa*    The  jingle  of  the  words  us  r\ni7a  ri  C»s  r\5'Sa,  which  is  a  bcautj  in  the  nr%MHw. 
feeeause  it  it  foundadi  3  the  sense,  cannot  b«  randered  into  anjr  other  languaga 


THE  LYDIATvS. 


SOS 


^flw^rally  proceeds.    The  one  is,  a  secret  inclination  which  all  men  have,  but 
eipecially  the  great,  of  receiving  praise  without  any  precaution,  and  judging 
favourably  of  all  tjiat  admire  them,  or  show  an  unlimited  submission  and  com 
pbisance  to  their  humours.    The  other  is,  the  great  resemblance  there  is  be 
tween  flattery  and  a  sincere  affection,  or  a  reasonable  respect ;  which  is  some 
limes  counterfeited  so  exactly,  that  the  wisest  may  be  deceived,  if  they  are 
not  rery  much  upon  their  guard. 

Croesus,  if  we  judge  of  him  by  the  character  he  bears  in  history  >  was  a  very 
gvn'd  prince,  and  worthy  of  esteem  in  many  respects.  He  had  a  great  deal  of 
good  nature,  affability,  and  humanity.  His  palace  was  a  resort  for  men  of  wit 
and  learning,  which  shows,  that  he  himself  was  a  person  of  learning,  and  had 
a  taste  for  sciences.  His  weakness  was,  that  he  laid  a  great  stress  upon  '  iches 
and  magnificence,  thought  himself  great  and  happy  in  proportion  to  his  pos- 
sessions, mistook  regal  pomp  and  splendour  for  true  and  solid  greatness,  and 
fed  his  vanity  with  the  excessive  submissions  of  those  that  stood  in  a  kind  of 
adoration  before  him. 

'  Those  learned  men,  those  wits,  and  other  courtiers,  who  surrounded  this 
prince,  eat  at  his  table,  partook  of  his  pleasures,  shared  his  confidence,  and 
enriched  themselves  by  his  bounty  and  liberality,  took  care  not  to  differ  from 
the  prince's  taste,  and  never  thought  of  undeceiving  him  with  respect  to  his 
errors  or  false  ideas.  On  the  contrary,  they  made  it  their  business  to  cherish 
and  strengthen  them  in  him,  extolling  him  perpetually  as  the  most  opulent 
prince  of  his  age,  and  never  speaking  of  his  wealth,  or  the  magnificence  of  his 
palace,  but  in  terms  of  admiration  and  rapture  ;  because  they  knew  this  was 
the  s'ire  way  to  please  him,  and  to  secure  his  favour.  For  flattery  is  nothing 
else  than  a  commerce  of  falsehood  and  lying,  founded  upon  interest  on  one 
side,  and  vanity  on  the  other.  The  flatterer  desires  to  advance  himself,  and 
make  his  fortune  ;  the  prince  to  be  praised  and  admired,  because  he  is  his  own 
first  flatterer,  and  carries  within  himself  a  more  subtile  and  better  prepared 
poison  than  any  adulation  can  give  him. 

That  saying  of  ^sop,  who  had  formerly  been  a  slave,  and  still  retained 
somewhat  of  the  spirit  and  character  of  slavery,  though  he  had  varnished  it 
over  with  the  address  of  an  artful  courtier ;  "  that  we  should  either  not  come 
near  kings,  or  say  what  is  agreeable  to  them,"  shows  us  with  what  kind  of 
men  Crcesus  had  filled  his  court,  and  by  what  means  he  had  banished  all  sin- 
cerity, integrity,  and  duty  from  his  presence.  Therefore  we  see  he  could  not 
bear  that  noble  and  generous  freedom  in  the  philosopher,  upon  which  he  ought 
to  have  set  an  infinite  value,  as  he  would  have  done,  had  he  but  understood  the 
worth  of  a  friend,  who,  attaching  himself  to  the  person,  and  not  to  the  fortune 
of  a  prince,  has  the  courage  to  tell  him  disagreeable  truths  ;  truths  unpalatable, 
and  bitter  to  self-love  at  the  present,  but  that  may  prove  very  salutary  and 
serviceable  for  the  future  Die  ilUs,  non  quod  volunt  audire^  sea  quod  audisse 
temper  volent.  These  are  Seneca's  own  words,  where  he  is  endeavouring  to 
show,  of  what  great  use  a  faithful  and  sincere  friend  may  be  to  a  prince  ;  and 
what  he  adds  farther  seems  to  be  written  on  purpose  for  Croesus  :  Give  him," 
gays  he,  "  wholesome  advice.  Let  a  word  of  truth  once  reach  those  ears,  which 
are  perpetually  fed  and  entertained  with  flattery.  You'll  ask  me,  what  service 
can  be  done  to  a  person  arrived  at  the  highest  pitch  of  felicity  ?  It  will  teach 
him  not  to  trust  in  his  prosperity ;  it  will  remove  that  vain  confidence  he  has 
in  his  power  and  greatness,  as  if  they  were  to  endure  for  ever  ;  make  him  un- 
derstand, that  every  thing  which  belongs  to  and  depends  upon  fortune,  is  as 
unstable  as  herself;  and  that  there  is  often  but  the  space  of  a  moment  between 
the  highest  elevation  and  the  most  unhappy  downfall."* 


*  Plenas  aures  adnlatiombus  aliquando  vera  vox  intret ;  da  consilium  utile.    Q,uaeris,  quid  felici  pnBstar« 
possis  f    Effice,  nc  felicitati  sua?  credat.    Parum  in  ilium  contuleris,  si  illi  semel  stultam  fiduciam  pr.raatj^ 
•arae  fempcr  potentiae  excusseris,  docuerisque  mobilia  esse  quas  deditcafus*  ac  isepe  inter  fortiiBMi 
lai&m  at  ultimam  nihil  interesse. — Sen.  de  Benef.  1.  vi.  c.  93, 


304 


HISTORY  or 


It  was  not  long  before  Crcesus  experienced  me  truth  of  what  Solon  had  U  c 
him.  He  had  two  sons  ;  one  of  whom  being  dumb,  was  a  perpetual  subject 
of  affliction  to  him  ;  the  other,  named  Atys,  was  distinguished  by  '^very  goud 
quality,  and  his  great  consolation  and  delight.  The  father  dreamed  one  night, 
which  made  a  great  impression  upon  his  mind,  that  this  beloved  son  of  his 
was  to  perish  by  iron.  This  became  a  new  source  of  anxiety  and  trouble, 
and  care  was  taken  to  remove  cut  of  the  young  prince's  way  every  thing  made 
o^iron,  as  partisans,  lances,  javelins,  &c.  No  mention  was  made  of  armies, 
wars,  or  sieges,  before  him.  But  one  day  there  was  to  be  an  extraordinary 
himting-match,  for  the  killing  of  a  wild  boar,  which  had  committed  great  ravage 
m  the  neighbourhood.  All  the  young  lords  of  the  court  were  to  be  at  this 
hunting.  Atys  very  earnestly  importuned  his  father,  that  he  would  give  him 
*  leave  to  be  present,  at  least  as  a  spectator.  The  king  could  not  refuse  him 
that  request,  but  let  him  go  under  the  care  of  a  discreet  young  prince,  who 
had  taken  refuge  in  his  court,  and  was  named  Adrastus.  And  this  very  Adras* 
tus,  as  he  was  aiming  to  throw  his  javelin  at  the  boar,  unfortunately  killed 
Atys.  It  is  impossible  to  express  either  the  affliction  of  the  father,  when  he 
heard  of  this  fatal  accident,  or  of  the  unhappy  prince,  the  innocent  author  of 
the  murder,  who  expiated  his  fault  with  his  blood,  stabbing  hir^iself  in  the 
breast  with  his  own  sword,  upon  the  funeral-pile  of  the  unfortunate  Atys.* 

Two  years  were  spent  on  this  occasion  in  deep  mourning,  the  afflicted  fa- 
ther's thoughts  being  wholly  taken  up  with  the  loss  he  had  sustained.  But 
the  growing  reputation,  and  great  qualities  of  Cyrus,  who  began  to  make  him- 
self known,  roused  him  out  of  his  lethargy.  He  thought  it  behoved  him  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  power  of  the  Persians,  which  was  enlarging  itself  eyery  day 
As  he  was  very  religious  in  his  way,  he  would  never  enter  upon  any  enter- 
orise,  without  consulting  -he  gods.  But,  that  he  might  not  act  blindly,  and  to 
t)e  able  to  form  a  certain  judgment  on  the  answers  he  should  receive,  he  was 
willing  to  assure'  himself  beforehand  of  the  truth  of  the  oracles :  For  which 
purpose,  he  sent  messengers  to  all  the  most  celebrated  oracles  both  of  Greece 
and  Africa,  with  orders  to  inquire,  every  one  at  his  respective  oracle,  what 
CrcBSus  was  doing  on  such  a  day,  and  such  an  hour,  before  agreed  on.  His 
orders  were  punctually  observed,  and  of  all  the  oracles,  none  gave  a  true  an- 
swer but  that  of  Delphos.  The  answer  was  given  in  Greek  hexameter  verses, 
and  was  in  substance  as  follows  :  /  know  the  number  of  the  grains  of  sand  on 
the  sea-shore^  arid  fue  measure  of  the  ocean' s  vast  extent.  I  can  hear  the  dumb, 
and  him  that  has  not  yet  learned  to  speak,  A  strong  smell  of  a  tortoise  boiled 
in  brass,  together  with  sheep^s flesh,  has  reached  my  nostrils,  brass  beneath^  brass 
above.  And  indeed,  the  king,  lhinki!i|5^  to  invent  something  that  could  not 
possibly  be  guessed  at,  had  employed  himself,  on  the  day  and  hour  set  down, 
in  boiling  a  tortoise  and  a  lamb  in  a  brass  pot,  which  had  a  brass  cover.  St. 
Austin  observes  in  several  places,  that  God  to  punish  the  blindness  of  the  pa- 
gans, sometimes  permitted  the  devils  to  give  answers  conformably  to  the  truth. t 

Croesus,  thus  assured  of  the  god's  veracity,  whom  he  designed  to  consult, 
offered  three  thousand  victims  to  his  honour,  and  ordered  an  infinite  number 
of  vessels,  tripods,  and  golden  tables,  to  be  melted  down,  and  converted  into 
mgots  of  gold,  to  the  number  of  a  hundred  and  seventeen,  to  augment  the  trea- 
sure sof  the  Delphic  temple.  Each  of  these  ingots  weighed  at  least  two  ta- 
lents ;  besides  which,  he  made  several  other  presenls  :  among  them  Herodo- 
tus mentions  a  golden  lion,  weighing  ten  talents,  and  two  vessels  of  an  extra- 
ordinary size,  one  of  gold,  which  weighed  eight  talents  and  a  half,  and  tAvelve 
minae  ;  the  other  of  silver,  which  contained  six  hundred  of  the  measures  cal- 
led amphoras.  All  these  presents,  and  many  more,  which,  for  brevity's  sake, 
I  omit,  were  to  be  seen  in  the  time  of  Herodotus. 

The  messengers  were  ordered  to  consult  the  god  upon  two  pomts ;  first, 
whether  Croesus  should  undertake  a  war  against  the  Persians  ;  secondly,  if  he 


*  HoFod.  I.  i.e.  31  35. 


f  Ilerod.  1.  i.  c.  46—50 


dirl,  whether  he  should  require  the  succour  of  any  auxiliary  tx"(xjps.  The  ora- 
cle ansv/ered  upon  the  first  article,  that  if  he  carried  his  arms  against  the  Per- 
sians, he  would  subvert  a  great  empire;  upon  the  second,  he  would  do  well 
to  in:ike  alliances  with  the  most  powerful  states  of  Greece.  He  consulted  tlie 
oracle  again  to  know  how  long  the  duration  of  his  empire  would  be.  The 
answer  was,  it  should  subsist  till  a  mule  came  to  possess  the  throne  of  Me 
dia  ;  \vhich  he  construed  to  signify  the  perpetual  duration  of  his  kingdom. 

Pursuant  to  the  direction  of  the  oracle,  Croesus  entered  into  an  alliance  witk 
the  Atiienians,  who  at  that  time  had  Pisistralus  at  their  head,  and  with  the  La 
cedamonians,  who  were  indisputa[)ly  the  two  most  powerful  states  of  Greece 

A  certain  Lydian,  much  esteemed  for  his  prudence,  gave  Croesus  on  this 
occasion  very  judicious  advice.  "O  prince,"  says  he  to  him,  "why  do  you 
fliink  of  turning  j^our  arms  against  such  a  people  as  the  Persians,  who,  being 
l^orn  in  a  wild,  rugged  country,  are  inured  from  their  infancy  to  every  kind  of 
hardship  and  fatigue  ;  wiio  being  coarsely  clad,  and  coarsely  fed,  can  content 
themselves  with  bread  and  water  ;  who  are  absolute  strangers  to  all  the  deli- 
cacies and  conveniences  of  life  ;  who,  in  a  word,  have  nothing  to  lose  if  you 
conquer  them,  and  every  thing  to  gain  if  they  conquer  you  ;  and  whom  it  would 
be  very  difficult  to  drive  out  of  our  country,  if  they  should  once  come  to  taste 
the  sweets  and  advantages  of  it  ?  So  far,  therefore,  from  thinking  of  commencing 
a  wnv  against  them,  it  is  my  opinion  we  ought  to  thank  the  gods,  that  they 
have  never  put  it  into  the  heads  of  the  Persians  to  come  and  attack  the  I  ydi 
ai:s,''   But  Crcesus  had  taken  his  resolution,  and  would  not  be  diverted  trom  it.* 

What  rema  ins  of  the  history  of  Croesus  wdll  be  found  in  that  of  Cynjs,  which 
1  5-l::i!l  now  commence 


BOOK  FOURTH. 

THE 

FOUNDATION  OF  THE  EMFIRE 

OF  THE 

MEDIiS  AND  PERSIANS, 

BY  CYRUS. 

CONTAINING  THE  REIGNS  OF 

CFRUS,  CAMBYSES  AND  SMERDIS  THE  MAGIAN. 


PLAN. 

rhcM  three  reigns  will  be  the  subject  matter  of  the  Fourth  Book.    But  as  the  two  latter  are  rery  tbort 

and  contarin  few  importaiit  facts,  this  book,  properly  speaking,  may  be  called  the  History  of  Cynit. 


CHAPTER  1. 

THIS  HISTORY  OF  CYRUS. 

■  Che  history  of  this  prince  is  differently  related  by  Herodotus  and  Xenophon. 
I  follow  the  latter,  as  infinitely  more  worthy  of  credit  in  this  respect  than  the 
former.  As  to  those  facts  wherein  they  differ,  I  shall  briefly  relate  what  Hero- 
dotus says  of  them.  It  is  well  known,  that  Xenoohon  served  a  long  time  un- 
der Cyrus  the  younger,  who  had  in  his  troops  a  great  number  of  Persian  no- 
blemen, with  whom  undoubtedly  this  writer,  who  was  of  an  inquisitive  miud 
often  conversed,  that  he  might  acquaint  himself  by  these  means  with  the  man- 
ners and  customs  of  the  Persians,  with  their  conquests  in  general,  but  more 
particularly  with  those  of  the  prince  who  had  founded  their  monarchy,  and 
whose  history  he  proposed  to  write.  This  he  tells  us  himself,  in  the  beginning 
vf  his  Cyropaedia  :  "  Having  always  looked  upon  this  great  man  as  worthy  oi 
•\dmiration,  I  took  a  pleasure  in  informing  myself  of  his  birth,  his  natural  tern 
per,  and  education,  that  I  might  know  by  what  means  he  became  so  great  a 
prince  :  and  herein  I  advance  nothing  but  what  has  been  related  to  me." 

As  to  what  Cicero  says,  in  his  first  letter  to  his  brother  Quintus,  "that  Xeno- 
phon's  design,  in  writing  the  history  of  Cyrus,  was  not  so  much  to  follow  truth, 
as  to  give  a  model  of  a  just  governm.ent  this  )ught  not  to  lessen  the  au- 
Ihority  of  that  judicious  historian,  or  make  us  give  the  less  credit  to  what  he 
relates.  All  that  can  be  inferred  from  thence  is,  that  the  design  of  Xenophon, 
who  was  a  great  philosopher,  as  w^ell  as  a  great  captain,  was  not  merely  to  write 
the  history  of  Cyrus,  but  to  represent  him  as  a  model  and  example  to  princes, 
for  their  instruction  in  the  art  of  governing,  and  of  gaining  the  love  of  their 
subjects,  notwithstanding  the  pomp  and  elevation  of  their  stations.  With  this 
view  he  may  possibly  have  lent  his  hero  some  thoughts,  some  sentiments,  or 
discourses  of  his  own.  But  the  substance  of  the  facts  and  events  he  relate* 
are  to  be  deemed  true  :  and  of  this  their  conformity  with  the  holy  Scripture 


*  Cyruf  iMe  a  Xeuophonte,  non  ad  historie  gdem  scriptui,  sed  ad  eiBp^iem  justi  imperii , 


SOS 


HtSTOIlY  OF  CYitU**. 


iscf  itself  a  sufficient  proof.    The  reader  may  see  the  dissertauoi.  .   the  Ab- 
Banier  upon  this  subject,  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Polite  Lite- 
rature.* 

For  greater  perspicuity  I  have  divided  the  history  of  Cyrus  into  three 
parts.    The  fcl  will  reach  from  his  birth  to  the  siege  of  Babylon  ;  the  second  i 
will  comprehend  the  description  of  the  siege,  and  the  taking  of  that  city,  with  I 
every  thing  else  tha-t  relates  to  that  great  event ;  the  third  will  contain  'hat 
prince's  history,  from  the  taking  of  Babylon  to  his  death. 

ARTICLE  L 

THE  HISTORY  OF  CYRUS  FROM  HIS  INFANCY  TO  THE  SIEGE  OF  BABYLON. 

This  interA^al,  besides  his  education,  and  the  journey  he  made  to  his  grand- 
father Astyages  in  Media,  includes  the  first  campaigns  of  Cyrus,  and  tir^e  im- 
portant expeditions  subsequent  to  them. 

SECTION  I. — EDUCATION  OF  CYRUS. 

Cyrus  was  the  son  of  Cambyses.  king  of  Persia,  and  of  Mandana,  daoghtei 
of  Astyages,  king  of  the  Medes.j  He  was  born  one  year  after  his  uncle  Cy- 
axares,  the  brother  of  Mandana.J 

The  Persians  consisted  at  this  time  of  twelve  tribes,  who  inhabited  only  one 
province  of  that  vast  country  which  has  since  borne  the  name  of  Persia,  and 
did  not  amount  to  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men.  But 
this  people  having  afterwards,  through  the  wisdom  and  valour  of  Cyrus,  ac- 
quired the  empire  of  the  East,  the  name  of  Persia  extended  itself  with  their 
conquests  and  fortune,  and  comprehended  all  that  vast  tract  of  land,  which 
reaches  from  east  to  west,  from  the  river  Indus  to  the  Tigris  ;  and  from  north  | 
to  south,  from  the  Caspian  sea  to  the  ocean.§ 

Cyrus  was  beautiful  in  his  person,  and  still  more  lovely  for  the  qualities  of 
his  mind  ;  was  of  a  very  sweet  disposition,  full  of  good-nature  and  humanity, 
and  had  a  great  desire  to  learn,  and  a  noble  ardour  for  glory.  He  was  nevef 
afraid  of  any  danger,  or  discouraged  by  any  hardship- or  difficulty,  where  hon- 
our was  to  be  acquired.  He  was  brought  up  according  to  the  laws  and  customs 
of  the  Persians,  which  were  excellent  in  those  days  with  respect  to  education. 

The  public  good,  the  common  benefit  of  the  nation,  was  the  only  principle 
and  end  of  all  their  laws.  The  education  of  children  was  looked  upon  as  the 
most  important  duty,  and  the  most  essential  part  of  government :  it  was  not  ^ 
left  to  the  care  of  fathers  and  mothers,  whose  blind  affection  and  fondness  often 
render  them  incapable  of  that  office  ;  but  the  state  took  it  upon  themselves. 
Boys  were  all  brought  up  in  common,  after  one  uniform  manner  ;  where  every 
thing  was  regulated,  the  place  and  length  of  their  exercises,  the  times  of  eating, 
the  quality  of  their  meat  and  drink,  and  their  different  kinds  of  punishment. 
The  only  food  allowed  either  the  children  or  the  young  men,  was  bread, 
cresses,  and  water  ;  for  their  design  was  to  accustom  them  early  to  temperance 
and  sobriety  :  besides,  they  considered,  that  a  plain  frugal  diet,  without  any 
mixture  of  sauces  or  ragouts,  would  strengthen  the  body,  and  lay  such  a  founda- 
tion of  health,  as  would  enable  them  to  undergo  the  hardships  and  fatigues  of 
war  to  a  good  old  age.H 

Here  boys  went  to  school  to  learn  justice  and  virtue,  as  they  do  in  other 
piace.o  to  learn  arts  and  sciences  ;  and  the  crime  most  severely  punished  among 
them,  was  ingratitude. 

The  design  of  the  Persians,  in  all  these  wise  regulations,  was  to  prevent  evil, 
being  convinced  how  much  better  it  is  to  prevent  faults  than  to  punish  them  : 
and  whereas,  in  other  states,  the  legislators  are  satisfied  with  establishing  punish- 


*  Vol.  vi.  p.  400.  t  Xen.  Cyrop.  I.  i.  p.  3.  |  A.  M.  3405.    Ant.  J.  C. 

\  Persia  continued  to  occupy  the  same  extent  of  territory,  until  the  kingdom  of  Cabul  was  ree«ltj|^ 
erected,  froir-  the  eastern  part.  j]  Cyrop.  1.  i.  p  3 — 8. 


HISTORY  OF  CrKUS. 


S09 


ments  for  criminal?,  the  Persians  endeavoured  so^to  order  it,  as  to  have  no  crimi 
lals  among  them. 

Till  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  of  age,  the  boys  remained  in  the  class  of  child- 
ren, in  which  they  learned  to  draw  the  bow,  and  to  throw  the  dart  or  javelin ; 
aUer  which,  they  were  received  into  the  class  of  young  men.  In  this  class 
they  were  more  narrowly  watched,  and  kept  in  stricter  subjection  than  before, 
because  that  a^e  requires  the  closest  inspection,  and  has  the  greatest  need  of 
restraint.  Hei!.-  the}''  remained  ten  years  ;  during  which  time  ihey  passed  all 
their  nights  in  Keeping  guard,  as  well  for  the  safety  of  the  city,  as  to  inure 
themselves  to  fatigue.  In  the  day-time  they  waited  upon  their  governors,  tc 
receive  their  orders,  attended  the  kingjn  his  huntmg,  or  improved  themselves 
fh  their  exercises. 

The  third  class  consisted  of  men  grown  up,  and  Ibrmed;  and  in  this  they 
remained  live  and  twenty  years.  Out  of  these,  all  the  officers  that  were  to 
command  in  the  troops,  and  all  such  as  were  to  fill  the  different  posts  and  em- 
ployments in  the  state,  were  chosen.  When  fifty  years  of  age,  they  were  not 
obliged  to  carry  arms  out  of  their  own  country. 

Besides  these,  there  was  a  fourth  or  last  class,  from  whence  men  of  the  great- 
est wisdom  and  experience  were  chosen,  for  forming  the  public  council,  and 
presiding  in  the  courts  of  judicature. 

By  these  means  every  citizen  might  aspire  to  the  chief  posts  in  the  govern- 
ment ;  but  no  one  could  arrive  at  them,  till  he  had  passed  through  all  these 
several  classes,  and  made  himself  capable  of  them  by  all  these  exercises.  The 
classes  were  open  to  all  ;  but  generally  such  only  as  were  rich  enough  to  main- 
tain their  children  without  working,  sent  them  thither. 

Cyrus  himself  was  educated  in  this  manner,  and  surpassed  all  of  his  age, 
not  only  in  aptness  to  learn,  but  in  courage  and  address  in  executing  whatever 
he  undertook.* 

JOURNEY  OF  CYRUS  TO  HIS  GRANDRATHER  ASTYAGES,  AND  HIS  RETURN 

INTO  PERSIA. 

When  Cyrus  was  twelve  years  old,  his  mother  Mandana  took  him  with  her 
into  Media,  to  his  grandfather  Astyages,  who  from  the  many  things  he  had 
heard  in  favour  of  the  young  prince,  had  a  great  desire  to  see  him.  In  this 
court  young  Cyrus  found  very  different  manners  from  those  of  his  own  country. 
Pride,  luxury,  and  magnificence,  reigned  here  universally.  Astyages  himself 
was  richly  clothed,  had  his  eyes  coloured,t  his  face  painted,  and  his  hair  em- 
bellished with  artificial  locks.  For  the  Modes  affected  an  effeminate  life  ;  to 
be  dressed  in  scarlet,  and  to  wear  necklaces  and  bracelets;  whereas  the  ha- 
bits of  the  Persians  were  very  plain  and  coarse.  All  this  finery  had  no  effect 
upon  Cyrus,  who,  without  criticising  or  condemning  what  he  saw,  was  content 
to  live  as  he  had  been  brought  up,  and  adhered  to  the  principles  he  had  im- 
bibed from  his  infancy.  He  charmed  his  grandfather  with  his  spriteliness  and 
wit,  and  gained  the  favour  of  all  by  his  noble  and  engaging  behaviour.  I  shall 
only  mention  one  instance,  whereby  we  may  judge  of  the  rest. 

Astyages,  to  make  his  grandson  unwilling  to  return  home,  made  a  sumptu- 
(yjs  entertainment,  in  which  there  was  a  vast  plenty  and  profusion  of  every 
thing  that  was  nice  and  delicate.  Cyrus  looked  upon  all  this  exquisite  cheei 
md  magnificent  preparation,  with  great  indifference,  and  observing  that  it  ex- 
cited the  surprise  of  Astyages,  "  The  Persians,"  says  he  to  the  king,  "  instead 
of  going  such  a  round-about  way  to  appease  their  hunger,  have  a  much  shorter 


*  Cyrop.  1.  i.  p.  8—22. 

j  The  ancients,  in  order  to  set  off  the  beauty  of  the  face,  and  to  give  more  life  to  their  complexion,  used 
to  fomrj  their  eye-brows  into  perfect  arches,  and  to  colour  them  with  black.  To  give  the  greater  lustre  to 
llieir  eyes,  they  made  their  eye-lashes  of  the  same  blackness.  This  artifice  was  much  in  use  among  the 
Hebrews.  It  is  said  of  Jezebel,  Depinxil  oculos  suos  stibio,"  2  Kings,  ix.  30.  This  drug  had  an  astrio- 
fcM  quality  which  shrunk  up  the  eye-lids,  and  made  the  eyes  appear  the  larger,  which  at  that  lima  wa« 
nckoned  a  beauty. — Plin.  1.  xxxiii.  c.  6.  From  hence  comes  that  epithet,  which  Homer  so  often  giiet  t» 
kit  f:o<ldeBKS, — BowTTif  "Hjn,  great-eyed  .luuo. 


310 


HISTORY  OF  CYRUS. 


to  the  same  end ;  a  little  bread  and  cresses  with  them  answer  the  purpose," 
Astyages  desiring  Cyrus  to  dispose  of  all  the  meats  as  he  thought  fit,  the  lat- 
ter immediately  distributed  them  to  the  king's  officers  in  waiting  ;  to  one,  be 
cause  he  taught  him  to  ride  ;  to  another,  because  he  waited  well  upon  his  grand 
father ;  and  to  a  third,  because  he  took  great  care  of  his  mother.  Sacas,  ihft 
king*s  cup-bearer,  was  the  only  person  to  whom  he  gave  nothing.  This  offi- 
cer, besides  the  post  of  cup-bearer,  had  that  likewise  of  introducing  those 
who  were  to  have  audience  of  the  king  ;  and  as  he  could  not  possibly  giant 
that  favour  to  Cyrus  as  often  as  he  desired  it,  he  had  the  misfortune  to  dis- 
please the  prince,  who  took  this  occasion  to  show  his  resentment.  Astyages 
manifesting  some  concern  at  the  neglect  of  this  officer,  for  whom  he  had  a  par- 
ticular regard,  and  who  deserved  it,  as  he  said,  on  account  of  the  wondei  i'ul 
dexterity  with  which  he  served  him;  "Is  that  all,  father?"  replied  Cyjus ; 
"  if  that  be  sufficient  to  merit  your  favour,  you  shall  see  I  will  quickly  obtain 
it ;  for  I  will  take  upon  me  to  serve  you  better  than  he."  Cyrus,  immediately 
equipped  as  a  cup-bearer,  and  advancing  gravely  with  a  serious  countenance, 
a  napkin  upon  his  shoulder,  and  holding  the  cup  nicely  with  three  of  his  fin 
gers,  presented  it  to  the  king  with  a  dexterity  and  a  grace  that  charmed  both 
Astyages  and  Mandana.  When  he  had  done,  he  threw  himself  upon  his  grand- 
father's neck,  and  kissing  him,  cried  out  with  great  joy,  "O  Sacas,  poor  Sa- 
cas, thou  art  undone.  I  shall  have  thy  place."*  Astyages  embraced  him  m\h 
gTeat  fondness,  and  said,  *'  I  am  highly  pleased,  my  dear  child  ;  nobody  can 
serve  with  a  better  grace  ;  but  you  have  foi-got  one  essential  ceremony,  which 
is  that  of  tasting."  And,  indeed,the  cup-bearer  was  used  to  pour  some  of  the 
liquor  into  his  left  hand,  and  to  taste  it,  before  he  presented  it  to  the  king. 
"No,"  replied  Cyrus,  "  it  was  not  through  forgetfulness  that  I  omitted  that 
ceremony."  "  Why  then,"  says  Astyages,  "  for  what  reason  did  you  rot  dc 
it  ?"  "  Because  I  apprehended  there  was  poison  in  the  liquor."  "  Poison, 
child !  how  could  you  think  so  ?"  "  Yes,  poison,  father,  for  not  long  ago,  at 
an  entertainment  you  gave  to  the  lords  of  your  court,  after  the  guests  liad 
drunk  a  little  of  that  liquor,  I  perceived  all  their  heads  were  turned  ;  they 
sung,  made  a  noise,  and  talked  they  did  not  know  what ;  you  yourself,  .seemed 
to  nave  forgot  that  you  were  king,  and  they,  that  they  were  subjects ;  and 
when  you  would  have  danced,  you  could  not  stand  upon  your  legs."  "  Why," 
says  Astyages,  "  have  you  never  seen  the  same  thing  happen  to  your  father  ?" 
"  No,  never,"  says  Cyrus.  "  What  then  ?  How  is  it  with  him  when  he  drinks  ?" 
"  Why,  when  he  has  drunk,  his  thirst  is  quenched,  ^nd  that  is  all." 

We  cannot  too  much  admire  the  skill  of  the  historian,  in  giving  such  an  ex- 
cellent lesson  of  sobriety  in  this  story.  He  might  have  done  it  in  a  seriou? 
grave  way,  and  have  spoken  with  the  air  of  a  philosopher ;  for  Xenophon. 
although  a  great  warrior,  was  as  excellent  a  philosopher  as  his  master  Socrates. 
But  instead  of  that,  he  puts  the  instruction  into  the  mouth  of  a  child,  and  con- 
ceals it  under  the  veil  of  a  story,  which  in  the  original  is  told  with  all  the  wit 
and  agreeableness  imaginable. 

Mandana  being  upon  the  point  of  returning  to  Persia,  Cyrus  joyfully  com- 
plied with  the  repeated  requests  his  grandfather  had  made  to  him  to  stay  in 
Media  ;  being  desirous,  as  he  said,  to  perfect  himself  in  the  art  of  riding,  which 
he  was  not  yet  master  of,  and  which  was  not  known  in  Persia,  where  the  bar- 
renness of  the  country,  and  its  craggy  mountainous  situation,  rendered  it  unfit 
for  the  breeding  of  horses. 

During  the  time  of  his  residence  at  this  court,  his  behaviour  procured  him 
infinite  love  and  esteem.  He  was  gentle,  affable,  beneficent,  and  generous. 
Whenever  the  young  lords  had  any  favour  to  ask  of  the  king,  Cyrus  was  theii 
solicitor.  If  the  king  had  any  subject  of  complaint  against  them,  Cvrus  was 
their  mediator ;  their  affairs  became  his,  and  he  always  managed  them  so  well, 
that  he  obtained  whatever  he  desired. 


HISTORV  OF  CVRUS, 


311 


When  Gyn  ^  was  about  sixteen  years  of  age,  the  son  of  the  king  of  the  Ba- 
bylonians,*^ (this  was  Evil-Merodach,  son  of  Nebuchadnezzar,)  at  a  hunting 
match  a  short  time  before  his  marriage,  thought  fit  to  show  his  bravery  by 
making  an  irruption  into  the  territories  of  the  Medes  ;  which  obliged  Astyages 
to  take  the  fiehi.  to  oppose  the  i?ivader.  Ileie  it  was  that  Cyrus,  having  Ibl- 
lowed  his  grandtather,  served  his  apprenticeship  in  war.  He  behaved  so  well 
on  this  occasion,  that  the  victory  which  the  Medes  gained  over  the  Babylonians, 
was  chii^fly  owing  to  his  valour. 

The  year  after,  his  father  recalling  him,  that  he  might  accomplish  his  (ime  in 
the  Persian  exercises,  he  departed  immediately  from  the  court  of  Media,  that 
iSF  ilher  his  father  nor  his  country  might  have  any  room  to  complain  of  his  delay. 
This  occasion  showed  how  much  he  was  beloved.  At  his  departure  he  was 
c'l -c  ^  nr3  inied  by  all  sorts  of  people,  young  and  out.  Astyages  himself  con- 
dijoied  liiiii  a  good  part  of  his  journey  on  horseback  ;  and  when  the  sad  n](^- 
nient  came  that  they  must  part,  the  \vhole  coinpaiiy  vvej^e  bcf^heJ  in  leais.' 

Thus  Cyrus  returned  into  his  own  country,  and  re-entered  the  class  of  chil 
dren,  where  he  continued  a  year  longer.  His  companions,  after  his  long  lesi 
rlence  in  so  voluptuous  and  luxurious  a  court  as  th;it  of  the  Medes,  expected  to 
f]:]  1  a  great  change  in  his  manners.  But  when  they  saw  that  he  was  content 
sv-ih  tlieir  ordinary  table,  and  that,  when  he  v»^.^s  pi  esent  at  any  entertainment, 
he  was  more  sober  and  temperate  than  any  ot  the  company,  they  looked  ujjon 
him  with  new  admiration. 

From  this  first,  class  he  passed  into  the  second,  w'hich  is  the  class  of  youths  ; 
and  there  it  quickly  appeared  that  he  had  not  his  equal  in  dexterity,  address, 
patience,  and  obedience. 

Ten  years  after,  he  was  admitted  into  the  men's  class,  wherein  he  remained 
thiiteen  years,  till  he  set  out  at  the  head  of  the  Persian  army,  to  go  to  the  aid 
of  his  uncle  Cyaxar  js. 

SFCnOX  III.     THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGN   OF  CYRUS,  WHO  GOES  TO  SUCCOUR  R!f 
UNCLE  CYAXARES  AGAINST  THE  BABYLONIANS. 

Astyages,  king  of  the  Medes,  dying,  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Cyaxares 
bucjther  to  Cyrus's  mother.^  Cyaxares  w^as  no  sooner  on  the  throne,  than  hj 
was  engaged  in  a  terrible  war.  He  w\as  informed  that  the  king  of  the  Baby- 
lonians (Neriglissor)  was  preparing  a  powerful  army  against  him,  and  that  he 
h  id  already  engaged  several  princes  on  his  side,  and  among  others  Croesus, 
king  of  Lydia  ;  that  he  had  likewise  sent  ambassadors  to  the  king  of  India,  to 
give  him  unjust  impressions  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  by  representing  to 
him  how^  dangerous  a  closer  alliance  and  union  between  two  nations,  already  so 
powerful,  might  be,  since  they  could  in  the  end  subdue  all  the  nation?  around 
them,  if  a  vigorous  opposition  w^as  not  made  to  the  progress  of  their  power. 
Cyaxares,  therefore,  despatched  ambassadors  to  Cambyses,  to  desire  succours 
lYom  him  ;  and  ordered  them  to  bring  it  about,  that  Cyrus  should  have  the 
command  of  the  troops  his  father  was  to  send.  This  was  readily  granted.  As 
soon  as  it  was  known  that  Cyrus  was  to  march  at  the  head  of  the  army,  the 
joy  was  universal.  The  army  consisted  of  thirty  thousand  men,  ali  iniantry, 
lor  the  Persians  had  as  yet  no  cavaliy  ;  but  they  were  all  chosen  n"  en,  and 
«uc  h  as  had  been  raised  in  a  particular  manner.  First  of  all,  Cyrus  chost  out  of 
\he  nobility  two  hundred  of  the  bravest  officers,  each  of  whom  was  ordered  to 
choose  out  four  more  of  the  same  sort,  w  hich  made  a  thousand  in  all ;  and  these 
were  the  officers  that  were  called 'O^i  tiu  .  §  and  who  signalized  themselves 
at'terwards  so  gloriously  upon  all  occasions.  "  Eveiy  one  of  this  thousand  was 
appointed  to  raise  among  the  people  ten  light-armed  pikemen,  ten  slingers,  and 
ten  bowmen,  which  amounted  in  the  whole  to  one  and  thirty  thousand  men. 


*  In  Xenoplion,  this  people  are  always  called  Assyrians  ;  and  ir.  truth  they  are  Assyrians,  but  Afsyriana 
n(  Babylon,  whom  we  must  not  corifonnd  wiih  those,  of  Nineveh,  whose  empire,  as  we  have  seen  •.Ire^dy, 
•ra*  utterly  destroyed  by  the  r.nn  of  Niaeveh.  the  capital  citv. 

t  A.'^,94ah    Aat  j.  C.  5fl3.  t  A.  M.  3444.    Ant  J.  C.  560.    Cyrep.  J.  u  p 

I  Men  ot  the  t  iiiijitv 


312 


HISTORY  OF  CYRUS. 


Before  tliey  proceeded  to  this  choice,  Cyrus  thought  fit  to  make  a  speech  ki 
the  two  hundred  officers,  whom,  after  having  highly  praised  for  their  coura^«, 
he  inspired  with  the  strongest  assurance  of  victory  and  success.  "Do  you 
know,"  says  he  to  them,  the  nature  of  the  enemy  you  have  to  deal  with  ? 
They  are  ao^i^  effeminate,  enervated  men,  alrrady  half  conquered  by  their  own 
luxury  and  voluptuousness  ;  men  not  able  to  bear  either  hunger  or  thirst ; 
equally  incapable  of  supporting  the  toil  of  war,  or  the  sight  of  danger  ;  whereas 
you,  that  are  inured  from  your  infancy  to  a  sober  and  hard  way  of  living  ;  to 
you,  1  say,  hunger  and  thirst  are  but  the  sauce,  and  the  only  sauce  to  ycur 
meals ;  fatigues  are  your  pleasures,  dangers  your  delight,  and  the  love  of  your 
country  and  of  glory  your  only  passion.  Besides,  the  justice  of  our  cause  if? 
another  considerable  advantage.  They  are  the  aggressors.  It  is  the  eneni^/ 
that  attacks  us,  and  they  are  our  friends  and  allies  that  require  our  aid.  Can 
any  thing  be  more  just  than  to  repel  the  injury  they  would  bring  upon  us  ?  Is 
there  any  thing  more  honourable  than  to  fly  to  the  assistance  of  our  friends  ? 
But  what  ought  to  be  the  principal  motive  of  your  confidence  is,  that  I  dc  not 
engage  in  this  expedition  without  having  first  consulted  the  go(|s,  and  implored 
their  protection  ;  for  you  know  it  is  my  custom  to  begin  all  my  actions,  and  all 
my  undertakings,  in  that  manner." 

Soon  after,  Cyrus  set  out  without  loss  of  time  ;  but  before  his  departure  he 
mvi  ked  the  gods  of  the  country  a  second  time.  For  his  great  maxim  was, 
and  he  had  it  from  his  father,  that  a  man  ought  not  to  form  any  enterprise, 
great  or  small,  without  consulting  the  Divinit}^  and  imploring  his  protectioa 
Cambvses  had  often  taught  him  to  consider,  that  the  prudence  of  men  is 
very  short,  and  their  views  very  limited  ;  that  they  cannot  penetrate  into  futu- 
rity ;  and  thai  many  times  what  they  think  must  needs  turn  to  their  advan- 
tage, proves  their  ruin  ;  whereas  the  gods,  being  eternal,  know  all  things,  fu- 
ture as  well  as  past,  and  inspire  those  they  love  to  undertake  what  is  moi^t  ex- 
pedient for  them,  which  is  a  favour  and  a  protection  they  owe  to  no  man,  and 
grant  only  to  those  that  invoke  and  consult  them.* 

Cambyses  accompanied  his  son  as  far  as  tihe  frontiers  of  Persia  ;  and,  in  the 
vvay,  gave  him  excellent  instructions  concerning  the  duties  of  the  general  of  an 
i  vmy.  Cyrus  thought  himself  ignorant  of  nothing  that  related  to  the  business 
of  war,  after  the  m.any  lessons  he  had  received  from  the  rnost  able  masters  of 
that  time.  "  Have  your  masters,"  says  Cambyses  to  him,  "given  ycu  any 
instructions  concerning  economy,  that  is  to  say,  concerning  the  manner  of  sup- 
plying an  army  with  all  necessary  provisions,  of  preventing  sickness,  and  pre- 
serving the  health  of  the  soldiers ;  of  strengthening  their  bodies  by  frequent 
exercises  ;  of  exciting  a  generous  emulation  among  them  ;  of  making  yourself 
obeyed,  esteemed,  and  beloved  by  your  soldiers  ?"  Upon  each  of  these  points, 
and  upon  several  others  mentioned  by  the  king,  Cyrus  owned  he  had  never 
heard  one  word  spoken,  and  that  it  was  all  entirely  new  (o  him.  "  What  is  it 
then  your  masters  have  taught  you."  They  have  taught  me  to  fence,"  re 
plied  the  prince,  "  to  draw  the  bow,  to  fling  the  javelin,  t©  mark  out  a  camp, 
lo  draw  the  plan  of  a  fortification,  to  range  troops  in  order  of  battle,  to  review 
them,  to  see  them  march,  file  otF,  and  encamp.  Cambyses,  smiling,  gave  his 
son  to  understand,  that  they  had  taught  him  nothing  of  what  was  most  ma- 
terial and  essential  for  a  good  officer,  and  an  expert  commander  to  know.  And 
in  one  single  conversation,  which  certainly  deserves  to  be  well  studied  bj  all 
young  gentlemen  designed  for  the  army,  he  taught  him  infinitely  more  than  all 
the  celebrated  masters  had  done,  in  the  course  of  several  years.  I  shall  give  but 
one  short  instance  of  diis  discourse,  which  may  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  rest. 

The  question  was,  what  are  the  proper  means  of  making  the  soldiers  obe 
dient  and  submissive  ?  "  The  way  to  effect  that,"  says  Cyrus,  "  seems  to  b€ 
very  easy,  and  very  certain  ;  it  is  only  to  praise  and  reward  those  that  obey 
and  to  punish  and  stigmatize  such  as  fail  in  their  duty."    "You  say  well,* 


•  A.  M.  8445.    Ant.  J.  C.  55P 


nWTUKV  OF  UVIU  K 


lepljed  Cambyses,  **  that  is  the  way  to  make  them  obey  you  by  foice ;  but  the 
chief  point  is  to  make  them  obey  you  willingly  and  frei^ly.  Now,  the  sure 
method  of  effecting  this,  is  lo  convince  those  you  command,  that  you  know 
better  what  is  for  their  advantage  than  they  do  themselves  ;  for  all  mankind 
readily  submit  to  those  of  whom  tliey  have  that  opinion.  This  is  the  princi- 
ple from  whence  that  blind  submission  proceeds,  which  you  see  sick  persons 
pay  to  their  physician,  travellers  lo  their  guide,  and  a  ship's  com.pany  to  their 
pilot.  Their  obedience  is  only  founded  upon  their  persuasion  that  tl:c  physi- 
cian, the  guide,  and  the  pilot,  are  all  more  skilful  and  knowing  in  their  respec- 
tive callings,  than  themselves."  "But  what  shall  a  man  do,"  says  Cyrus  tc  his 
father,  "  to  appear  more  skilful  and  expert  than  others  ?"  "  He  must  be  roally 
so,"  replied  Camb3^ses  ;  and  in  order  to  be  so,  he  must  apply  himself  ch^sely 
to  his  profession,  diligently  study  all  the  rules  of  it,  consult  the  most  able  and 
experienced  m^asters,  neglect  no  circumstance  that  n^ay  contribute  to  the  suc- 
cess of  his  enterprises ;  and,  above  all,  he  must  have  \  ecourse  to  the  protection 
of  the  gods,  from  whom  alone  we  receive  all  our  wisd^^  m,  and  all  our  success." 

As  soon  as,  Cyrus  had  reached  Cyaxares,  the  first  thing  he  did,  after  the 
usual  compliments  had  passed,  was  to  inform  himself  of  the  quality  and  num- 
ber of  the  forces  on  both  sides.  It  appeared  by  the  computation  made  of 
them,  that  the  enemy's  army  amounted  to  two  hundred  thousand  foot,  and  sixty 
thousand  horse  ;  and  that  the  united  armies  of  the  Modes  and  Persians  scarcely 
amounted  to  half  the  number  of  foot  j  and  as  to  the  cavaliy,  the  Medes  had 
not  so  many  by  a  third.  This  great  inequality  put  Cyaxares  in  terrible  fears 
and  perplexities.  He  could  think  of  no  other  expedient,  than  to  send  for  ano- 
ther body  of  troops  from  Persia,  more  numerous  than  that  already  arrived. 
But  this  expedient,  besides  that  it  would  have  taken  too  much  time,  appeared 
m  itself  impracticable*  Cyrus  immediately  proposed  another,  more  sure  and 
more  expeditious,  which  was,  that  his  Persian  soldiers  should  change  their 
arms.  As  they  chiefly  used  the  bow  and  the  javelin,  and  consequently  then- 
manner  of  fighting  was  at  a  distance,  in  which  kind  of  engagement  the  greater 
number  was  easily  superior  to  the  lesser;  Cyrus  was  of  opinion,  that  they 
should  be  armed  with  such  w^eapons  as  should  oblige  them  to  come  to  blows 
with  the  enemy  immediately,  and  by  that  means  render  the  superiority  of 
their  numbers  useless.  This  project  was  mightily  approved,  and  instantly  put 
in  execution.* 

Cyrus  established  a  wonderful  order  among  the  troops,  and  inspired  them 
witK  a  surprising  emulation,  h^  the  rewards  he  promised,  and  by  his  obliging 
and  engaging  deportment  towards  all.  As  for  money,  the  only  value  he  set 
upon  it  was  to  give  it  away.  He  was  continually  making  presents  to  one  or 
other,  according  to  the  ir  rank  or  their  merit ;  to  one  a  buckler,  to  another  a 
sword,  or  something  of  the  same  kind  equally  acceptable.  By  this  generosity, 
this  greatness  of  soul,  and  beneficent  disposition,  he  thought  a  general  ougl  t 
to  distinguish  himself,  and  not  by  the  luxury  of  his  table,  or  the  richness  of 
his  clothes,  and  still  less  by  his  haughtiness  and  imperious  demeanour.!  '  A 
commander  could  not,"  he  said,  "give  actual  proofs  of  his  munificence  to 
every  body,  and  for  that  very  reason  he  thought  himself  obliged  to  convince 
every  body  of  his  inclination  and  good  will ;  for  though  a  prince  might  exhau«f 
his  treasures  by  making  presents,  yet  he  could  not  injure  himself  by  benevo 
fence  and  humanity,  by  being  sincerely  concerned  in  the  good  or  evil  that 
happens  to  others,  and  by  making  it  appear  that  he  is  so."| 

One  day,  as  Cyrus  was  reviewing  his  army,  a  messenger  came  to  him  from 
Cyaxares,  to  acquaint  him  that  some  ambassadors  being  arrived  from  the  kipg 
of  the  Indians,  he  desired  his  presence  immediately.  "  For  that  purpose," 
says  he,  "  I  have  brought  you  a  rich  garment,  for  the  king  desires  you  Would 
appear  magnificently  dressed  before  the  Indians,  to  do  the  nation  horioui\"§ 

•  Cyrop.  1,  ii.  p.  38 — 40.       f  Cyrop.l  ii.  p.  44       t  Cyrop.  1.  viii.  p.  f  Cyrop.  I.  i.  p.  56. 

14 


314 


IIISTORV  or  CVKlft. 


Cyrus  lost  not  a  moment's  time,  but  instantly  set  out  with  his  troops,  to  wait 
upon  the  king,  though  without  changing  his  dress,  which  was  very  plain,  aftei 
the  Persian  fashion,  and  not  as  the  Greek  text  has  it,  polluted  or  spoiled  with 
any  foreign  ornament.*  Cyaxares  seeming  at  first  a  little  displeased  at  it*: 
**  If  1  had  dressed  myself  in  purple,"  says  Cyrus,  "  and  loaded  myself  with 
bracelets  and  chains  of  gold,  and  with  all  that,  had  been  longer  in  coming, 
should  I  have  done  you  more  honour  than  1  do  now,  by  my  expedition  and 
the  sweat  of  my  face,  and  by  letting  all  the  world  see  with  what  promptitudfj 
and  despatch  your  orders  are  obeyed?" 

Cyaxares,  satisfied  with  this  answer,  ordered  the  Indian  ambassadors  to  bt 
introduced.  The  purport  of  their  speech  was,  that  they  were  sent  by  the 
king,  their  master,  to  learn  the  cause  of  the  war  between  the  Medes  and  the 
Babylonians  ;  and  that  they  had  orders,  as  soon  as  they  heard  what  the  Medea 
should  say,  to  proceed  to  the  court  of  Babylon,  to  know  what  motives  they 
had  to  allege  on  their  part ;  to  the  end  that  the  king,  their  master,  after  having 
examined  the  reasons  on  both  sides,  might  take  part  with  those  who  had  right 
and  justice  on  their  side.  This  is  making  a  noble  and  glorious  use  of  great 
power :  to  be  influenced  only  by  justice,  to  consult  no  advantage  from  the  di- 
vision of  neighbours,  but  to  declare  openly  against  the  unjust  aggressor,  in 
favour  of  the  injured  party.  ^  Cyaxares  and  Cyrus  answered,  they  had  given 
the  Babylonians  no  subject  of  complaint,  and  that  they  willingly  accepted  the 
mediation  of  the  king  of  India.  It  appears  in  the  sequel  that  he  declared  for 
the  Medes. 

The  king  of  Armenia,  who  was  vassal  to  the  Medes,  looking  upon  them  as 
ready  to  be  swallowed  up  by  the  formidable  league  formed  against  them, 
thought  fit  to  lay  hold  of  this  occasion  to  shake  off  their  yoke.j  Accordingly, 
he  refused  to  pay  them  the  ordinary  tribute,  and  to  send  them  the  number  of 
troops  he  was  obliged  to"  furnish  in  time  of  war.  This  highly  embarrassed 
Cyaxares,  who  was  afraid  at  this  juncture  of  bringing  new  enemies  upon  his 
hands,  if  he  undertook  to  compel  the  Armenians  to  execute  their  treaty.  But 
Cyrus,  having  informed  himself  exactly  of  the  strength  and  situation  of  the 
country,  undertook  the  affair.  The  important  point  was  to  keep  his  design 
secret,  without  which  it  was  not  likely  to  succeed.  He  therefore  appointed  a 
great  hunting  match  on  that  side  of  the  country  ;  for  it  was  his  custom  to  ride 
out  that  way,  and  frequently  to  hunt  with  the  king's  son,  and  the  young  noble- 
men of  Armenia.  On  the  day  appointed,  he  set  out  with  a  numerous  retinue. 
The  troops  followed  at  a  distance,  and  were  not  to  appear  till  a  signal  was 
given.  After  some  days  hunting,  when  they  had  nearly  reached  the  palace  where 
the  court  resided,  Cyrus  communicated  his  design  to  his  officers ;  and  sent  ^ 
Chrysanfhes  with  a  detachment,  ordering  them  to  make  themselves  masters  of  a 
certain  steep  eminence,  where  he  knew  the  king  used  to  retire  in  case  of  an 
alarm,  with  his  family  and  his  treasures. 

This  being  done,  he  sent  a  herald  to  the  king  of  Armenia,  to  summon  him 
to  perform  the  treaty,  and  in  the  meantime  ordered  his  troops  to  advance. 
Never  was  a  court  in  greater  surprise  and  perplexity.  The  king  was  con- 
•cious  of  the  wrong  he  had  done,  and  was  not  in  a  condition  to  support  it.  How- 
ever, he  did  what  he  could  to  assemble  his  forces  together  from  all  quarters; 
and,  in  the  mean  time  despatched  his  youngest  son,  called  Stabaris,  into  the 
enountains,  with  his  wives,  his  daughters,  and  whatever  was  most  precious  and 
valuable.  But  when  he  was  informed  by  his  scours  that  Cyrus  was  closely 
pursuing,  he  entirely  lost  all  courage,  and  all  thoughts  of  making  a  defence. 
The  Armenians  following  his  example,  ran  away,  every  one  where  he  could, 
to  secure  what  was  dearest  to  him.  Cyrus,  seeing  the  country  covered  with 
people  that  were  endeavouring  to  make  their  escape,  sent  them  word,  that  no 


*  Ev  TT^  ITff  crixTi  aroKr)  oh5\v  ri  iCf  icr/iivn.  A  fine  expression,  but  net  to  he  rendered  into  a;iy  othf? 
Utf>fuage  with  the  same  beautjr. 

t  A.  M..344T.    Ar^i  ^  Cyror  1.  ii.     58— 61,  and  1.  lii.  j>.  62— ^O- 


HISTORY  or  CYRUS, 


315 


narm  should  be  done  them  if  they  staid  in  their  houses;  but  that  as  many  a*? 
virp'rp  taken  runnin;^  away  should  be  treated  as  enemies.  This  made  them  all 
retire  to  their  habitations,  excepting  a  few  that  follovved  the  king. 

On  the  other  hand  they  that  were  conducting  the  princesses  to  the  mountains, 
fell  into  the  ambush  Chrysanthes  liad  laid  for  them,  and  were  most  of  them 
taken  prisoners.  The  queen,  tlie  king's  son,  his  daughters,  his  eldest  son's 
wife,  and  his  treasures,  all  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Persians. 

The  king,  hearing  this  melancholy  news,  and  not  knowing  wliat  w^ould  be- 
come of  him,  rc'ired  to  a  little  eminence,  where  he  was  presently  invested  by 
the  Persian  army,  and  obliged  to  surrender.  CyriTs  ordered  him,  with  all  his 
family,  to  be  brought  to  the  midst  of  the  army.  At  that  veiy  instant  arrived 
Tigranes,  the  king's  eldest  son,  who  w^as  just  returned  from  a  journey.  At  so 
moving  a  scene,  he  could  not  forbear  weeping.  Cyrus  addressing  himself  to 
him,  said,  "  Prince,  you  are  come  very  seasonably  to  be  present  at  the  trial 
of  3'our  lather."  And  immediately  he  assembled  the  captains  of  tlie  Persians 
and  Medes,  and  called  in  also  the  great  men  of  Armenia.  Nor  did  he  so  much 
as  exclude  the  ladies  from  this  assembly,  who  were  there  in  their  chariots,  but 
gave  them  full  liberty  to  hear  and  see  all  that  passed. 

When  all  was  ready,  and  Cyrus  had  commanded  silence,  he  began  with  re- 
quiring of  the  king,  that  in  all  the  questions  he  was  going  to  propose  to  him, 
he  would  answer  sincerely,  because  nothing  could  be  more  unworthy  a  person 
of  his  rank,  than  to  use  dissimulation  or  falsehood.  The  king  promised  he 
would.  Then  Cyrus  asked  him,  but  at  different  times,  proposing  each  arti- 
cle separately,  and  in  order,  whether  it  was  not  true,  that  he  had  made  wai 
upon  Astyages,  king  of  the  Medes,  his  grandfather  ;  whether  he  had  not  been 
overcome  in  that  war,  and  in  consequence  of  his  defeat  had  concluded  a  treaty 
with  Astyages;  whether  by  virtue  of  that  treaty  he  was  not  obliged  to  pay  a 
certain  tribute,  to  furnish  a  certain  number  of  troops,  and  not  to  keep  any 
fortified  place  in  his  country  ?  It  was  impossible  for  the  king  to  deny  any  of 
these  facts,  which  w'ere  all  public  and  notorious.  "  For  what  reason,  then,'* 
continued  Cyrus,  ''have  you  violated  the  treaty  in  every  article  ?"  "  For  no 
other,"  replied  the  king,  "  than  because  I  thought  it  a  glorious  thing  to  shake 
Dif  the  yoke,  to  live  free,  and  to  leave  my  children  in  the  same  condition." 
"  It  is  really  glorious,"  answered  Cyrus,  "  to  fight  in  defence  of  liberty  ;  but 
if  any  one,  after  he  is  reduced  to  servitude,  should  attempt  to  run  away  from 
his  master,  w^hat  would  you  do  with  him?"  "  I  must  confess,"  says  the  king, 
"  I  would  punish  him."  "And  if  you  had  given  a  government  to  one  of  your 
subjects,  and  he  should  be  found  to  misbehave,  would  you  continue  him  in  his 
post."  "  No,  certainly  :  I  would  put  another  in  his  place."  "  And  il  he  had 
amassed  great  riches  by  his  unjust  practices?"  "  I  w^ould  strip  him  of  them  ?" 
*'  But  which  is  still  worbC,  if  he  had  held  intelligence  with  your  enemies,  how 
would  you  treat  him?"  "  Though  I  should  pass  sentence  upon  myself,"  re- 
plied the  king^"  I  must  declare  the  truth  :  I  would  put  him  to  death."  At 
these  words,  Tigranes  tore  his  tiara  from  his  head,  and  rent  his  garments  :  the 
women  burst  out  into  lamentations  and  outcries,  as  if  sentence  had  actually 
passed  upon  him. 

Cyrus  having  again  commanded  silence,  Tigranes  addressed  himself  tu  the 
prince  to  this  effect :  "Great  prince,  can  you  think  it  consistent  with  your  wis- 
dom, to  put  my  father  to  death,  even  against  your  own  interest  ?"  "  How 
against  my  interest?"  replied  Cyrus.  "Because  he  was  never  so  capable  of 
doing  you  service. "  "  How  do  you  make  that  appear  ?  Do  the  faults  we  com- 
mit enhance  our  merit,  and  give  us  a  new  title  to  consideration  and  favour?" 
"  They  certainly  do,  provided  they  serve  to  make  us  wiser.  For  wisdom  is 
of  inestimable  value  :  are  either  riches,  courage, -or  address,  to  be  compared 
to  it  ?  Now,  it  is  evident,  this  single  day's  experience  has  infinitely  improved 
my  father's  wisdom.  He  knows  how  dear  the  violation  of  his  word  has  cost 
bin).  He  has  proved  and  felt  how  much  you  are  superior  to  him,  in  all  res- 
r^.cts    H«  has  not  been  abk  to  succeed  in  any  of  his  designs ;  but  you  have 


316 


HISTORY  OF  CYRUS. 


happily  accomplished  all  yours  ;  and  with  such  expedition  and  secrecy,  iha!< 
he  has  found  himself  surrounded  and  taken,  before  he  expected  to  be  attacked 
and  the  very  place  of  his  retreat  has  served  only  to  ensnare  him.'*  "  But  youi 
father,"  replied  Cyrus,  "  has  yet  undergone  no  sufferings  that  can  have  taughf 
him  wisdom."  "  The  fear  of  evils,"  answered  Tigranes,  "  when  it  is  so  well 
founded  as  this  is,  has  a  much  sharper  sting,  and  is  more  capable  of  piercing 
the  soul,  than  the  evil  itself.  Besides,  permit  me  to  say,  that  gratitude  k  a 
stronger  and  more  prevailing  motive  than  any  whatever :  and  there  can  be  no 
obligations  in  the  world  of  a  higher  nature,  than  those  you  will  lay  upon  my 
father.  His  fortune,  liberty,  sceptre,  life,  wives,  and  children,  all,  restored  to 
him  with  such  a  generosity  :  where  can  you  find,  illustrious  prince,  in  one  sin-^ 
^le  person,  so  many  strong  and  powerful  ties  to  attach  him  to  your  service  ?" 

Well,  then,"  replied  Cyrus,  turning  to  the  king,  "  if  I  should  yield  tc  youi 
son's  entreaties,  with  what  number  of  men,  and  what  sum  of  money,  will  you 
assist  us  in  the  war  against  the  Babylonians?"  "My  troops  and  treasures," 
says  the  Armenian  king,  "  are  no  longer  mine  ;  they  are  entirely  yours :  1  can 
raise  forty  thousand  foot  and  eight  thousand  horse  ;  and  as  to  money,  I  reckon, 
including  the  treasure  which  my  father  left  me,  there  are  about  three  thousand 
talents  ready  money.  All  these  are  wholly  at  your  disposal."  Cyrus  ac- 
cepted half  the  number  of  the  troops,  and  left  the  king  the  other  half,  for  the 
defence  of  the  country  against  the  Chaldeans,*  with  whom  he  was  at  war. 
The  annual  tribute  which  was  due  to  the  Medes,  he  doubled,  and  instead  of 
fifty  talents  exacted  a  hundred,  and  borrowed  the  like  sum  over  and  above  in 
his  own  name.  "But  what  would  you  give  me,"  added  Cyrus,  "  for  the  ran- 
som of  your  wives  ?"  "  All  that  I  have  in  the  world,"  replied  the  king 
"And  for  the  ransom  of  your  children?"  "The  same  thing."  "From  this 
time,  then,  you  are  indebted  to  me  tlie  double  of  all  your  possessions."  "  And 
you,  Tigranes,  at  what  price  would  you  redeem  the  liberty  of  your  lady  ?" 
Now  he  had  but  lately  married  her,  and  was  passionately  fond  of  her.  "  At 
the  price,"  says  he,  "of  a  thousand  lives,  if  1  had  them."  Cyrus  then  con- 
ducted them  all  to  his  tent,  and  entertained  them  at  supper.  It  is  easy  to  ima- 
gine what  transports  of  joy  there  must  have  been  upon  this  occasion. 

After  supper,  as  they  were  discoursing  upon  various  subjects,  Cyrus  asked 
Tigranes,  what  was  become  of  a  governor  he  had  often  seen  hunting  with  him, 
and  for  whom  he  had  a  particular  esteem.  "  Alas !"  says  Tigranes,  "  he  is  no 
more  ;  and  I  dare  not  tell  you  by  what  accident  I  lost  him."  Cyrus  pressing 
him  to  tell  him,  "  My  father,"  continued  Tigranes,  "  seeing  I  had  a  very  tender 
affection  for  this  governor,  and  that  1  was  extremely  attached  to  him,  suspected 
it  might  be  of  some  ill  consequence,  and  put  him  to  death.  But  he  was  so 
honest  a  man,  that  as  he  was  ready  to  expire,  he  sent  for  me,  and  spoke  to  me 
in  these  words  :  "  Tigranes,  let  not  my  death  occasion  any  disq^ection  in  you 
towards  the  king  your  father.  What  he  has  done  to  me  did  not  proceed  from 
malice,  but  only  from  prejudices,  and  a  false  notion  wherewith  he  was  unhap- 
pily blinded  y — "  O  the  excellent  man  cried  Cyrus,  "  never  forget  the  last 
iidvice  he  gave  you." 

When  the  conversation  was  ended,  C3^rus,  before  tbey  parted,  embraced 
Ihem  all,  as  in  token  of  a  perfect  reconciliation.  This  done,  they  got  into 
their  chariots,  with  their  wives,  and  went  home  full  of  gratitude  and  admi- 
ration. Nothing  but  Cyrus  was  mentioned  the  whole  way  ;  some  extolling 
bis  wisdom,  others  his  valour;  some  admiring  the  sweetness* of  his  temper, 
others  praising  the  beauty  of  his  person,  and  the  majesty  of  his  mien.  "And 
jrou,"  says  Tigranes,  addressing  himself  to  his  lady,  "  what  do  you  think  of 
Cyrus's  aspect  and  deportment  ?" — "  I  do  not  know,"  replied  the  lady,  "  I  did 
not  observe  him." — "  Upon  what  object,  then,  did  you  fix  your  eyes  ?" — "  Upon 
him  that  said  he  would  give  a  thousand  lives  to  ransom  my  lilierty." 


•  Xenophon  never  calls  the  peopL  of  Babylonia  Chaldeans.  But  Herodotus,!,  vii.  c.  63,  and  Strab*,  k 
ktI.  p.  7S9,  ttjrle  th«m  so.    TnIS)  Chaldeans  meant  in  this  place  were  a  people  adjsinins^  to  Armenia, 


The  next  day,  the  king  of  Armenia  sent  presents  to  Cyru  %  and  refreshinenti 
fo^  his  whole  army,  and  brought  him  double  the  sum  of  money  he  was  required 
to  furnish.  But  Cyrus  took  only  what  had  been  stipulated,  and  restored  him 
the  rest.  The  Armenian  troops  were  ordered  to  be  ready  in  three  days  time, 
and  Tigranes  desired  to  command  them. 

1  have  thought  proper,  for  several  reasons,  to  give  so  circumstantial  an  ac* 
count  of  this  affair ;  though  I  have  so  far  abridged  it,  that  it  is  not  above  a 
v|uarter  of  what  we  find  in  Xenophon. 

In  the  first  place,  it  may  serve  to  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  style  of  tha 
excellent  historian,  and  excite  his  curiosity  to  consult  the  original,  v/hose  ns- 
tui'al  and  unaffected  beauties  are  sufficient  to  justify  the  singular  esteem,  whi-ck 
persons  of  good  taste  have  ever  had  for  the  noble  simplicity  of  that  author 
To  mention  but  one  instance  :  what  an  idea  of  chastity  and  modesty,  and  at 
the  same  time,  what  a  wonderful  simplicity  and  delicacy  of  thought,  are  there, 
in  the  answer  of  Tigranes's  wife,  who  has  no  eyes  but  for  her  husband  1 

In  the  second  place,  those  short,  close,  and  pressing  interrogations,  each  of 
which  demanded  a  direct,  precise  answer  from  the  king  of  Armenia,  discover 
the  disciple  and  scholar  of  Socrates,  and  show  in  what  manner  he  retained  the 
taste  of  his  mrster. 

Besides,  this  relation  will  give  us  some  idea  of  the  judgment  that  ought  tc 
be  formed  of  Xenophon's  Cyropedia ;  the  substance  of  which  is  true,  though 
it  is  embellished  with  several  circumstances,  added  by  the  author,  and  intro 
duced  expressly  to  grace  his  instructive  lessons,  and  the  excellent  rules  he  lays 
down  upon  government.  This  much,  therefore,  in  the  event  we  are  treating 
of,  is  real.  The  king  of  Armenia  having  refused  to  pay  the  Medes  the  tribute 
he  owed  them,  Cyrus  attacked  him  suddenly,  and  before  he  suspected  any 
designs  were  formed  against  him,  made  himself  master  of  the  only  fortress  he 
had,  and  took  his  family  prisoners  ;  obliged  him  to  pay  the  usual  tribute,  and 
to  furnish  his  quota  of  troops  ;  and,  after  all,  so  won  upon  him  by  his  humanity 
and  courteous  behaviour,  that  he  rendered  him  one  of  the  most  faithful  and 
affectionate  allies  the  Medes  ever  had.  The  rest  is  inserted  only  by  way  of 
embellishment,  and  i?  rather  to  be  ascribed  to  the  historian  than  tu  the  history. 

I  should  never  myself  have  found  out  what  the  story  of  the  governor's  being 
put  to  death  by  the  father  of  Tigranes  signified,  though  I  was  very  sensible  it 
was  a  kind  of  enigma,  and  figurative  of  something  else.  *A  person  of  quality, 
one  of  the  greatest  wits  and  finest  speakers  of  the  last  age,  who  was  perfectly 
well  acquainted  with  the  Greek  authors,  explained  it  to  me  many  years  ago, 
which  1  have  not  forgotten,  and  which  I  take  to  be  the  true  meaning  of  that 
enigma.  He  supposed  Xenophon  intended  it  as  a  picture  of  the  death  of  his 
master  Socrates,  of  whom  the  state  of  Athens  became  jealous  on  account  of 
the  extraordinary  attachment  all  the  youth  of  the  city  bad  to  him  ;  which  at 
last  gave  occasion  to  that  philosopher's  condemnation  and  death,  which  he  suf- 
fered without  murmur  or  complaint. 

[.1  the  last  place,  I  thought  it  proper  not  to  miss  this  opportunity  of  mani^ 
Jesting  such  qualities  in  my  hero,  as  are  not  always  to  be  met  in  persons 
of  his  rank  ;  such  as.  oy  rendering  them  infinitelv  more  valuable  than  all  their 
military  virtues,  would  mosi  coniriDuce  x  .r:^  success  of  their  designs.  Tp 
most  conquerors  we  fina  courasre.  resolution.  :iicreDiaiiv.  a  capacity  for  martia« 
exploits,  and  all  such  taicms  as'anaKe  a  noise  in  cne  worid,  and  are  apt  to  dazzle 
people  by  their  glaring  uutsiae  :  dui  an  mwara  stock  of  sroodness,  compassion 
and  gentleness  towards  the  unhappy,  an  air  of  moderation  and  reserve,  evei» 
m  prosperity  and  victory,  an  insinuating  and  persuasive  behaviour,  the  art  of 
gaining  people's  hearts,  and  attaching  them  to  him  more  by  affection  than  in- 
terest ;  a  constant  and  unalterable  care  always  to  huve  right  on  his  side,  and 
to  imprint  such  a  character  of  justice  and  equity  upon  all  his  conduct,  as  his 
Kcry  enemies  are  forced  to  revere ;  and,  lastly,  such  a  clemency,  as  to  dis- 


♦  M.  Ic  Couitp  tie  Trcsvilles. 


HISTORY  or  CYRL'S. 


tingiiish  those  that  offend  through  imprudence  rather  than  malice,  and  o  leav« 
room  for  their  repentance  ^  by  giving  them  opportunity  to  return  to  their  duty, 
these  are  qualities  rarely  found  in  the  mo?t  celebrated  conquerors  of  antiquity, 
but  shone  out  most  conspicuously  in  Cyrus. 

To  return  to  my  subject.  Cyrus,  before  he  quitted  the  king  of  Armc:::a, 
was  willing  to  do  him  some  signal  service  This  king  was  then  at  war  with 
the  Chaldeans,  a  neighbouring  warlike  people,  who  continually  harassed  his 
country  by  their  inroads,  and  by  that  means  hindered  a  great  part  of  his  lands 
from  being  cultivated.  Cyrus,  after  having  exactly  Miformed  himself  ol  tneir 
character,  strength,  ^nd  the  situation  of  their  strong-holds,  marched  against 
them.  On  the  first  intelligence  of  his  approach,  the  Chaldeans  possessed 
themselves  of  the  eminences  to  w^hich  they  were  accustomed  to  retreat.  Cyrut 
left  them  no  time  to  assemble  all  their  forces  there,  but  marched  to  attack 
them  directly.  The  Armenians,  whom  he  had  made  his  advanced  guard, 
were  immediately  put  to  flight.  C^^rus  expected  no  other  from  them,  and  had 
only  placed  them  there,  to  bring  th^  enemy  the  sooner  to  an  engagement.  And, 
indeed,  when  the  Chaldeans  came  to  blows  with  the  Persians,  they  were  not 
able  to  stand  their  ground,  but  were  entirely  defeated.  A  great  number  were 
taken  prisoners,  and  the  rest  were  scattered  and  dispersed.  Cyrus  himself 
spoke  to  the  prisoners,  assuring  them  he  was  not  come  to  inju-re  them,  or  ravage 
their  country,  but  to  grant  them  peace  upon  reasonable  terms,  and  to  set  them 
at  liberty.  Deputies  were  immediately  sent  to  him,  and  a  peace  w^as  con- 
cluded. For  the  better  security  of  both  nations,  and  with  their  common  con- 
sent, Cyrus^aused  a  fortress  to  be  built  upon  an  eminence,  which  commanded 
the  whole  country  ;  and  left  a  good  garrison  in  it,  w^hich  was  to  declare  against 
either  of  the  two  nations  that  should  violate  the  treaty.'^' 

Cyrus,  understanding  that  there  was  frequent  intercourse  and  communicat.  n 
between  the  Indians  and  Chaldeans,  desired  that  the  latter  would  send  pers^jna 
to  accompany  and  conduct  his  ambassador,  whom  he  was  preparing  to  send  to 
the  king  of  India.  The  purport  of  this  embassy  w^as,  to  desire  some  succours 
in  money  from  that  prince,  in  behalf  of  Cyrus,  who  wanted  it  for  the  levying 
of  troops  in  Persia,  and  promised  that,  if  the  gods  crowned  his  designs  with 
success,  that  potentate  should  have  no  reason  to  repent  of  having  assisted  him. 
He  was  glad  to  find  the  Chaldeans  ready  to  second  his  request,  which  they 
could  do  the  more  advantageously,  by  enlarging  upon  the  character  and  ex- 
ploits of  Cyrus.  The  ambassador  set  out  the  next  day,  accompanied  with 
some  of  the  most  considerable  persons  of  Chaldea,  who  w^ere  directed  by  their 
master  to  act  w^ith  the  greatest  dexterity,  and  to  do  all  possible  justice  to  the 
merit  of  Cj^rus. 

The  expedition  against  the  Armenians  being  happily  ended,  Cyrus  left  that 
country,  to  rejoin  Cyaxares.  Four  thousand  Chaldeans,  the  bravest  of  the 
nation,  attended  him  ;  and  the  king  of  Armenia,  who  was  now  delivereO  from 
his  enemies,  Augmented  the  number  of  troops  he  had  promised  him  :  so  that 
he  arrived  in  Media  with  a  great  deal  of  money,  and  a  much  more  numerous 
arisny  than  he  had  when  he  left  it. 

SECTION    IV  — THE.  EXPEDITION  OF  CYAXARES  AND  CYRUS  AGAINST  THE 
BABYLONIANS.     THE  FIRST  BATTLE, 

Both  parties  had  been  employed  during  three  years  in  forming  their  alii 
ances,  arid  making  preparations  for  war.t  Cyrus,  finding  their  troops  full  of 
ardour,  and  ready  for  action,  proposed  to  Cyaxares  fo  lead  them  against  Assyria* 
His  reasons  for  it  were,  that  he  thought  it  his  duty  to  relieve  him,  as  soon  as 
possible,  from  the  care  and  expense  of  maintaining  two  armies  ;  that  it  «vaj 
better  they  should  eat  up  the  enemy's  countiy ,  than  Media  :  that  so  bold  a  step 
as  that  of  going  to  meet  the  Assyrians,  might  be  capable  of  spreading  a  terror 
among  the  enemy,  and  at  the  same  time  inspire  their  own  army  with  thegieai- 


•  Cyrep  I  iii.  p.  7'V~7€. 


t  A.  M  3448.    Ant.  J.  C.  fyr.e     Cymp.  1.  ili  y.  7n~-fi7. 


er  confidence ;  that,  lastly,  it  was  a  maxim  with  him,  as  it  had  always  been 
;\':th  Cambyses  his  father,  that  victory  did  not  so  much  depend  upon  the  num- 
oer,  as  the  valour  of  troops.    Cj^axares  agreed  to  his  proposal. 

As  soon,  therefore,  as  the  customary  sacrifices  were  offered,  they  began  their 
march.  Cyrus,  in  the  name  of  the  whole  army,  invoked  the  tutelary  gods  of 
ihe  empire,  beseeching  them  to  be  favourable  to  them  in  the  expedition  they 
had  undertaken,,  to  accompany  them,  conduct  them,  fight  for  them,  inspire 
them  with  such  a  measure  of  courage  and  prudence  as  w^as  necessary,  and,  in 
short,  to  bless  their  arms^'with  prosperity  and  success.  In  acting  thus,  Cjyuh 
put  in  practice  that  excellent  advice  his  father  had  given  him,  of  beginning;  aiid 
ending  all  his  actions,  and  all  his  enterprises,  wdth  prayer  ;  and  indeed  he  never 
foiled,  either  before  or  after  an  engagement,  to  acquit  himself,  in  the  presence 
of  tlie  whole  army,  of  this  religious  duty.  When  they  were  arrived  on  the 
frontiers  of  Assyria,  it  was  still  their  first  care  to  pay  their  homage  to  the  gods 
of  the  country,  and  to  implore  their  protection  and  succour  ;  after  which  they 
began  to  make  incursions  into  the  country,  and  carried  off  a  great  deal  of  spoil. 

Cyrus,  understanding  that  the  enemy's  army  was  about  ten  days  journey  from 
them,  prevailed  upon  Cyaxares  to  advance  and  march  up  to  them.  When  the 
armies  came  within  sight,  both  sides  prepared  for  battle.  The  Assyrians  were 
encamped  in  the  open  country,  and  according  to  their  custom,  w^hich  the  Romans 
iiiiitated  afterwards,  had  encompassed  and  fortified  their  camp  with  a  large 
ditch.  Cyrus,  on  the  contrary,  who  wished  to  deprive  the  enemy,  as  much  as 
possible,  of  the  sight  and  knowledge  of  the  sraallness  of  his  army,  covered 
*  his  troops  with  several  little  hills  and  villages.  For  several  days  nothing  was 
done  on  either  side,  but  looking  at  and  observing  one  another.  At  length  a  nu- 
merous body  of  the  Assyrians  moving  first  out  of  their  camp,  Cyrus  advanced 
with  his  troops  to  meet  them.  But  before  they  came  within  reach  of  the  enemy, 
lie  gave  the  word  for  rallying  the  men,  which  wdLS^  Jupiter,  protector  and  am- 
ductor.'^  He  then  .caused  the  ordinary  hymn  to  be  sounded,  in  honour  of  Castor 
and  Pollux,  to  w^hich  the  soldiers,  full  of  religious  ardour,  (.^f:crf^wj,)  answered 
with  a  loud  voice.  There  was  nothing  in  Cyrus's  army  but  cheerfulness, 
emulation,  courage,  mutual  exhortations  to  braveir,  and  a  universal  zeal  to 
execute  whatever  their  leader  should  command.  '  For  it  is  observable,"  says 
the  historian,  ''in  this  place,  that  on  these  occasions, those  who  fear  the  Deity 
rnosrare  the  least  afraid  of  men."  On  the  side  of  the  Assyrians,  the  troops, 
armed  with  bows,  slings,  and  darts,  made  their  discharges,  before  their  enemies 
vv^ere  within  reach.  But  the  Persians,  animated  by  the  presence  and  example 
of  Cyrus,  came  immediately  to  close  fight  with  the  enemy,  and  broke  through 
their  first  battalions.  The  Assyrians,  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts  used  by 
Crcesus,  and  their  own  king,  to  encourage  them,  were  .not  able  to  sustain  so 
ijnpetuous  a  shock,  but  immediately  fled.  At  the  same  time  the  cavalry  of  the 
Medes  advanced  to  attack  the  enemy's  horse,  w^hich  was  likewise  presently 
routed.  The  fprmer  warmly  pursued  them  to  the  very  camp,  made  a  terrible 
slaughter,  and  Neriglissor,  the  king  of  the  Babylonians,  was  killed  in  the  ac- 
tion. Cyrus,  not  thinking  himself  in  a  condition  to  force  their  btrenchmentSj 
sounded  a  retreat. 

The  Assyrians,  in  the  mean  time,  having  lost  their  king,  and  the  flower  of 
their  army,  were  in  a  dreadful  consternation.f  As  soon  as  Crcesus  found  them 
in  so  geat  disorder,  he  fled,  and  left  them  to  shift  for  themselves.  The  other 
allies  likewise,  seeing  their  affairs  in  so  hopeless  a  condition,  thought  of  no- 
thing but  taking  advantage  of  the  night  to  make  their  escape.^ 

Cyrus,  who  had  foreseen  this,  prepared  to  pursue  them  ( iosely.  But  this 
could  not  be  effected  wdthout  cavalry;  and^as  we  have  already  observed,  the 
Persians  had  none.    He  therefore  went  to  Cyaxares,  and  acquainted  him  with 


*  I  do  not  kn«w  whether  Xenophon,  in  this  p!ftc<*,  does  not  call  the  Persiun  gods  by  the  namet  el  tht  grodi 
•*(       own  country. 

f  C/rop.  I  iv  p.  87,  104.  ^  Cyr»p.  1.  vi.  p. 


IJiSTOitV  OF  CYitrJ^. 


his  design.  Cyaxares  was  extremely  averse  to  it,  and  represented  to  him  lio*t 
danj^erous  it  was  to  drive  so,  powerful  an  enemy  to  extremities,  whom  despair 
would  probably  inspire  with  courage  ;  that  it  was  a  part  of  wisdom  to  usn 
e:ood  fortune  with  moderation,  and  not  to  lose  the  fruits  of  victory  by  too  much 
eagerness  ;  moreover,  that  he  did  not  wish  to  compel  the  Medes,  or  to  refuse 
them  .hat  repose  to  which  their  behaviour  had  justly  entitled  them.  Cyius, 
upon  this,  desired  his  permission  only  to  take  as  many  of  the  horse  as  weie 
willing  to  follow  him.  Cyaxares  readily  consented  to  this,  and  thought  of 
nothing  else  now,  but  of  passing  his  iijxie  with  his  officers  in  feasting  and  mil  ih, 
and  enjoying  the  fruits  of  the  victory  he  had  just  obtained. 

Cyrus  marched  away  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  and  was  followed  by  tlie 
greatest  part  of  the  Median  soldiers.  Upon  the  way  he  met  some  couriers 
that  were  coming  to  him  from  the  Hyrcanians,*  who  served  in  the  enemy  s 
army,  to  assure  him,  that  as  soon  as  he  appeared,  those  Hyrcanians  would 
come  over  to  him  ;  which  in  eflfect  they  did.  Cyrus  made  the  best  use  of  his 
time  ;  and,  having  marched  all  night,  came  up  with  the  Assyrians.  Crccsus 
had  sent  away  his  wives  in  the  night-time,  for  coolness,  for  it  was  the  summer 
season,  and  followed  them  himself  with  a  body  of  cavalry.  When  the 
Assyrians  saw  the  enemy  so  near  them,  they  were  in  the  utmost  confusion  and 
consternation.  Many  of  those  that  ran  away,  being  warmly  pursued,  were 
killed  ;  all  that  staid  in  the  camp  surrendered  ;  the  victory  was  complete,  and 
the  spoil  immense.  Cyrus  reserved  all  the  horses  they  took  in  the  camp  foi 
himself,  resolving  now  to  form  a  body  of  cavalry  for  the  Persian  army,  which 
hitherto  had  none.  The  richest  and  most  valuable  part  of  the  booty  he  set 
apart  for  Cyaxares  ;  and  for  the  prisoners,  he  gave  them  all  their  liberty  to  go 
home  to  their  own  country,  without  imposing  any  other  condition  upon  them, 
than  that  they  and  theirxountrymen  should  deliver  up  their  arms,  and  engage 
no  more  in  war  ;  Cyrus  taking  it  upon  himself  to  defend  them  against  their 
enemies,  and  to  put  them  in  a  condition  for  cultivating  their  lands  with  entire 
security. 

While  the  Medes  and  the  Hyrcanians  were  still  pursuing  the  remainder  of 
the-enemy,  Cyrus  took  care  to  have  a  repast,  and  even  baths  prepared  for  them, 
that,  at  their  return,  they  might  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  sit  down  and  refresh 
themselves.  He  likewise  thought  fit  to  defer  the  distribution  of  the  spoil  till 
then.  It  was  on  this  occasion  this  general,  whose  thoughts  nothing  escaped, 
exhorted  his  Persian  soldiers  to  distinguish  themselves  by  their  generosity,  in 
regard  to  their  allies,  from  whom  they  had  already  received  great  services, 
and  of  whom  they  might  expect  still  greater.  He  desired  they  would  wait 
their  return,  both  for  the  refreshments,  and  the  division  of  the  spoil ;  and  tL>at 
they  would  show  a  preference  of  their  interests  and  conveniencies  before  their 
own  ;  giving  them  to  understand,  that  this  would  be  a  sure  means  of  attaching 
the  allies  to  them  for  ever,  and  of  securing  a  new  harvest  of  victories  to  them 
over  the  enemy,  which  would  procure  them  all  the  advantages  they  could 
wish,  and  make  them  an  ample  compensation  for  the  voluntary  losses  they 
might  sustain,  for  the  sake  of  winning  the  affection  of  the  allies.  They  all  ac 
ceded  to  his  opinion.  When  the  Medes  and  Hyrcanians  were  returned  from 
pursuing  the  enemy,  Cyrus  made  them  sit  down  to  the  repast  he  had  prepared 
for  them,  desiring  them  to  send  nothing  but  bread  to  the  Persians,  who  were 
sufficiently  provided,  he  said,  with  all  they  wanted,  either  for  their  ragouts, 
or  their  drinking.  Hunger  was  their  only  ragout,  and  water  from  the  rivei 
their  only  drink  ;  for  that  was  the  way  of  living  to  which  they  had  been  ac- 
customed from  their  infancy. 

The  next  morning  came  on  the  division  of  the  spoils.  Cyrus,  in  the  first 
place,  ordered  the  magi  to  be  called,  and  commanded  them  to  choose  out  oi 


*  These  are  not  the  Hyrcarlans  by  the  Caspian  sea.  From  observing  the  encampments  of  Cyrus  ia 
Babylonia,  one  would  be  apt  tv  "^onjecliire,  that  the  Hyrcanians  here  meant  were  about  four  or  five  iarf 
ioirrsey  south  of"  Babybn. 


HISTORY  or  CVRUB. 


321 


the  booty  which  was  most  proper  to  be  offered  to  the  ^ods  on  such  an  occa- 
sion. Then  he  gave  the  Medes  and  Hyrcanians  tlie  honour  of  dividirig  all 
rhat  remained  among  the  whole  army.  They  earnestly  desired  that  the  Per  - 
sians might  preside  in  the  distribution,  but  the  Persians  absohitely  refused  ; 
so  that  they  were  obhged  to  accept  of  the  office,  as  Cyrus  had  ordered  ;  arid 
the  distrib  ition  was  made  to  the  general  satisfaction  of  all  parties. 

The  veiy  night  that  Cyrus  marched  to  pursue  the  enemy,  Cyaxares  liad 
passed  in  feasting  and  jollity,  and  had  made  himself  drunk  with  his  principal 
officers.  The  next  morning,  w^hen  he  awaked,  he  was  strangely  surprised  to 
find  himself  almost  alone,  and  without  troops.  Immediately,  full  of  reser-t- 
nient  and  rage,  he  despatched  an  express  to  the  army,  with  orders  to  reproach 
Cyrus  severely,  and  to  bring  back  the  Medes  without  any  dela}'.  This  un- 
reasonable proceeding  did  not  dismay  Cyrus,  who,  in  return,  wrote  him  a  re- 
spec  ful  letter,  in  which,  however,  he  expressed  himse.  with  a  generous  and 
noble  freedom,  justified  his  own  conduct,  and  pui  him  in  mind  of  the  permis- 
sion he  had  given  him  of  taking  as  many  Medes  with  him  as  were  willing  to 
follow  him.  At  the  same  time  Cyrus  sent  mto  Persia,  for  a  reniforcement  of 
his  troops,  designing  to  push  his  conquests  still  farther.* 

Among  the  prisoners  of  war  they  had  taken,  there  was  a  young  princess,  of 
most  exquisite  beauty,  whom  they  leserved  for  Cyrus.  Her  name  was  Pan- 
?hea,  the  wife  of  Abradates,  king  of  Susiana.  Upon  the  report  m.ade  to  Cy- 
rus of  her  extraordinary  beauty,  he  refused  to  see  her  ;  for  fear,  as  he  said, 
such  an  object  might  engage  his  affection  more  than  he  desired,  and  divert  him 
from  the  prosecution  of  the  great  designs  he  had  in  view.t  This  singular 
moderation  in  Cyrus  was  undoubtedly  an  effect  of  the  excellent  education  he 
had  received  :  for  it  was  a  principle  among  the  Persians,  never  to  speak  be- 
fore young  people  of  any  thing  that  tended  or  related  to  love,  lest  their  natu- 
ral inclination  to  pleasure,  which  is  so  strong  and  violent  at  that  age  of  levity 
and  indiscretion,  should  be  awakened  and  excited  by  such  discourses,  and 
should  hurry  them  into  follies  and  debaucheries.  Araspes,  a  young  nobleman 
of  Media,  who  had  the  lady  in  his  custody,  had  not  the  same  distrust  of  his 
own  weakness,  but  pretenaed  that  a  man  may  be  always  master  of  himself. 
Cyrus  committed  the  princess  to  his  care,  and  at  the  same  time  gave  him  a 
very  prudent  admonition :  "  I  have  seen  a  great  many  persons,"  says  he,  "  who 
have  thought  themselves  very  strong,  wretchedly  overcome  by  that  violer.t 
passion,  in  spite  of  all  their  resolution,  who  have  afterwards  owned,  uith 
shame  and  grief,  that  their  passion  was  a  bondage  and  slavery,  from  which 
they  had  not  the  power  to  redeem  themselves;  an  incurable  distemper,  out 
of  the  reach  of  all  remedies  and  human  efforts  ;  a  kind  of  bond  or  necessity, 
more  difficult  to  force  than  the  strongest  chains  or  iron. "J  "  Fear  nothing,"  ie 
plied  Araspes,  "  I  am  sure  of  ^ayself,  and  I  will  answer  with  my  life,  I  shall 
do  nothing  contrary  to  my  duty."  Nevertheless,  his  passion  for  this  young 
princess  increased,  and  by  degrees  grew  to  such  a  height,  that  finding  her  in-, 
vincibly  averse  to  his  desires,  he  was  upon  the  point  of  using  violence  with  her. 
The  princess  at  length  made  Cyrus  acquainted  with  his  conduct,  v.ho  imme- 
diately sent  Artabazus  to  Araspes,  with  orders  to  admonish  and  reprove  .him 
in  his  name.  This  officer  executed  his  orders  in  the  harshest  manner,  upbraid 
ing  him  with  his  fault  in  the  most  bitter  terms,  and  with  such  a  rigorous  severity, 
as  was  enough  to  throw  him  into  despair.  Araspes,  struck  to  the  soul  with 
grief  and  anguish,  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears  ;  and  being  overwhelmed  with 
shame  and  fear,  thinking  himself  undone,  had  not  a  word  to  say  for  himselt'. 
Some  days  afterwards,  Cyrus  sent  for  him.  He  went  to  the  prince,  fearful  and 
trembling.  Cyrus  took  him  aside,  and  instead  of  reproaching  him  with  seventy 
as  he  expected,  spoke  gently  to  him  ;  acknowledging,  that  he  himself  wa^  :o 
blame  for  having  imprudently  exposed  him- to  so  formidable  an  enenij.  i.>y 


♦  Cyrop.  1.  ir.  p.  104—108.  t  Cyrop.  1.  v.  p.  114,  117.  et  1.  vi.  p.  153,  1%. 

Vol.  I 


fllBTOIlY  OF  CYrwUft. 


such  an  unexpected  kindness,  the  young  nobleman  recovered  both  life  and 
speech.  But  his  confusion,  joy,  and  gratitude,  expressed  themselves  first  in 
a  torrent  of  tears.  "  Alas!"  sa^^s  he.  *'  now  I  am  come  to  the  knowledge  of 
myself,  and  find  most  plainly,  that  I  nave  two  souls  ;  one  that  inclines  me  to 
good,  another  that  excites  me  to  evil.  The  former  prevails,  when  yon  speak 
to  me,  and  comt  to  my  relief:  when  I  an  alone,  and  left  to  m3^self,  I  give 
way  to,  and  am  overpowered  by  the  lattir."  Araspes  made  advantageous 
amends  for  his  fault,  and  rendered  Cyrus  considerable  service,  by  retiring  a- 
m.ong  the  Assyrians,  under  the  pretence  of  discontent,  and  by  giving  intelligence 
of  tlieir  measures  and  designs.* 

The  loss  of  so  brave  an  officer,  who,  through  discontent,  was  supposed  to  have 
gone  over  to  the  enemy,  greatly  affected  the  whole  army.  Panthea,who  had 
occasioned  it,  promised  Cyrus  to  supply  his  place  with  an  officer  of  equal 
merit,  meaning  her  husband  Abradates.  Accordingly,  upon  her  writing  to  him 
he  repaired  to  the  camp  of  the  Persians,  and  was  directh'  carried  to  Pa> 
thea's  tent,  who  told  him,  with  a  flood  of  tears,  how  kindly  and  handsomely 
she  had  been  treated  by  the  generous  conqueror.  "And  how,"  cried  out 
Abradates,  "shall  I  be  able  to  acknowledge  so  important  a  service  ?"  "  By 
behaving  towards  him,"  replied  Panthea,  "  as  he  hath  done  towards  me. 
Whereupon  he  waited  immediately  upon  Cyrus,  and  paying  his  respects  to  so 
great  a  benefactor,  "you  see  before  you,"  said  he  "  the  tenderest  friend,  the 
most  devoted  servant,  and  the  most  faithful  ally,  you  ever  had  ;  who,  not  being 
able  otherwise  to  acknow^ledge  your  favours,  comes  and  devotes  himself  en- 
tirely to  your  service."  Cyrus  received  him  whh  such  a*  noble  and  generous 
air,  accompanied  with  so  much  tenderness  and  humanity,  as  fully  convinced 
him,  that  whatever  Panthea  had  said  of  the  wonderful  character  of  that  great 
prince,  w^as  greatly  short  of  the  truth.t 

Two  Assyrian  noblemen,  likewise,  who  designed,  as  Cyrus  was  informed,  to 
put  themselves  under  his  protection,  rendered  him  extraordinary  service.  The 
one  was  called  Gobryas,  an  old  man,  venerable  both  on  account  of  his  age  and 
his  virtue.  The  late  king  of  Assyria,  who  was  well  acquainted  w  ith  his  merit, 
and  had  a  very  particular  regard  for  him,  had  resolved  to  give  his  daughter 
in  marriage  to  his  son,  and  for  that  reason  had  sent  for  him  to  court.  Thiii 
young  nobleman,  at  a  match  of  hunting,  to  which  he  had  been  invited,  hap- 
pened to  pierce  a  wild  beast  with  his  dart,  which  the  king's  son  had  missed. 
The  latter,  who  was  of  a  passionate  and  savage  temper,  immediately  struck  the 
gentleman  with  his  lance,  through  rage  and  vexation,  and  laid  him  dead  upon 
the  spot.  Gobryas  besought  Cyrus  to  avenge  so  unfortunate  a  father,  and  to 
take  his  family  under  his  protection ;  and  the  rather  because  he  had  no  chil- 
dren left  now  but  an  only  daughter,  who  had  long  been  designed  for  a  wife  to 
the  young  king,  but  could  not  bear  the  thought  of  marrying  the  murderer  of 
lier  brother.^  This  young  king  was  called  Laborosoaicbod  ;  he  reigned  only 
nine  months,  and  was  succeeded  by  Nabonid,  called  also  Labynit  and  Bal- 
thasar,  who  reigned  seventeen  years. § 

The  other  Assyrian  nobleman  was  called  Gadates.  He  was  prince  of  a  nu- 
m.erous  and  powerful  people.  The  king  then  reigning  had  treated  him  in  a 
very  cruel  manner,  after  he  came  to  the  throne,  because  one  of  his  co.ncubines 
had  mentioned  him  as  a  handsome  man,  and  spoken  advantageously  of  the 
happiness  of  that  worn  an  whom  he  should  choose  for  a  wife.H 

I'he  expectation  of  this  double  succour  was  a  strong  inducement  to  Cjtus, 
snd  made  him  determined  to  penetrate  into  the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country 
As  Bab>;lori,  the  capital  city  of  the  empire  he  designed  to  conquer,  was  the 
chief  object  of  his  expedition,  he  turned  his  views  and  his  march  that  way, 
not  intending  to  attack  that  city  immediately  in  form,  but.  only  to  take  a  view 
of  it,  and  make  himself  acquainted  with  it ;  to  draw  ofif  as  many  allies  as  he 


♦  Cyrrop     i.  p.  34.  j  Cyrop.  1.  vi.  p.  155^  166.  t  Cyrop.  1.  ir  p.  Ill,  IIS 

}  A  M.  3449.    Ai6t  J.  C.  655.  (j  Cyrop.  1.  v.  p.  123, 124- 


RI«TC)UV  OK  CYRUS. 


^93 


could  from  that  prince's  party,  and  to  make  previous  dispositions  nnd  pre 
parations  for  the  siege  he  meditated.  He  set  out,  therefore,  with  his  troops, 
and  first  marched  to  the  territories  of  Gobryas.  The  fortress  he  lived  in  seemed 
to  be  an  impregnable  place,  so  advantageously  was  it  situated,  and  so  strongly 
fortified  on  all  sides.  This  prince  came  out  to  meet  him,  and  ordered  re- 
»reshments  to  be  brought  for  his  whole  army.  He  then  conducted  Cyrus  to 
his  palace,  and  there  laid  an  infinite  number  of  silver  and  gold  cups,  and  other 
vessels,  at  his  feet,  together  with  a  multitude  of  purses,  full  of  the  golden  coin 
of  the  countiy  ;  then  sending  for  his  daughter,  who  was  of  a  majestic  shape  and 
exquisite  beauty,  which  the  mourning  habit  she  wore  for  her  brother's  death 
seemed  greatly' to  enhance,  he  presented  her  to  Cyrus,  desiring  him  to  take  her 
under  his  protection,  and  to  accept  those  marks  of  his  acknowledgment,  which 
he  took  the  liberty  to  offer  him.  "  I  willingly  accept  your  gold  and  silver," 
says  Cyrus,  "  and  I  make  a  present  of  it  to  your  daughter,  to  augment  her 
portion.  Doubt  not,  but  among  the  nobles  of  m;^  court,  you  will  find  a  match 
suitable  for  her.  It  will  neither  be  their  own  riches  nor  yours,  which  they 
will  set  their  esteem  upon.  I  can  assure  you,  there  are  many  among  them, 
who  would  make  no  account  of  all  the  treasures  of  Babylon,  if  they  were  un- 
attended with  merit  and  virtue.  It  is  their  only  gloiy,  I  dare  a/Tirm  it  of 
them,  as  it  is  mine,  to  approve  themselves  faithful  to  their  friends,  formidable 
to  their  enemies,  and  respectful  to  the  gods."  Gobryas  pressed  him  to  take 
a  repast  with  him  in  his  house,  but  he  steadfastly  refused,  and  returned  into 
his  camp  with  Gobryas,  who  staid  and  eat  with  him  and  his  officers.  The 
ground,  and  the  green  turf  that  was  upon  it,  was  the  only  bed  or  couch  they 
had ;  and  it  is  to  be  supposed  the  whole  entertainment  corresponded.  Go- 
bryas, who  was  a  person  ot  good  sense,  was  convinced  how  much  that  noble 
simplicity  was  superior  to  his  vain  magnificence  ;  and  declared,  that  the  Assy- 
rians had  the  art  of  distinguishing  themselves  by  pride,  and  the  Persians  by 
;nerit :  and  above  all  things  he  admired  the  ingenuous  vein  of  humour,  and  the 
innocent  cheerfulness,  that  reigned  throughout  the  whole  entertainment.* 

Cyrus,  always  intent  upon  his  great  design,  proceeded  with  Gobryas  towards 
he  country  of  Gadates,  which  was  beyond  Babylon.  In  the  neighbourhood 
of  this,  there  was  a  strong  citadel,  which  commanded  the  country  of  the  Sacaet 
and  the  Cadusians,  where  a  governor  for  the  king  of  Babylon  resided,  to  keep 
those  people  in  awe.  Cyrus  made  a  feint  of  attacking  the  citadel.  Gadates, 
whose  intelligence  with  the  Persians  w^as  as  yet  kept  secret,  by  Cyrus's  advice, 
offered  himself  to  the  Governor  of  it,  to  join  with  him  in  the  defence  of  that 
important  place.  He  was  accordingly  admitted  with  all  his  troops,  and  im 
mediately  delivered  it  up  to  Cyrus.  The  possession  of  the  citadel  made  him 
master  of  the  Sacae  and  the  Cadusians  ;  and  as  he  treated  those  people  with 
great  kindness  and  lenity,  they  remained  inviolably  attached  to  his  service. 
The  Cadusians  raised  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  foot,  and  four  thousand  horse ; 
and  the  Sacae  furnished  ten  thousand  foot,  and  tw^o  thousand  horse  archers. 

The  king  of  Assyria  took  the  field,  in  order  to  punish  Gadates  for  this  rebellion ; 
but  Cyrus  engaged  and  defeated  him,  making  a  great  slaughter  of  his  troops, 
and  obliging  him  to  retreat  to  Babylon.  After  this  exploit,  the  conqueror 
employed  some^  time  in  ravaging  the  enemy's  countiy.  His  kind  treatment  oi 
the  prisoners  of  war,  in  giving  to  all  of  them  liberty  to  retuni  home  to  their 
habitations,  had  spread  the  fame  of  his  clemency  wherever  he  came.  Numbers 
of  people  voluntarily  surrendered  to  him,  and  very  much  augmented  his  army. 
Then,  advancing  near  the  city  of  Babylon,  he  sent  the  king  of  Assyria  a  per- 
sonal challenge,  to  terminate  their  quarrel  by  a  single  combat ;  but  his  chal- 
lenge was  not  accepted.  In  order  to  secure  the  peace  and  tranquillity^  of  his 
allies  during  his  absence,  he  made  a  kind  of  truce,  or  treaty,  with  the  king  of 
Assyria,  by  which  it  was  agreed  on  both  sides,  that  the  husbandmen  should 
not  be  molested,  but  should  have  full  liberty  to  cultivate  their  lands,  and  reap 


•  Cyrop.  1.  V.  p.  119»  1=23. 


t  Not  the  Sacae  of  Scfthia. 


324 


HISTORY  OF  CVRri?. 


the  fruits  of  their  labour.  Therefore  after  having  viewed  the  country,  exa. 
mined  the  situation  of  Babylon,  acquired  considerable  number  of  friends  and 
uliies,  and  greatly  augmented  his  cavaliy,  he  marched  away  on  his  return 
to  Media* 

When  he  came  to  the  frontiers,  he  sent  a  messenger  to  Cyaxares,  to  acquaint 
him  with  his  arrival,  and  to  receive  his  commands.  Cyaxares  did  not  think 
proper  to  admit  so  great  an  army  into  his  countiy ,  an  army  that  was  about  to 
receive  a  farther  augmentation  of  forty  thousand  men,  just  arrived  from  Persia. 
He  therefore  set  out  the  next  day  with  what  cavalry  he  had  left,  to  join  (-yrus, 
who  likewise  advanced  to  meet  him  with  his  cavalry,  which  were  very  fine  and 
numerous.  The  sight  of  those  troops  rekindled  the  jealousy  and  dissatisfaction 
cf  Cyaxares.  He  received  his  nephew  in  a  very  cold  manner,  turned  away  his 
face  from  him,  to  avoid  the  receiving  of  his  salute,  and  even  wept  through 
vexation.  Cyrus  commanded  all  the  company  to  retire,  and  entered  into  a  con- 
versation with  his  uncle,  for  explaining  himself  with  the  more  freedom.  He 
spoke  to  him  with  so  much  moderation,  submission,  and  reason  ;  gave  him  such 
strong  proofs  of  his  integrity,  respect,  and  inviolable  attachment  to  his  person 
and  interest,  that  in  a  moment  he  dispelled  all  his  suspicions,  and  perfectly 
recovered  his  favour  and  good  opinion.  They  embraced  each  other,  and  tears 
were  shed  on  both  sides.  How  great  was  the  joy  of  the  Persians  and  Medes 
who  waited  the  event  of  this  interview  with  anxiety  and  trembling,  is  not  to  be 
expressed.  Cyaxares  and  Cyrus  immediately  remounted  their  horses,  and 
then  all  the  Medes  ranged  themselves  in  the  train  of  Cyaxares,  according  to 
the  sign  given  them  by  Cyrus.  The  Persians  followed  Cyrus,  and  the  men  of 
the  other  nations  their  particular  prince.  When  they  arrived  at  the  camp,  they 
conducted  Cyaxares  to  the  tent  prepared  for  him.  He  was  presently  visited 
by  almost  all  the  Medes,  who  came  to  salute  him,  and  to  bring  him  presents  ; 
some  of  their  own  accord,  and  others  by  the  direction  of  Cyrus.  Cyaxares 
was  extremely  touched  at  this  proceeding,  and  began  to  find  that  Cyrus  had 
not  corrupted  his  subjects,  and  that  the  Medes  had  the  same  affection  for  birr, 
as  be  fore,  t 

Such  was  the  success  of  Cyrus's  first  expedition  against  Croesus  and  the 
Babylonians.  In  the  council,  held  the  next  day,  in  the  presence  of  Cyaxares 
and  all  the  officers,  it  was  resolved  to  continue  the  war.j 

Not  finding  in  Xenophon  any  date  that  precisely  fixes  the  years  wherein  the 
several  events  he  relates  happened,  I  suppose,  with  Usher,  though  Xenophon's 
relation  does  not  seem  to  favour  this  conjecture,  that  between  the  two  battles 
against  Croesus  and  the  Babylonians,  several  years  passed,  during  which  all 
necessary  preparations  were  made  on  both  sides,  for  cariying  on  the  important 
war  which  was  begun ;  and  within  this  interval  I  place  the  marriage  of  Cyrus. 

Cyrus,  then,  about  this  time,  had  thought  of  making  a  tour  into  his  own 
country,  about  six  or  seven  years  after  his  departure,  at  the  head  of  the  Persian 
irmy.  Cyaxares,  on  this  occasion,  gave  him  a  signal  testimony  of  the  value 
he  had  for  his  merit.  Having  no  male  issue,  and  but  one  daughter,  he  offered 
her  in  marriage  to  Cyrus,  with  an  assurance  of  the  kingdom  of  Media  for  her 
portion.§  Cyrus  had  a  grateful  sense  of  this  advantageous  offer,  and  expressed 
the  warmest  acknowledgments  of  it ;  but  thought  himself  not  at  liberty  to 
accept  it,  till  he  had  the  consent  of  his  father  and  mother ;  leaving  therein  a 
^re  example  to  all  future  ages,  of  the  respectful  submission  and  entire  depeii- 


*  Cyrop.  1.  V.  p.  124—140.  t  Cyrop.  1.  v.  p.  141—147.  %  Cyrop.  1.  vi.  p.  148—151. 

»  Xenophon  places  this  marriage  after  the  taking  of  Babylon.  But  as  Cyrus  at  that  time  was  above 
nx-y  years  of  age,  and  the  princess  not  much  less,  and  as  it  is  improbable  that  either  of  them  should  wait 
Wil  that  age,  before  they  thought  of  matrimony,  I  thought  proper  to  give  this  fact  a  more  early  date.  Be- 
tides, at  any  rate,  Cambyses  would  have  been  but  seven  years  old  when  he  came  to  the  throne,  and  but 
fourteen  or  fifteen  when  he  died  ;  which  cannot  be  reconciled  with  the  expeditions  he  made  into  Epypt 
and  Ethiopia,  nor  with  the  rest  of  his  history.  Perhaps  Xenophon  might  date  the  taking  of  Babylon  much 
earlier  than  we  do  ;  but  I  follow  the  chronology  of  Archbishop  Usher.  I  have  also  left  out  what  is  related 
in  the  Cyropoedia,  1.  viii.  p.  228,  that  from  the  time  Cyrus  was  at  the  court  of  his  grandfather  Astyaren, 
|hc  youBf  priocets  had  said  she  would  have  no  other  hi  sband  than  Cyr»*-  Her  father  Cyaxares  was  tkiwr 
btA  thfartj  years  old. 


dence,  which  all  children  ought  to  show  to  their  parents  on  the  like  occasioiia^ 
whatever  age  they  may  be,  or  to  whatever  degree  of  power  and  greatness 

they  may  have  arrived.  Cyrus  married  this  princess  on  his  return  from  Persia.* 
When  the  marriage  solemnity  was  over,  Cyrus  returned  to  his  camp,  and 

improved  the  time  he  had  to  spare,  in  securing  his  new  conquests,  and  taking 

airproper  measures  with  his  allies,  for  accomplishing  the  great  design  he  had 

tbrmed. 

Foreseeing,  says  Xenophon,  that  the  preparations  for  war  might  take  up  a 
great  deal  of  time,  he  pitched  his  camp  in  a  convenient  and  healthy  place,  and 
fortified  it  veiy  strongly.  He  there  kept  his  troops  to  the  same  discipline  and 
exercise  as  if  the  enemy  had  been  always  in  sight.! 

They  understood  by  deserters,  and  by  the  prisoners  brought  every  day  into 
the  camp,  that  the  king  of  Babylon  was  gone  into  Lydia,  and  had  carried  v>'itli 
him  vast  sums  of  gold  and  silver.  The  common  soldiers  immediately  con- 
cluded, that  it  was  fear  which  made  him  remove  his  treasures.  But  Cyrus 
judged  he  had  undertaken  this  journey,  only  to  raise  up  some  new  enemy 
against  him  ;  and  therefore  laboured  vrith  indefatigable  application  in  pre- 
paring for  a  second  battle. 

Above  all  things  he  applied  himself  to  strengthen  his  Persian  cavalry,  and 
^o  have  a  great  number  of  chailots  of  war,  built  a^fter  a  new  form,  having  found 
^reat  inconveniences  in  the  old  ones,  the  fashion  of  which  came  from  Troy, 
and  had  continued  in  use  till  that  time  throughout  all  Asia. 

In  this  interval,  ambassadors  arrived  from  the  king  of  India,  with  a  large  sum 
of  money  for  Cyrus  from  the  king  their  master,  who  had  also  ordered  them  ic 
assure  him,  that  he  was  very  glad  he  had  acquainted  him  with  what  he  w^anted ; 
that  he  was  willing  to  be  his  friend  and  ally ;  and,  if  he  still  wanted  more  mone}^ 
he  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  let  him  know ;  and  that,  in  short,  he  had  ordered 
his  ambassadors  to  pay  him  the  same  absolute  obedience  as  to  himself.  Cy- 
rus received  these  obliging  offers  with  all  possible  dignity  and  gratitude.  He 
treated  the  ambassadors  with  the  utmost  respect,  and  made  them  noble  pre- 
sents ;  and  taking  advantage  of  their  good  disposition,  desired  them  to  depute 
three  of  their  own  body  to  the  enemy,  as  envoys  from  the  king  of  India,  on 
pretence  of  proposing  an  alliance  w'ith  the  king  of  Assyria,  but  in  effect  to  dis- 
cover his  designs,  and  give  Cyrus  an  account  of  them.  The  Indians  undertook 
this  employment  with  joy,  and  acquitted  themselves  in  it  with  2-reat  ability. ;[ 

I  do  not  recognise,  in  this  last  circumstance,  the  upright  conduct  and  usual 
sincerity  of  Cyrus.  Could  he  be  ignorant,  that  it  was  an  open  violation  of  the 
law  of  nations  to  send  spies  to  an  enemy's  court,  under  the  title  of  a-mbas- 
sadors  ;  w^hich  is  a  character  that  will  not  suffer  those  invested  with  it,  to  act 
so  mean  a  part,  or  to  be  guilty  of  such  treachery  ? 

Cyrus  prepared  for  the  approaching  battle,  like  a  man  who  had  nothing  but 
great  objects  in  view.  He  not  only  took  care  of  eveiy  thing  that  had  been  re- 
solved in  council,  but  took  pleasure  in  exciting  a  noble  emulation  among  his 
officers,  who  should  have  the  finest  arms,  be  the  best  mounted,  Ihrow^  a  dart  or 
shoot  an  arrow  the  most  dexterously,  or  w^ho  should  undergo  toil  and  fatigue 
with  the  greatest  patience.  This  he  brought  about  by  taking  them  with  hino 
in  hunting,  and  by  constantly  rew^arding  those  that  distinguished  themselves 
most.  Wherever  he  perceived  that,  the  captains  took  particular  care  of  their 
men,  he  praised  them  publicly,  and  showed  them  all  possible  favour.  When 
he  made  them  any  feast,  he  never  proposed  any  other  diversions  than  militarj' 
exercises,  and  always  gave  considerable  prizes  to  the  conquerors,  by  which 
means  he  excited  a  universal  ardour  throughout  his  army.  In  a  word,  he 
was  a  general,  who,  in  repose  as  well  as  action,  nay,  even  in  his  pleasures,  his 
meals,  conversations,  and  walks,  had  his  thoughts  entirely  bent  on  promoting 
the  service.  It  is  by  such  methods  a  man  becomes  an  able  and  complete 
framor.§ 


•  Cyrop.  I.  v'ii.  p.  Q^S^S^        f  Cyrop  1.  vi.  p    51.       J  Cyrop.  p.  156,  157.       {  Cyrop.  1.  vi.  157 


52G 


l  i^^  .  o\:\  or  cvf^i  f^ 


In  the  mean  time,  the  Indian  ambassadors,  having  returned  ironri  the  eneir^y  . 
camp,  brought  word,  that  Crcesus  was  chosen  generalissimo  ol'  their  ami}  , 
that  all  the  kings  and  princes  in  their  alliance  had  agreed  to  furnish  the  nece>,. 
sary  sums  of  money  tor  raising  the  troops  ;  that  the  Thracians  had  already 
engaged  themselves  ;  that  from  Egyp!  a  great  succour  was  marching,  con- 
sisting of  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men ;  that  another  arm}^  was  ex- 
pected from  Cyprus  j  that  the  Cilicians,  the  people  of  the  two  Phrygias,  the 
Lycaonians,  Paphlagonians,  Cappadocians,  Arab>ans,  af  dl  Phoenicians,  were 
already  arrived ;  that  the  Assyrians  were  likewise  com.e  up  with  the  king  o( 
Babyion ;  that  the  lonians,  i^-lolians,  aadl  most  of  the  Greeks  living  in  Asia, 
had  been  obliged  to  join  them  ;  that  Croesus  had  likewise  sent  to  the  Lacede- 
monians, to  bring  them  into  a  treaty  of  alliance  ;  that  the  army  was  assembled 
near  the  river  Pactolus,  from  whence  it  w^as  to  advance  to  Thymbria,  which 
wa?  the  place  of  rendezvous  for  all  the  troops.  This  relation  was  confirmed 
by  the  accounts  brought  in,  both  by  the  prisoners  and  the  spies.* 

Cyrus's  army  was  discouraged  by  this  news.  But  that  prince,  having  as- 
sembled his  oilicers,  and  represented  to  them  the  infinite  difference  between 
the  enemy's  troops  and  theirs,  soon  dispelled  their  fears,  and  revived  their 
courage.! 

Cyrus  had  taken  proper  measures  for  providing  his  army  with  all  necessa- 
ries, and  had  given  orders,  as  well  for  their  march  as  for  the  battle  he  was 
preparing  to  fight ;  in  doing  which,  he  descended  to  an  astonishing  detail, 
which  Xenophon  relates  at  length,  and  which  reached  from  the  chi^ef  com- 
manders down  to  the  very  lowest  subaltern  officers  ;  for  he  knew  very  well, 
that  upon  such  precautions  the  success  of  enterprises  depends,  which  often 
miscarry  through  the  neglect  of  the  smallest  circumstances  :  in  the  same  man- 
ner, as  it  frequently  happens,  that  the  playing  or  movement  of  the  greatest  ma- 
chines is  stopped  through  the  disorder  of  a  single  wheel,  however  small. J 

This  prince  knew  all  the  officers  of  his  army  by  their  names  ;  and  making 
use  of  a  common,  bat  significant  comparison,  he  used  to  say,  "  He  thought  it 
strange  that  an  artificer  should  know  the  names  of  all  his  tpols,  and  a  general 
should  be  so  indifferent,  as  not  to  know  the  names  of  all  his  captains,  which 
are  the  instruments  he  must  make  use  of  in  all  his  enterprises  and  operations." 
Besides,  he  was  persuaded,  that  such  an  attention  had  something  in  it  more 
honourable  for  the  officers,  more  engaging,  and  more  proper  to  excite  them 
to  do  their  duty,  as  it  naturaUy  leads  them  to  believe  they  are  both  known  and 
esteemed  by  their  general. § 

When  all  the  preparations  were  finished,  Cyrus  took  leave  of  Cyaxares,  who 
staid  in  Media,  with  a  third  p^irt  of  his  troops,  that  the  country  might  not  be 
left  entirely  defence-less. 1| 

Cyrus,  who.  understood  how  advantageous  it  is  always  to  make  the  enem^y's 
country  the  s^at  of  war,  did  not  wait  for  the  Babylonians  coming  to  attack  him 
m  Media,  but  marched  forward  to  meet  them  in  their  territories,  that  he  might 
both  consume  their  forage  by  his  troops,  and  disconcert  their  measures  by  his 
expedition,  and  the  boldness  of  his  undertaking.  After  a  very  long  march,  be- 
came up  with  the  enemy  at  Thym.bria,  a  city  of  Lydia,  not  far  from  Sardis, 
the  capital  of  the  country.  They  did  not  imagine  this  prince,  with  half  the 
number  of  forces  they  had,  could  think  of  coming  to  attack  them  in  their  own 
country ;  and  they  were  strangely  surprised  to  see  him  come,  before  they  had 
time  to  lay  up  the  provisions  necessary  for  the  subsistence  of  their  nume 
rous  army,  or  to  assemble  all  the  forces  they  intended  to  bring  into  the  field 
against  him. 

SECTIOi*^  V.  THE  BATTLE  OF  THYMBRIA,  BETWEEN  CYRUS  AND  CRCESUS 

This  battle  is  one  of  the  most  considerable  events  in  antiquity,  since  it  de 
r,ided  upon  the  empire  of  Asia  between  the  Assyrians  of  Babylon  and  the  Per* 


•  Cjrop.  p.  158.  t  Cyrop.  1.  yi.  p.  159.  X  Cyrop.  p.  168—163. 

i  Cri-op.  1.  r.  p.  131.  11?.  H  Cyrop.  1.  ri.  p  160»  161 


i;i^TOKV        {.MIL A. 


327 


iians.    It  was  this  consideration  that  induced  M.  Freret,  one  of  my  brethren 

in  the  Academy  of  Polite  Literature,  to  examine  it  with  particular  care  and 
exactness  ;  and  the  rather,  as  he  observes,  because  it  is  the  first  pitched  battle 
of  which  we  have  any  full  or  particular  account.*  I  have  assumed  the  privi- 
I'egi  of  making  use  of  the  labours  and  learning  of  ot'.ier  persons,  but  without 
robbing  them  of  the  glory,  or  denying  myself  the  liberty  of  making  such  al- 
terations as  I  might  judge  necessary.  1  shall  give  a  more  ample  and  particular 
description  of  this  battle  than  I  usually  do  of  such  matters,  because  Cyrus  being 
ooked  upon  as  one  of  the  greatest  captains  of  antiquity,  those  of  the  profes- 
sion may  be  glad  to  trace  him  in  all  his  steps  through  this  important  action  ; 
moreover,  the  manner  in  which  the  ancients  made  war,  and  fought  battles,  is 
an  essential  part  of  their  histor}^ 

In  Cyrus's  army,  the  companies  of  foot  consisted  of  a  hundred  men  each, 
exclusive  of  the  captain.  Each  company  was  subdivided  into  four  parts  or 
platoons,  which  consisted  of  four-and- twenty  men  each,  not  including  the  person 
who  commanded.  These  subdivisions  were  again  divided  into  two  files,  con- 
sisting of  twelve  men  each.  Ever^^  ten  companies  had  a  particular  superior 
officer  to  command  them,  corresponding  with  the  present  rank  of  colonel ;  and 
ten  of  these  bodies  were  under  another  superior  commander,  whom  we  may 
call  a  brigadier.! 

1  have  already  observed,  that  Cyrus,  when  he  first  came  at  the  head  of  the 
thirty  thousand  rersiaus,  to  the  aid  of  his  uncle  Cyaxares,  made  a  considerable 
change  in  the  arms  of  his  troops.  Two-thirds  of  them,  till  then,  only  made 
use  of  javelins,  or  bov/s,  and  consequently  could  onty  fight  at  a  distance  from 
the  enemy.  Instead  of  these,  Cyrus  armed  the  greatest  part  of  them  with 
cuiras*«*'S,  bucklers,  and  swords,  or  battle-axes,  and  left  few  of  his  soldiers  in 
light  armour. J 

The  Persians  did  not  know  at  that  time  what  it  was  to  fight  on  horseback 
Cyrus, who  was  convinced  that  nothing  was  of  so  great  importance  towards  the 
gaining:  of  a  battle  as  cavalry,  was  sensible  of  the  great  disadvantage  he  la- 
boured under  in  that  respect,  and  therefore  took  wise  and  early  precautions 
to  remedy  that  evil.  He  succeeded  in  his  design,  and  by  degrees  formed  a 
body  of  Persian  cavalry,  which  amounted  to  ten  thousand  men,  and  were  the 
best  troops  of  his  army.§ 

I  shall  speak  elsewhere  of  the  other  change  he  introduced,  with  respect  to 
the  chariots  of  war.  It  is  now  time  for  us  to  give  the  number  of  the  troops  of 
both  armies,  which  cannot  be  fixed  but  by  conjecture,  and  by  putting  together 
several  scattered  passages  of  Xenophon  ;  that  author  having  omitted  the  ma- 
terial circumstance  of  acquainting  us  precisely  with  their  numbers,  which  ap- 
pears surprising  in  a  man  so  expert  in  military  affairs  as  that  historian  was. 

Cyrus's  army  amounted,  in  the  whole,  to  one  hundred  and  ninety-six  thou- 
sand, men,  horse  and  foot.  Of  these  there  were  seventy  thousand  native  Per- 
sians, viz.  ten  thousand  cuirassiers  of  horse,  twenty  thousand  cuirassiers  of 
foot,  twenty  thousand  pikemen,  and  twenty  thousand  light-armed  soldiers. 
The  rest  of  the  army,  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  thousand 
men,  consisted  of  twenty-six  thousand  Median,  Armenian,  and  Arabian  horse, 
and  one  hundred  thousand  foot  of  the  same  nation. 

B(i!sides  these  troops,  Cyrus  had  three  hundred  chariots  of  w^ar,  armed  with 
scythes,  each  chariot  drawn  by  four  horses  abreast,  covered  with  trappings 
that  were  shot-proof ;  as  were  also  the  horses  of  the  Persian  cuirassiers.H 

He  had  likewise  ordered  a  great  number  of  chariots  'o  be  made  of  a  lare^er 
size,  on  each  of  which  was  placed  a  tower,  of  about  eighteen  or  twenty  ^et 
high,  in  which  were  lodged  twenty  archers.  Each  chariot  was  drawn  upon 
wheels  by  sixteen  oxen  yoked  abreast.  U 


*  Vol.  VI  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Belles  Lettres,  p.  532. 
f  Cyrop.  1.  vi.  p.  167.  t  Cyrop.  1.  li.  p.  39,  40  i  Cyrop.  1.  iv.  p.  W,  100  «t  I.  t.  p.  131 

y  Cyrop.  1.  yi  p.  152,  153, 157.  f  Cyrop.  p.  157. 


328 


Hir3'ro»lY  OF  CYKUS. 


There  was,  moreover,  a  considerable  number  of  camels,  upon  each  of  vrhkh 
were  two  Arabian  archers,  back  to  back,  so  that  one  looked  towards  the  head, 
and  the  other  towards  the  tail  of  the  camel.*" 

The  army  of  Croesus  was  more  than  twice  as  numerous  as  that  of  Cyrus, 
amounting  in  all  to  four  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men,  sixty  thousand  of 
which  were  cavalry.  The  troops  consisted  chiefly  of  Babylonians.  Lydians, 
Phrygians,  Cappadocians,  of  the  nations  about  the  Hellespont,  and  of  Egyptians, 
lo  the  number  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  men.  The  Egyptians 
alone  made  a  bod^^  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand.  They  had  bucklers 
(hat  covered  them  from  head  to  foot,  very  long  pikes,  and  skort  but  very  broad 
swords.  The  rest  of  the  army  was  made  up  of  Cyprians,  Cilicians,  Lycaoni 
ans,  Paphlagonians,  Thracians,  and  lonians.t 

Croesus  had  arranged  his  army  in  order  of  battle  in  one  Jine,  the  infantry  in 
the  centre,  and  the  cavalry  on  the  two  wings.  All  his  troopp,  both  foot  and 
horse,  were  thirty  men  deep  ;  but  the  Egyptians, who,ae  we  have  noticed,  were 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  in  number,  and  who  were  the  principal 
strength  of  his  infantry,  in  the  centre  of  which  they  were  posted,  were  divided 
into  twelve  large  bodies,  or  square  battalions,  of  ten  thousand  men  each,  having 
one  hundred  men  in  the  front,  and  as  many  in  depth,  with  an  interval  or  space 
between  every  battalion,  that  they  might  act  and  fight  independent  of,  and 
without  interfering  with,  one  another.  Croesus  would  gladly  have  persuaded 
them  to  range  themselves  in  less  depth,  that  they  might  make  the  wider  front. 
The  armies  were  in  an  extensive  plain,  which  gave  room  for  extending  their 
wings  to  right  and  left ;  and  the  design  of  Croesus,  upon  which  alone  he  founded 
his  hopes  of  victory,  was  to  surround  and  hem  in  the  enemy's  army.  But  he 
coulvd  not  prevail  upon  the  Egyptians  to  change  the  ordei  of  battle  to  which 
they  had  been  accustomed.  His  army,  being  thus  drawn  out  in  one  line,  took 
up  nearly  forty  stadia,  or  five  miles  in  length.! 

Araspes,  who,  under  the  pretence  of  discontent,  had  retired  to  Croesur's 
army,  and  had  particular  orders  from  Cyrus  to  observe  well  the  manner  of 
that  general's  ranging  his  troops,  returned  to  the  Persian  camp  the  day  before 
the  battle.  Cyrus,  in  drawing  up  his  army,  governed  himself  by  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  enemy,  of  which  that  young  Median  nobleman  had  given  him  an 
exact  account. 

The  Persian  troops  had  been  generally  used  to  engage  four-and-twenty  men 
in  depth.  But  Cyrus  thought  fi^t  to  change  that  disposition.  It  was  necessary  to 
form  as  wide  a  front  as  possible,  without  too  much  weakening  his  phalanx,  to 
prevent  his  army's  being  enclosed  and  hemmed  in.  His  infantry  was  excel- 
lent, and  most  advantageously  armed  with  cuirasses,  partizans,  Ijattle-axes, 
and  swords  ;  and,  provided  they  could  join  the  enemy  in  close  fight,  there  was 
little  reason  to  believe  that  the  Lydian  phalanx,  armed  with  only  light  buck- 
lers and  javelins,  could  support  the  charge.  Cyrus,  therefore,  thinned  the 
files  of  his  infantry  one  half,  and  ranged  them  only  twelve  men  deep.  The 
cavalry  was  drawn  out  on  the  two  wings,  the  right  commanded  by  Chrysan- 
tlips,  and  the  left  by  Hystaspe«5.  The  whole  front  of  the  army  occupied  but 
thirty-two  stadia,  or  four  miles  m  extent ;  and  consequently  was  at  each  flank 
nearly  four  stadia,  or  half  a  mile,  short  of  the  enemy's  front. § 

Behind  the  first  line,  at  a  little  distance,.  Cyrus  placed  the  spear-men,  and 
behind  them  the  archers.  Both  the  one  and  the  other,  were  covered  by  the 
soldiers  in  their  front,  over  whose  heads  they  could  throw  their  javelins,  and 
shoot  their  arrows  at  the  enemy. 

Behind  all  these  he  formed  another  line,  to  serve  for  the  rear,  which  con- 
sisted of  the  flower  of  his  army.  Their  duty  was,  to  have  their  e^^es  upon 
those  that  were  placed  before  them,  to  encourage  those  that  did  their  duty,  tc 
sustain  and  threaten  those  that  gave  way,  and  even  to  kill  as  traitors  those  that 


•  Cyrop.  p.  153,  158.  f  Cyrop.  p.  1S9 

X  Cyrop.  p.  le*?.  j  C'yrop.  1.  vi.  p;  It7. 


HISTORY  OF  CYRL'rf. 


329 


fled ;  by  that  means  to  keep  the  cowards  in  awe,  and  make  them  have  as  great 
d  terror  of  the  troops  in  the  rear,  as  they  could  possibly  have  of  the  enemy. 

Behind  the  army  were  placed  those  moving  towers  which  I  have  already 
described.  These  formed  a  line  equal  and  parallel  to  that  of  the  army,  and 
served  not  only  to  annoy  the  enemy  by  the  constant  discharges  of  the  archers 
that  were  in  them,  but  also  as  a  kind  of  moveable  forts,  or  redoubts,  under 
which  the  Persian  troops  might  rally,  in  case  they  were  broken  and  pushed 
by  the  enemy. 

Just  behind  these  towers  were  two  other  lines,  which  also  were  parallel  and 
equal  to  the  front  of  the  army ;  the  one  was  formed  of  the  baggage,  and  the 
other  of  the  chariots  which  carried  the  women,  and  such  other  persons  as  were 
unfit  for  service. 

To  close  all  these  lines,  and  to  secure  them  from  the  insults  of  the  enemy, 
Cyrus  placed  in  the  rear  of  all,  two  thousand  infantry,  two  thousand  horse  and 
the  troop  of  camels,  which  was  pretty  numerous.* 

Cyrus's  design  in  forming  two  lines  of  the  baggage,  &c.  was  not  only  to 
make  his  army  appear  more  numerous  than  it  really  was,  but  likewise  to  oblige 
the  enemy,  in  case  they  were  resolved  to  surround  him,  as  he  knew  they  in- 
tended, to  make  the  longer  circuit,  and  consequently  to  weaken  their  line  by 
stretching  it  out  so  far. 

We  have  still  the  Persian  chariots  of  war  armed  with  scythes  to  speak  of. 
These  were  divided  into  three  bodies,  of  one  hundred  each.  One  of  the  bodies, 
commanded  by  Abradates,  king  of  Susiana,!  was  placed  in  the  front  of  the  bat- 
tle, and  the  other  two  upon  the  two  flanks  of  the  army. 

Such  was  the  order  of  battle  in  the  two  armies,  as  they  were  drawn  out  and 
stationed  the  day  before  the  engagement. 

The  next  day,  very  early  in  the  morning,  Cyrus  made  a  sacrifice,  during 
which  time  his  army  took  a  little  refreshment ;  and  the  soldiers,  after  having 
offered  their  libations  to  the  gods,  put  on  their  armour.  Never  was  there  a 
more  beautiful  and  magnificent  sight ;  coat-armours,  cuirasses,  bucklers,  hel- 
mets, one  could  not  tell  which  to  admire  most ;  men  and  horses  all  finely 
equipped,  and  glittering  in  b^^ss  and  scarlet. J 

When  Abradates  was  jusi  going  to  put  on  his  cuirass,  which  was  only  of 
quilted  linen,  according  to  the  fashion  of  his  country,  his  wife  Panthea  came 
and  presented  him  with  a  helmet,  bracers,  and  bracelets,  all  of  gold,  with  a 
coat-armour  of  his  own  length,  plaited  at  the  bottom,  and  with  a  purple-co- 
loured plume  of  feathers.  She  had  got  all  this  armour  prepared  without  her 
husband's  knowledge,  that  her  present  might  be  the  more  agreeable  from  sur- 
prise. In  spite  of  all  her  endeavours  to  the  contrary,  when  she  dressed  him 
in  this  armour,  she  shed  some  tears.  But  nol^vithstanding  her  tenderness  for 
him,  she  exhorted  him  to  die  with  sword  in  hand,  rather  than  not  signalize 
himself  in  a  manner  suitable  to  his  birth,  and  the  idea  she  had  endeavoured 
to  give  Cyrus  of  his  gallantry  and  worth.  "Our  obligations,"  says  she,  "  to 
thLt  prince  are  infinitely  great.  I  was  his  prisoner,  and  as  such  was  set  apart 
for  his  pleasure  ;  but  when  I  came  into  his  hands,  I  was  neither  used  like  a 
captive,  nor  had  any  dishonourable  conditions  in.posed  on  me  for  my  freedom. 
He  treated  me  as  if  I  had  been  his  own  brother's  wife,  and  in  return  I  assured 
him,  you  would  -be  capable  of  acknowledging  suck  extraordinary  goodness." 
"  O  Jupiter!"  cried  Abradates,  lifting  up  his  eyes  towards  heaven,  "  grant  that 
on  this  occasion  I  may  approve  myself  a  husband  worthy  of  Panthea,  and  a  friend 
worthy  of  so  generous  a  benefactor."  Having  said  this,  he  mounted  his  cha- 
riot. Panthe;\  not  being  able  to  embrace  him  any  longer,'  was  ready  to  kiss  the 
chariot  he  rr -de  in  ;  and  when  she  had  pursued  him  with  her  eyes  ai  far  as  she 
possibly  cov  id,  she  retired. § 

As  soon  as  Cyrus  had  finished  his  sacrifice,  given  his  officers  the  necessary 
orders  and  instructions  lor  the  battle,  and  put  them  in  mind  of  pay 'ng  the  ho« 


•  Cyrop.  I.  VI.  p.  iCa  \  Or  SuiV.an.  t  Cyrop.  p.  Id9.  J  Cvrop.  p.  K9,  170 


.530 


hlSTOKY  OF  CVKLS 


mage  which  is  due  to  the  gods,  every  man  went  to  his  post.*^  Some  of  his  offi- 
cers brought  him  wine  and  victuals  ;  he  eat  a  little  without  sitting  down,  and 
caused  the  rest  to  be  distributed  among  those  that  were  about  him.  He  took 
a  little  wine  likewise,  and  poured  out  a  part  of  it  as  an  offering  to  the  gods 
before  he  drank ;  B.v.d  all  the  company  follow^ed  his  example.  After  thi«j  ht 
prayed  again  to  the  god  of  his  fathers,  desiring  he  would  please  to  be  hi? 
guide,  and  come  to  his  assistance  ;  he  then  mounted  his  horse,  and  comm.anded 
them  all  to  follow  him.j 

As  he  was  considering  on  which  side  he  would  direct  his  march,  he  heard  a 
)  clap  of  thunder  on  the  right,  and  cried  out,  "  Sovereign  Jupiter,  v>  e  follow, 
thee. "J  And  that  instant  he  set  forwards,  having  Chiysanthes  on  his  right, 
who  commanded  the  right  wing  of  the  horse,  and  Arsamas  on  his  left,  who 
commanded  the  foot.  He  warned  them  above  all  things  to  take  care  of  the 
royal  standard,  and  to  advance  equally  in  a  line.  The  standard  was  a  golden 
eagle  on  the  end  of  a  pike,  with  its  wings  stretched  out.  The  same  was  ever 
afterfused  by  the  kings  of  Persia.  He  ordered  his  army  to  halt  three  times 
before  they  reached  the  enemy;  and  after  having  marched  about  twenty 
stadia,  or  two  miles  and  a  half,  they  came  in  view  of  them. 

When  the  two  armies  were  within  sight  of  each  other,  and  the  enemy  had 
observed  how  much  the  front  of  theirs  exceeded  that  of  Cyrus,  they  made  the 
centre  of  their  army  halt,  while  the  tw^o  wings  advanced  projecting  to  the  right 
and  left,  with  design  to  enclose  Cyrus's  army,  and  to  begin  their  attack  on 
every  side  at  the  same  time.  This  movement  did  not  at  all  alarm  Cyrus,  because 
he  expected  it.  Having  given  the  word  for  rallying  the  troops,  *' Jupiter 
leader  and  protector,"  he  left  his  right  wing,  promising  to  rejoin  them  imme 
diately,  and  help  them  to  conquer,  if  it  w^as  the  will  of  the  gods. 

He  rode  through  all  the  ranks,  to  give  his  orders,  and  to  encourage  the  sol 
diers  ;  and  he  who,  on  all  other  occasions,  w^as  so  modest,  and  so  far  from  the 
least  air  of  ostentation,  was  now  full  of  a  noble  confidence,  and  spoke  as  if  he 
was  assured  of  victory  ;  "  Follow  me,  comrades,"  said  he  ;  "  the  victory  is 
certainly  ours  ;  thw  gods  are  for  us."  He  observed  that  many  of  his  officers, 
and  even  Abradates  himself,  w^ere  uneasy  at  the  motion  which  the  tvvo  wings 
of  the  Lydianarmy  made,  in  order  to  attack  them  on  the  two  flanks  :  "  These 
troops  alarm  you,"  says  he  ;  "  believe  me,  these  are  the  very  troops  that  w^ill 
be  the  first  routed  ;  and  to  you,  Abradates,  I  give  that  as  a  signal  of  the  time 
when  you  are  to  fall  upon  the  enemy  with  your  chariots."  The  event  hap- 
pened exactly  as  Cyrus  had  foretold.  After  Cyrus  had  given  such  orders  as  he 
thought  necessary  every  where,  he  returned  to  the  right  wing  of  his  army.§ 

When  the  two  detached  bodies  of  the  Lydian  troops  were  sufficiently  ex- 
t'^nded,  Crcesus  gave  the  signal  to  the  main  body  of  his  army,  to  march  up 
directly  to  the  front  of  the  Persian  army,  while  the  two  wings,  that  were  wheel- 
ing round  upon  their  flanks,  advanced  on  each  side :  so  that  Cyrus's  army  was 
enclosed  on  three  sides,  as  if  it  had  three  great  armies  to  engage  with  ;  and,  as 
Xenophon  says,  looked  like  a  small  square  drawn  within  a  great  one.|| 
^  In  an  instant,  on  the  first  signal  Cyrus  gave,  his  troops  faced  about  on  every 
side,  keeping  a  profound  silence  in  expectation  of  the  event.  The  prince  now 
thought  it  time  to  sing  the  hymn  of  battle.  The  whole  army  answered  to  it 
with  loud  shouts,  and  invocations  of  the  god  of  war.  Then  Cyrus,  at  the  head 
of  some  troops  of  horse,  briskly  followed  by  a  body  of  the  foot,  fell  immedi- 
ately upon  the  enemy's  forces  that  were  marching  to  attack  the  right  of  his 
army  in  flank  ;  and  having  attacked  them  in  flank,  as  they  intended  to  do,  put 
them  in  great  disorder.  The  chariots  then  driving  furiously  upon  the  Ly  • 
dians,  completed  their  defeat. 

In  the  same  moment  the  troops  on  the  left  flank,  knowing,  by  the  noise,  thai 
Cyrus  had  begun  the  battle  on  the  right,  advanced  to  the  enemy.  And  imme* 


*  Cyrop.  1.  vi.  p.  170.  t  Cyrop.  1.  vii.  p  172. 

J  He  had  really  a  God  for  his  jnide,  buf  very  different  from  Jupiter. 
(  iVrop.  1.  vii  p.  173—176.  j}  Cyrop.  p.  173. 


rl.'KluKV  OF  CVPJ^a. 


33f 


diately  the  squadron  of  camels  was  made  to  advance  likewise,  Cyms  had 
ordered.  The  enemy's  cavalry  did  not  expect  this  ;  and  their  horses  at  a  dis- 
tance, as  soon  as  they  were  sensible  of  the  approach  of  those  animals,  for 
horses  cannot  endure  the  smell  of  camels,  be^an  to  snort  and  prance,  to  run 
upon  and  overturn  one  another,  throwing  their  riders,  and  treading  them 
under  their  feet.  While  they  were  in  this  confusion,  a  small  body  of  horse 
commanded  by  Artageses,  pushed  them  veiy  warmly,  to  prevent  them  from 
rallying: :  and  the  chariots  armed  with  scythes  falling  furiously  upon  them,  they 
were  entirely  routed,  with  a  dreadful  slaughter. 

This  being  the  signal  w^hich  Cyrus  had  given  Abradates  for  attacking  the 
front  of  the  enemy's  army,  he  drove  like  lightning  upon  them  v/ith  all  his 
chariots.  Their  first  ranks  were  not  able  to  stand  so  violent  a  charge,  but  gave 
way,  and  were  dispersed.  Having  broken  and  overthrown  them,  Abradates 
came  up  to  the  Egyptian  battalions,  who  being  covered  with  their  bucklers,  and 
marching  in  such  close  order,  that  the  chariots  had  not  room  to  pierce  among 
tiiem,  gave  him  much  more  trouble,  and  would  not  have  been  broken,  had  ii 
not  been  for  the  violence  of  the  horses  that  trod  upon  them.  It  was  a  most 
dreadful  spectacle  to  see  the  heaps  of  men  and  horses,  overturned  chariots, 
broken  arms,  and  all  the  direful  effects  of  the  sharp  scythes,  which  cut  exery 
thing  in  pieces  that  came  in  their  way.  But  Abradates's  chariot  having  the 
misfortune  to  be  overturned,  he  and  his  men  we^e  killed,  after  they  had  signa 
lized  their  valour  in  an  extraordinary  manner.  The  Egyptians  then  marching 
forward  in  close  order,  and  covered  with  their  bucklers,  obliged  the  Persian 
infantry  to  give  way,  and  drove  them  beyond  their  fourth  line,  as  far  as  to  their 
machines.  There  the  Egyptians  met  with  a  fresh  storm  of  arrows  and  javelins, 
that  were  poured  upon  their  heads  from  the  moving  towers  ;  and  the  battalions 
of  the  Persian  rear-guard  advancing  sword  in  hand,  hindered  their  archers  and 
spearmen  from  retreating  any  farther,  and  obliged  them  to  return  to  th*^  charge.* 

Cyrus,  in  the  mean  time,  having  put  both  the  horse  and  foot  to  flight,  on  the 
left  of  the  Egyptians,  did  not  amuse  himself  in  pursuing  the  fugitives,  but, 
pushing  on  directly  to  the  centre,  had  the  mortification  to  find  his  Persian  troops 
had  been  forced  to  give  way  ;  and,  rightly  judging  that  the  only  means  to  pre- 
vent the  Egyptians  from  gaining  farther  ground,  would  be  to  attack  them  be- 
hind, he  did  so,  and  fell  upon  their  rear  ;  the  cavalry  came  up  at  the  same  lime, 
and  the  enemy  was  pushed  with  great  fury.  The  Egyptians,  being  attacked 
on  all  sides,  faced  about  every  way,  and  defended  themselves  with  wonderful 
bravery.  Cyrus  himself  was  in  great  danger  ;  his  horse,  which  a  soldier  had 
stabbed  in  the  belly,  sinking  under  him,  he  fell  in  the  midst  of  his  enemies. 
Here  was  an  opportunity,  says  Xenophon,  of  seeing  how  important  it  is  for  a 
commander  to  have  the  affection  of  his  soldiers.  Orficcrs  and  men,  equally 
ilarmed  at  the  danger  in  which  they  saw  their  leader,  ran  headlong  into  the 
diick  forest  of  pikes,  to  rescue  and  save  him.  He  quickly  mounted  another 
horse,  and  the  battle  became  more  bloody  than  e^v^er.  At  length  Cyrus,  ad- 
miring the  valour  of  the  Egyptians,  and  being  concerned  to  see  such  brave 
men  perish,  offered  them  honourable  conditions  if  they  would  surrender,  letting 
them  knov/  at  the  same  time,  that  all  their  allies  had  abandoned  them.  The 
Egyptians  accepted  the  conditions,  and,  as  they  were  no  less  eminent  in  poini 
of  fidelity  than  in  courage,  they  stipulated,  that  they  should  not  be  obliged  to 
cany  arms  against  Croesus,  in  whose  service  they  had  been  engaged.  From 
thenceforward  they  served  in  the  Persian  army  with  inviolable  fidelity. t 

Xenophon  observes,  that  Cyrus  gave  them  the  cities  of  Larissa  and  Cyllene, 
r^ear  Cuma,  upon  the  sea-coast,  as  also  other  inland  places,  which  were  inha 
bited  by  their  des_,endants  even  in  his  time  ;  and  he  adds,  that  these  places 
were  called  the  cities  of  the  Egyptians.  This  observation  of  Xenophon,  as 
also  many  others  in  several  parts  of  his  Cyropjfidia,  in  order  to  prove  the  truth 
Df  Che  things  he  advances,  shows  plainly,  that  he  meant  that  work  as  a  true 


I  Cyrop.  1   '>  ii.  p.  178 


332 


lll^iTUKV  or  CVKl'S. 


history  of  Cyrus,  at  least  with  respect  to  the  main  substance  of  it,  and  iht 
greatest  part  of  the  facts  and  transactions.  This  judicious  reflection  on  the  pas- 
sage in  Xenophon  belongs  to  Mons.  Freret.* 

The  battle  lasted  till  evening.  Croesus  retreated  as  fast  as  he  could  with  his 
troops  to  Sardis.  The  other  nations,  in  like  manner,  that  very  night  directed 
their  course  each  to  their  own  country,  and  made  as  long  marches  as  the}''  pos- 
sibly could.  The  conquerors,  after  they  had  eaten  something,  and  posted  the 
guards,  w^ent  to  rest.j 

In  describing  this  battle,  I  have  endeavoured  exactly  to  follow  the  Greek  text 
of  Xenophon,  the  Latin  translation  of  which  is  not  always  faithful.  Some  mili- 
tary men,  to  whom  I  have  communicated  this  description,  find  a  defect  in  the 
manner  in  which  Cyrus  disposed  of  his  troops  in  order  of  battle,  as  he  placed 
no  troops  to  cover  his  flanks,  to  sustain  his  armed  chariots,  and  to  oppose  the 
two  bodies  of  troops  which  Croesus'had  detached  to  fall  upon  the  flanks  of  his 
army.  It  is  possible  such  a  circumstance  might  es-cape  Xenophon  in  describing 
this  battle. 

It  is  allowed,  that  Cyrus's  victory  was  chiefly  owing  to  his  Persian  cavalry, 
which  was  a  new  establishment,  and  entirely  the  fruit  of  that  prince's  care  and 
activity  in  forming  his  people,  and  perfecting  ihem  in  a  part  of  the  military  art, 
of  which,  till  his  time,  they  had  been  entirely  ignorant.  The  chariots  armed 
with  scythes  did  good  service,  and  the  use  of  them  was  ever  afterwards  retained 
among  the  Persians.  The  camels,  too,  were  not  unserviceable  in  this  battle, 
thougii  Xenophon  makes  no  great  account  of  them  ;  and  observes,  that  in  his 
time  they  made  no  other  use  of  them  than  for  carrying  the  baggage.J 

I  do  not  undertake  to  write  a  panegyric  upon  Cyrus,  or  to  magnify  his  merit. 
It  is  sufficient  to  take  notice,  that  in  this  affair  we  see  all  the  qualities  of  a 
great  general  shine  out  in  him.  Before  the  battle,  an  admirable  sagacity  and 
foresight  in  discovering  and  disconcerting  the  enemy's  measures :  an  infinite 
exactness  in  the  detail  cf  affairs,  in  taking  care  that  his  army  should  be  pro- 
vided with  every  thing  necessary,  and  all  his  orders  punctually  executed  at 
the  times  fixed;  a  wonderful  application  to  gain  the  hearts  of  his  soldiers,  and 
to  inspire  them  with  confidence  and  ardour  :  in  the  heat  of  action,  what  a  spirit 
and  activity  ;  what  a  presence  of  mind  in  giving  orders,  as  occasion  requires  ; 
what  courage  and  intrepidity,  at  the  same  time  what  humanity  towards  the 
enemy,  whose  valour  he  respects,  and  whose  blood  he  is  unwilling  to  shed ! 
We  shall  see  by  and  by,  what  use  he  made  of  his  victory. 

But  w^hat  appears  to  me  still  more  remarkable,  and  more  worthy  of  admira- 
tion than  all  the  rest,  is  the  constant  care  he  took  on  all  occasions,  to  pay  that 
homage  and  worship  to  the  Deity  w^hich  he  thought  belonged  to  him.  Doubt- 
less the  reader  has  been  surprised  to  see,  in  the  relation  I  have  given  of  this 
battle,  how  many  times  Cyrus,  in  sight  of  his  army,  makes  mention  of  the 
gods,  offers  sacrifices  and  libations  to  them,  addresses  himself  to  them  by 
prayer  and  invocation,  and  implores  their  succour  and  protection.  But  in  this 
•  I  have  added  nothing  to  the  original  text  of  the  historian,  who  was  also  a  mili- 
tary person,  and  who  thought  it  no  dishonour  to  himself  or  his  profession,  to 
relate  these  particular  circumstances.  What  a  shame,  then,  and  a  reproach 
would  it  be  to  a  Christian  officer  or  general,  if,  on  a  day  of  battle,  he  should 
blush  to  appear  as  religious  and  devout  as  a  pagan  prince ;  and  if  the  Lord 
of  hosts,  the  God  of  armies,  w^hom  he  acknowledges  as  such,  should  make  a 
less  impression  upon  his  mind,  than  a  respect  for  the  false  deities  of  paganism 
did  upon  the  mind  of  Cyrus ! 

As  for  Croesus  he  makes  no  great  figure  in  this  action  ;  not  one  word  is  said 
Df  him  in  the  whole  engagement.  But  that  profound  silence  which  Xenophon 
observes  in  regard  to  him,  seems,  in  my  opinion,  to  imply  a  great  deal,  and 
^ives  us  to  understand  that  a  man  may  be  a  powerful  prince,  or  a  rich  poteH- 
tatc,  without  being  a  great  warrior. 


•  Cyrop.  1.  vii.  p  179. 


^  Cyrop  p  180. 


+  Cyrop.  p.  ISO 


HiSrORV  OF  CVRI  S. 


333 


But  let  us  return  to  the  camp  of  the  Persians.  It  is  easy  to  imagine,  that 
Fanthea  must  have  been  in  the  utmost  affliction  and  distress,  when  the  news 
v-as  brought  to  her  of  the  death  of  Abradates.  Having  caused  his  body  to  be 
brought  to  her,  and  holding  it  upon  her  knees,  quite  out  of  her  senses,  witl) 
her  eyes  steadfastly  fixed  upon  the  melancholy  object,  she  thought  of  nothing 
but  feeding  her  grief,  and  indulging  her  misery,  with  the  sight  of  that  dismal 
and  bloody  spectacle.  Cyrus  being  told  what  a  condition  she  was  in,  ran  im 
mediately  to  her,  sympathized  with  her  affliction,  and  bewailed  her  unnappy 
rate  with  tears  of  compassion,  doing  all  that  he  possibly  could  to  give  hei 
comfort,  and  ordering  extraordinary  honours  to  be  shown  to  the  brave  deceased 
Abradates.  But  no  sooner  was  Cyrus  retired,  than  Panlhea,  overpowered  with 
grief,  stabbed  herself  with  a  dagger,  and  fell  dead  upoii  the  body  of  her  hus- 
band. They  were  both  buried  in  one  common  grave  upon  the  very  spot,  and  a 
nionument  was  erected  for  them,  which  was  standing  in  the  time  of  Xenophon.* 

SECTION  VI. — THE  TAKING  OF  SARDIS  AND  OF  CRCESUS. 

The  next  day,  in  the  morning,  Cjrrus  marched  towards  Sardis.t  If  we  may 
believe  Herodotus,  Croesus  did  not  imagine  that  Cyrus  inten:^ed  to  shut  him 
up  in  the  city,  and  therefore  marched  out  w^ith  his  forces  to  meet  him  and  tc 
give  him  battle.  According  to  that  historian,  the  Lydians  were  the  bravest 
and  most  warlike  people  of  Asia.  Their  principal  strength  consisted  in  their 
cavalry.  Cyrus, in  order  to  render  that  the  less  serviceable  to  them.,  made  his 
camels  advance  first,  of  which  animals  the  horse  could  neither  endure  the 
sight  nor  the  smell,  and  therefore  immediately  retired  on  their  approach 
Upon  which  the  riders  dismounted,  and  came  to  the  engagement  on  foot,  which 
was  very  obstinately  maintained  on  both  sides  ;  but  at  length  the  Lydians  gave 
way,  and  w^ere  forced  to  retreat  into  the  city;  which  Cyrus  quickly  besieged, 
causing  his  engines  to  be  levelled  against  the  walls,  and  his  scaling  ladders  to 
be  prepared,  as  if  he  intended  to  attack  it  by  storm.  But  while  he  was  amus- 
ing the  besieged  with  these  preparations,  the  night  following  he  made  himself 
master  of  the  citadel  by  a  private  way  that  led  thereto,  which  he  was  informed 
of  by  a  Persian  slave,  who  had  been  a  servant  to  the  governor  of  that  place. 
At  break  of  day  he  entered  the  city,  where  he  met  with  no  resistance.  His 
first  care  was  to  preserve  it  from  being  plundered ;  for  he  perceived  the  Chal- 
deans had  quitted  their  ranks,  and  already  began  to  disperse  themselves. 

To  stop  the  rapacious  hands  of  foreign  soldiers,  and  tie  them  as  it  were,  by 
a  single  command,  in  a  city  abounding  with  riches  as  Sardis  did,  is  a  thing 
not  to  be  done  but  by  so  singular  an  authority  as  Cyrus  had  over  his  army. 
He  gave  all  the  citizens  to  understand  that  their  lives  should  be  spared,  and 
neither  their  wives  nor  children  touched,  provided  they  brought  him  all  theii 
gold  and  silver.  This  condition  they  readily  complied  with ;  and  Croesus  him- 
self, w^iom  Cyrus  had  ordered  to  be  conducted  to  him,  set  them  an  example, 
by  delivering  up  all  his  riches  and  treasures  to  the  conqueror. j 

When  Cyrus  had  given  all  necessary  orders  concerning  the  city,  he  had  a 
particular  conversation  with  the  king,  of  whom  he  asked,  among  other  things, 
what  lie  now  thought  of  the  oracle  of  Delphos,  and  of  the  answers  given  by 
the  god  that  presided  there,  for  whom,  it  was  said,  he  had  always  had  a  great 
regard  ?  Croesus  first  acknowledged,  that  he  had  justly  incurred  the  indigna- 
tion of  that  god,  for  having  shown  a  distrust  of  the  truth  of  his  answers,  and 
/or  having  put  him  to  the  trial  by  an  absurd  and  ridiculous  question  ;  and  then 
declared,  that  notwithstanding  all  this,  he  still  had  no  reason  to  complain  of 
him,  for  that  having  consulted  him,  to  know  what  he  should  do  in  order  to 
lead  a  happy  life,  the  oracle  had  given  him  an  answer,  which  implied  in  sub- 
stance, that  ke  should  enjoy  a  perfect  and  lasting  happiness,  when  he  once 
came  to  the  knowledge  of  himself.  "For  want  of  (his  knowledge,"  continued 
he,  **  and  believing  myself,  through  the  excessive  praises  that  were  lavished 


♦  Cyrcp.  1  vii.  p.  184 — 186. 


;  Herod  I.  i.  c.  79—84. 


I  Cyrop.  1.  viu  p  IfJO. 


rnsTORV  of  ckyls. 

upon  me,  to  be  S4)mething  very  different  from  what  I  am,  1  accepted  the  titIf 
01  generalissimo  of  the  whole  aimy,  and  unadvisedly  engaged  in  a  war  agains 
a  prince,  infinitely  my  superior  in  all  respects.    But  now  that  I  am  instruct 
ed  by  my  defeat,  and  begin  to  know  myself,  I  believe  I  am  about  to  com 
mence  being  happy ;  and  if  you  prove  favourable  to  me,  for  my  fate  is  ii 
your  hands,  I  shall  certainly  be  so."    Cyrus,  touched  with  compassion  a' 
the  misfortune  of  the  king,  who  was  fallen  in  a  moment  from  so  great  an  ele- 
vation, and  admiring  his  equanimity  under  such  a  reverse  of  fortune,  treated 
him  with  a  great  deal  of  clemency  and  kindness,  suffering  him  to  enjoy  both 
the  title  and  authority  of  king,  under  the  restriction  of  not  having  the  power 
lo  make  war;  that  is  to  say,  he  discharged  him,  as  Crcesus  acknowledged 
himself,  from  all  the  burdensome  part  of  regal  power,  and  truly  enabled  him 
lo  lead  a  happy  life,  exempted  from  all  care  and  disquiet.    From  thencefor- 
ward he  took  him  with  him  in  all  his  expeditions,  either  out  of  esteem  for  him, 
and  to  have  the  benefit  of  his  counsel,  or  out  of  policy,  and  to  be  the  more 
secure  of  his  person.* 

Herodotus,  and  other  writers  after  him,  relate  this  story  with  the  addition  of 
some  very  remarkable  circumstances,  which  I  think  it  incumbent  on  me  to 
mention,  notwithstanding  they  seem  to  be  much  more  wonderful  tha*n  true. 

I  have  already  observed,  that  the  only  son  Crcesus  had  living  was  dumb. 
This  young  prince,  seeing  a  soldier,  when  the  city  was  taken,  ready  to  give 
the  king,  whom  he  did  not  know,  a  stroke  upon  the  .head  with  his  scimitar, 
made  such  a  violent  effort  and  struggle,  out  of  fear  and  tenderness  for  the  life 
of  his  father,  that  he  broke  the  strings  of  his  tongue,  and  cried  out,  "  soldier, 
spare  the  life  of  Croesus."! 

Croesus  being  a  prisoner,  was  condemned  by  the  conqueror  to  be  burnt  alive. 
Accordingly,  the  funeral-pile  was  prepared,  and  that  unhappy  prince  being 
laid  thereon,  and  just  upon  the  point  of  execution,  recollecting  the  conver- 
sation he  had  formerly  had  with  Solon,J  was  wofully  convinced  of  the  truth  , 
of  that  philosopher's  admonition,  and  in  remembrance  thereof,  cried  out  aloud  | 
three  times,  "Solon,  Solon,  Solon!"    Cyrus,  who,  with  the  chief  officers  of  i 
his  court,  was  present  at  this  spectacle,  was  curious  to  know  why  Croesus  pro-  j 
nounced  that  celebrated  philosopher's  name  with  so  much  vehemence  in  this  ; 
extremity.    Being  told  the  reason,  and  reflecting  upon  the  uncertain  state  of 
all  sublunary  things,  he  was  touched  with  commiseration  at  the  prince's  mis- 
fortune, caused  him  to  be  taken  from  the  pile,  and  treated  him  afterwards,  as 
long  as  he  lived,  with  honour  and  respect.§    Thus  had  Solon  the  gloiy,  with  ^ 
a  single  w^ord,  to  save  the  life  of  one  king,  and  give  a  wholesome  lesson  of 
instruction  to  another.ll  ^ 

Two  answers  in  particular,  given  by  the  Delphic  oracle,  had  induced  Crce- 
sus to  engage  in  the  war  which  proved  so  fatal  to  him.  The  one  was,  that  he, 
Crcesus,  was  to  believe  himself  in  danger,  when  the  Medes  should  have  a 
mule  to  reign  over  them  ;  the  other,  that  when  he  shouM  pass  the  river  Halys, 
to  make  war  against  the  Medes,  he  would  destroy  a  mighty  empire.  From 
the  first  of  these  oracular  answers  he  concluded,  considering  the  impossibility 
of  the  thing  spoken  of,  that  he  had  nothing  to  fear  ;  and  from  the  second,  he 
conceived  hopes  of  subverting  the  empire  of  the  Medes.  When  he  founc3 
that  things  had  happened  quite  contrary  to  his  expectations,  with  Cyrus's  leavt 
he  despatched  messengers  to  Delphos,  in  order  to  make  a  prevSent  to  the  god 
in  his  name,  of  a  golden  chain,  and  at  the  same  time  to  reproach  him  for  ha- 
ving so  basely  deceived  him  by  his  oracles,  notwithstanding  all  the  vast  pre 
sents  and  offerings  he  had  made  him.  The  god  was  at  no  great  pains  to  jus- 
tify his  answers.  The  mule  which  the  oracle  meant  was  Cyrus,  who  deriyed 
his  extraction  from  two  different  nations,  being  a  Persian  by  the  father's  side. 


♦  Cyrop.  1.  vii.  p.  181—184.  t  Herod.  1.  i.  c.  85. 

I  This  conversation  is  already  related  in  this  rolume,  p.  301,  302.        $  Herod,  c.  86 — 91.    Plut.  ui  Solan 
iJ  Kal  56^a»  Jax^v  6  "ZSkuv  ivl  \6y03  t6v  ^itv  crcocraj,  t6v  dl  TrandiOcaf  twv  BacXe'cwv.  Plat. 


HISTORY  Oi'  CYKUS. 


336 


«k1  a  Mede  by  the  mothers  ;  and  as  to  the  great  empire  which  Crcssus  was 
k)  overthrow,  the  oracle  did  not  mean  that  of  the  Medes,  but  his  own. 

It  was  by  such  false  and  deceitful  oracles,  that  the  father  of  lies,  the  devil, 
who  was  the  author  of  them,  imposed  upon  mankind  in  thoi?e  tjmes  of  ignorance 
and  darkness,  always  giving  his  answer  to  those  that  consulted  him,  in  such 
ambiguous  and  doubtful  terms,  that,  let  the  event  be  what  it  would,  they  con- 
tained a  relative  meaning. 

When  the  people  of  Ionia  and  iEolia  were  apprised  of  Cyrus's  having  sub- 
iued  the  Lydians,  they  sent  ambassadors  to  him  at  Sardis,  to  desire  he  would 
receive  them  as  his  subjects,  upon  the  same  conditions  he  had  granted  the  Ly- 
dians. Cyrus,  who,  before  his  victory,  had  solicited  them  in  vain  to  embrace 
his  party,  and  was  then  in  a  condition  to  compel  them  to  it  by  force,  answered 
them  only  by  a  fable  of  a  fisherman,  who  having  played  upon  his  pipe,  in 
order  to  make  the  fish  come  to  him,  in  vain,  found  there  was  no  way  to  calch 
them,  but  by  throw^ing  his  net  into  the  water.  Failing  in  their  hopes  of  suc- 
ceeding this  way,  they  applied  to  the  Lacedaemonians,  and  demanded  their 
succour.  The  Lacedaemonians  thereupon  sent  deputies  to  Cyrus,  to  let  hin) 
know,  that  they  would  not  suffer  him  to  undertake  any  thing  against  the  Greek*. 
Cyrus  only  laughed  at  such  a  message,  and  warned  them  in  his  turn  to  take 
care,  and  put  themselves  into  a  condition  to  defend  their  own  territories.* 

The  nations  of  the  isles  had  nothing  to  apprehend  from  Cyrus,  because 
had  not  yet  subdued  the  Phoenicians,  nor  had  the  Persians  any  shipping. 

ARTICLE  IL 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  BESIEGING  AND  TAKING  OF  BABYLON  BY  CYRUS. 

Cyrus  staid  in  Asia  Minor,  till  he  had  entirely  reduced  all  the  nations  thai 
inhabited  it  into  subjection,  from  the  JEgean  sea  to  the  river  Euphrates.  From 
thence  he  proceeded  to  Syria  and  Arabia,  which  he  also  subdued.  After  whicn 
he  entered  into  Assyria,  and  advanced  towards  Babylon,  the  only  city  of  the 
East  that  stood  out  against  him.t 

The  siege  of  this  important  place  was  no  easy  enterprise.  The  walls  of  it  were 
of  a  prodigious  height,  and  appeared  to  be  inaccessible,  without  mentioning 
the  immense  number  of  people  within  them  for  their  defence.    Besides,  the 
city  was  stored  with  all  sorts  of  provisions  for  twenty  years.    However,  these 
difficulties  did  not  discourage  Cyrus  from  pursuing  his  design.  But,  despairing 
to  take  the  place  by  storm  or  assault,  he  made  the  inhabitants  believe  he  de- 
signed to  reduce  it  hj  famine.    To  which  end  he  caused  a  line  of  circumval- 
lation  to  be  drawn  quite  round  the  city,  with  a  large  and  deep  ditch  ;  and,  that 
his  troops  might  not  be  over-fatigued,  he  divided  his  army  into  twelve  bodies, 
and  assigned  each  of  them  its  month  for  guarding  the  trenches.   The  besieger 
thinking  themselves  out  of  all  danger,  by  reason  of  their  ramparts  and  mag? 
zines,  insulted  Cyrus  from  the  top  of  their  walls,  and  laughed  at  all  his  attemp 
and  all  the  trouble  he  gave  himself,  as  so  much  unprofitable  labour. 

SECTION  I.— -PREDICTIONS  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  CIRCUMSTANCES  RELATING  Ti 
THE  SIEGE  AND  THE  TAKING  OF  BABYLON,  AS  THEY  ABE  SET  DOWN  IN  DIF* 
FERENT  PLACES  OF  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES. 

As  the  taking  of  Babylon  is  one  of  the  greatest  events  in  ancient  history,  and 
as  the  principal  circumstances  with  which  it  was  attended,  were  foretold  in  the 
holy  Scriptures  many  years  before  it  happened,  I  think  it  not  improper,  before 
I  give  an  account  of  what  the  profane  writers  say  of  it,  briefly  to  put  together 
what  we  find  upon  the  same  head  in  the  sacred  pages,  that  the  reader  may  be 
the  more  capable  of  comparing  the  predictions  and  the  accomplishment  of  them 
together. 


*  Hefod.  L  i.  c.  141,  152,  153. 


336 


HISTORY  OF  CYRotS. 


?    THE  PREDICTION  OF  THE  JEWISH  CAPTIVITY  AT  BABYLON,  aND  THK  TIKI 

OF  ITS  DURATION. 

God  Almighty  was  pleased,  not  only  to  cause  the  captivity  which  his  poo 
pie  were  to  suffer  at  Babylon  to  be  foretold  a  long  time  before  it  came  to  pass, 
but  likewise  to  set  down  the  exact  number  of  years  it  was  to  last.  The  terra 
he  fixed  for  it  was  seventy  years,  after  which  he  promised  he  would  delivei 
them,  by  bringing  a  remarkable  and  an  eternal  destruction  upon  the  city  d 
Babvlon,  the  place  of  their  bondage  and  confinement.  "  And  these  nations 
^hall  serve  the  king  of  Babylon  seventy  years,"  Jer.  xxv.  11. 

II.  THE  CAUSES  OF  GOD's  WRATH  AGAINST  BABYLON. 

W HAT  kindled  the  wrath  of  God  aga*nst  Babylon  was,  1.  Her  insuppc  /tabl? 
pride  ;  2.  Her  inhuman  cruelty  towards  the  Jews  ;  and,  3.  The  sacrilegiouf 
impiety  ot  her  king. 

1.  Her  pride.  She  believed  herself  to  be  invincible.  She  says  in  her  heart, 
I  am  the  queen  of  nations,  and  I  shall  remain  so  for  ever.  There  is  no  powef 
equal  to  mine.  All  other  powers  are  either  subject  or  tributary  to  me,  or  in 
alliance  with  me.  I  shall  never  know  either  barrenness  or  widowhood.  Eter- 
nity is  written  in  my  destiny,  according  to  the  observation  of  all  those  that  have 
consulted  the  stars  to  know  it. 

2.  Her  cruelty.  It  is  God  hinrself  that  complains  of  it.  I  was  willing,  says 
he,  to  punish  my  people  in  such  a  manner  as  a  father  chastiseth  his  children. 
I  sent  them  for  a  time  into  banishment  at  Babylon,  with  a  design  to  recall  them 
as  soon  as  they  were  become  more  thankful  and  more  faithful.  But  Babylon 
and  her  prince  have  converted  my  paternal  chastisement  into  such  a  cruel  aiid 
inhuman  treatment,  as  my  clemency  abhors.  Their  design  has  been  to  de- 
stroy :  mine  was  to  save.  The  banishment  they  have  turned  into  a  severe 
bondage  and  captivity,  and  have  shown  no  compassion  or  regard  either  to  age, 
or  infirmity,  or  virtue. 

3.  The  sacrilegious  impiety  of  her  king.  To  the  pride  and  cruelty  of  his 
predecessors,  Belshazzar  added  an  impiety  that  was  peculiar  to  himself.  He 
did  not  only  prefer  his  false  divinities  to  the  true  and  only  God,  but  imagined 
himself  likewise  to  have  vanquished  his  power,  because  he  was  possessed  ol 
the  vessels  which  had  belonged  to  his  worship  ;  and,  as  if  he  meant  to  affront 
him,  he  affected  to  apply  these  holy  vessels  to  profane  uses.  This  was  the 
provoking  circumstance  that  brought  down  the  wrath  of  God  upon  him. 

in.  THE  DECREE  PRONOUNCED  AGAINST  BABYLON,  PREDICTION  OF  THE  CAI.AMI- 
TIES  THAT  WERE  TO  FALL  UPON  HER,  AND  OF  HER  UTTER  DESTRUCTION. 

"  Make  bright  the  arrows,  gather  the  shield-s  it  is  the  prophet  that  speaks 
to  the  Medes  and  Persians.  "  The  Lord  hath  raised  up  the  spirit  of  the  kings 
of  the  Medes,  for  his  device  is  against  Babylon  to  destroy  it,  because  it  is  the 
vengeance  of  the  Lord,  the  vengeance  of  his  temple."'^ 

"  Howl  ye,  for  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand,  a  day  cruel  both  with  WrntL 
and  fierce  anger,  to  lay  the  land  desolate.! — Behold,  I  will  punish  the  king  oi 
Babylon  and  his  land,  as  I  have  punished  the  king  of  Assyria.'' J 

"  Shout  against  her  round  about.  Recompense  her  according  to  her  w^ork  , 
according  to  all  that  she  hath  done,  do  unto  her;  and  spare  ye  not  her  young; 
men  ;  destroy  ye  utterly  all  her  host.§ — Every  one  that  is  found  shall  be  thrust 
through,  and  every  one  that  is  joined  unto  them  shall  fall  by  the  sword.  Their 
children  also  shall  be  dashed  to  pieces  before  their  eyes,  their  houses  shall  be 
spoiled,  and  their  wives  ravished.  Behold  I  will  stir  up  the  Medes  against 
them,  who  shall  not  regard  silver  ;  and  as  for  gold,  they  shall  not  delight  in  it. 
1  heir  bows  also  shall  dash  the  young  men  to  pieces,  and  they  shall  nave  no 


♦  Jcr.li.  11.  t  lia.  xiii,  6,  9.  ;  In  the  destniction  of  Nineveh.    Jer.  1.  li. 

5  Jer.  1. 15, 29»  and  li.  3.  |I  Isa.  xii.  15, 19 


HISTORY  OF  CVRLfc. 


337 


pity  on  the  fruit  of  the  womb  ;  their  eyes  shall  not  spare  children.*  O  daugh- 
ter of  Babylon,  who  art  to  be  destroyed,  happy  shall  he  be  that  rewardeth  thee 
as  thou  hast  served  us.  Happy  shall  he  be,  that  taketh  thy  children,  and 
dasheth  them  against  the  stones."! 

*'  And  Babylon,  the  glory  of  kingdoms,  and  the  beauty  of  the  Chaldee^s  ex- 
cellency, shall  be  as  wh(;n  God  overthrew  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  It  shall  never 
be  inhabited,  neither  shall  it  be  dwelt  in,  from  generation  to  generation ;  neither 
shall  the  Arabian  pitch  tent  there  ;  neither  shall  the  shepherds  make  their  fold 
there  :  but  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall  lie  there,  and  their  houses  shall  be 
full  of  doleful  creatures,  and  owls  shall  dwell  there,  and  satyrs  shall  dance 
there  ;  and  the  wild  beasts  of  the  island  shall  ciy  in  their  desolate  houses,  and 
dragons  in  their  pleasant  palaces. J  I  shall  also  make  it  a  possession  of  the 
bittern,  and  pools  of  water  ;  and  I  will  sweep  it  with  the  besom  of  destruction., 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts.  The  lord  of  hosts  hath  sworn,  saying,  Surely  as  1  have 
thought,  so  shall  it  come  to  pass  ;  and  as  I  have  purposed,  so  shall  it  stand. 

IV.  CYRUS  CALLED  TO  DESTROY  BABYLO/^,  AND  TO  DELIVER  THE  JEAVS. 

Cyrus,  whom  Divine  Providence  was  to  make  use  of,  as  an  instrument  for 
the  executing  of  his  design  of  goodness  and  mercy  towards  his  people,  was 
mentioned  in  the  Scripture  by  his  name,  above  two  hundred  years  before  he 
was  born.  And,  that  the  world  might  not  be  surprised  at  the  prodigious  ra- 
pidity of  his  conquests,  God  was  pleased  to  declare  in  very  lofty  and  remark- 
able terms,  that  he  himself  would  be  his  guide ;  and  that  in  all  his  expeditions 
he  would  lead  him  by  the  hand,  and  would  subdue  all  the  princes  of  the  earth 
before  him.  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  to  his  anointed,  to  Cyrus,  whose  right  hand 
I  have  holden,  to  subdue  nations  before  him  ;  and  I  will  loose  the  loins  of  kings, 
to  open  before  him  the  two-leaved  gates,  and  the  gates  shall  not  be  shut.  I 
will  go  before  thee,  and  make  the  crooked  places  straight.  I  will  break  in 
pieces  the  gates  of  brass,  and  cut  in  sunder  the  bars  of  iron.  And  I  will  give  thee 
the  treasures  of  darkness,  and  hidden  riches  of  secret  places,  that  thou  mayest 
know,  that  I  the  Lord,  which  call  thee  by  thy  name,  am  the  God  of  Israel ;  for 
Jacob  my  servant's  sake,  and  Israel  mine  elect,  I  have  even  called  thee  by  thv 
name :  I  have  surnamed  thee,  though  thou  hast  not  knovvn  mejj 

V.  GOD  0IVE3  THE  SIGNAL  TO   THE  COMMANDERS,  AND  TO  THE  TROOPS,  T'J 

MARCH  AGAINST  BABYLON. 

"  Lift  ye  up  a  banner,"  saith  the  Lord,  "  upon  the  high  mountain,"  that  it 
mav  be  seen  afar  oiF,  and  that  all  they  who  are  to  obey  me  may  know  my  orders. 
"  fixalt  the  voice  unto  them"  that  are  able  to  hear  you.  ^'  Shake  the  hand," 
and  make  a  sign  to  hasten  the  march  of  those  that  are  too  far  off  to  distinguish 
another  sort  of  command.  Let  the  officers  of  the  troops  "  go  into  the  gates  of 
the  nobles,"  into  the  pavilions  of  their  kings.  Let  the  people  of  each  nation 
range  themselves  around  their  sovereign,  and  make  haste  to  offer  him  their 
service,  and  to  go  into  his  tent,  which  is  already  set  up.H 

I  have  commanded  my  sanctified  ones  ;"**  I  have  given  my  orders  to  tho^e 
whom  I  sanctified  for  the  execution  of  my  designs :  and  these  kings  are  already 
marching  to  obey  me,  though  they  know  me  not.  It  is  I  that  have  placed  them 
upon  the  throne,  that  have  made  several  nations  subject  to  them,  in  order  to 
accomplish  my  designs  by  their  ministration.  "I  have  called  my  mighty  ones 
for  mine  anger."tt  I  have  caused  the  mighty  warriors  to  come  up,  to  be  the 
ministers  and  executioners  of  my  wrath  and  vengeance.  From  me  they  derive 
(heir  courage,  their  martial  abilities,  their  patience,  their  wisdom,  and  the 
success  of  their  enterprises.  If  they  are  invincible,  it  is  because  they  serve 
me  :  every  thing  gives  way,  and  trembles  before  them,  because  they  are  the 
ministers  of  my  wrath  and  indignation.    They  joyfully  labour  for  my  g'ory, 

*  Isa.  xii.  15,  18.  t  I'sal.  cxxxvii.  8,  9.  J  Isa.  xiii.  19,  22.  {  Isa.  xiv.  23,  2H. 

II  Is«.xlv  1—4.  IT  Isa.  xiii.  2.  Isa.  xiii  3 

tt  Lat.  vers,  in  tr«  mea.    Heb.  m  iram.  tneam. 

Vol.  I.  Id 


53 n  mirroiiY  of  cyrl». 

"  ihey  rejoice  m  my  highness,*'  The  honour  they  haTe  of  being  under  my 
command,  and  of  bemg  sent  to  deliver  a  people  that  I  love,  inspires  them  vvitb 
ardour  and  cheerfulness  :  behold,  they  triumph  already  in  a  certain  assurance 
of  victory. 

The  prophet,  a  witness  in  spirit  of  the  orders  that  are  just  given,  is  astonished 
at  the  rapidity  with  which  they  are  executed  by  the  princes  and  the  people. 
I  hear  already,  he  cries  out,  "  the  noise  of  a  multitude  in  the  mountains,  likt 
as  of  a  great  people,  a  tumultuous  noise  of  the  kingdoms  of  nations  gathered 
together.  The  Lord  of  hosts  mustereth  the  host  of  battle  The}'"  come  from 
a  far  country,  from  the  end  of  heaven,"!  where  the  voice  of  God,  their  Maslei 
and  Sovereign,  has  reached  their  ears. 

But  it  is  not  with  the  sight  of  the  formidable  army,  or  of  the  kings  of  the 
earth,  that  I  am  now  struck ;  it  is  God  himself  that  I  behold ;  all  the  rest  are 
but  his  retinue,  and  the  ministers  of  his  justice.  "  It  is  even  the  Lord,  ano 
the  weapons  of  his  indignation,  to  destroy  the  whole  land  " 

"A  grievous  vision  is  declared  unto  me  "  The  impious  Belshazzar,  king 
of  Babylon,  continues  to  act  impiously  ;t  "the  treacherous  dealer  dealelb 
treacherously,  and  the  spoiler  spoileth.  §  To  put  an  end  to  these  excesses,  gc 
up,  thou  prince  of  Persia  :  Go  up,  O  Eiam and  thou  prince  of  the  Medes, 
besiege  thou  Babylon:  "Besiege,  O  Media;  all  the  sighing  which  she  was 
the  cause  of,  have  I  made  to  cease  The  wicked  city  is  taken  and  pillaged  ' 
her  power  is  at  an  end,  and  my  people  is  delivered. 

VI.  PARTICULAR  CIRCUMSTANCES  SET  DOWN,  RELATING  TO  THE  SIEGE  ANL 

THE  TAKING  OF  BABYLON. 

There  is  nothing,  perhaps,  that  can  be  more  proper  to  raise  a  profound 
reverence  in  us  for  religion,  and  to  give  us  a  great  idea  of  the  Deity,  than  to 
observe  with  what  exactness  he  reveals  to  his  prophets  the  principal  circum- 
stances of  the  besieging  and  taking  of  Babylon,  not  only  many  years,  but 
several  ages,  before  it  happened. 

1.  We  have  already  seen,  that  the  army,  by  which  Babylon  will  be  taken, 
is  to  consist  of  Medes  and  Persians,  and  to  be  commanded  by  Cyrus. 

2  The  city  shall  be  attacked  after  a  very  extraordinary  manner,  in  a  way 
that  she  did  not  at  all  expect:  "  Therefore  shall  evil  come  upon  thee  ;  thou 
shall  not  know  from  whence  it  riseth."li  She  shall  be  all  on  a  sudden  and  in 
an  instant  overwhelmed  with  calamities,  which  she  did  not  foresee  :  "  Desola- 
tion shall  come  upon  thee  suddenly,  which  thou  shalt  not  know.H  In  a  word,  ~ 
she  shall  be  taken,  as  it  were,  in  a  net  or  a  gin,  before  she  perceiveth  that  any 
snares  have  been  laid  for  her:  "  I  have  laid  a  snare  for  thee,  and  thou  art  also 
taken,  O  Babylon,  and  thou  wast  not  aware."** 

3.  Babylon  was  confident  that  the  Euphrates  alone  w^as  sufficient  to  render  her 
impregnable,  and  triumphed  in  her  being  so  advantageously  situated,  and  de- 
fended by  so  deep  a  river :  "  O  thou  that  dwellest  upon  many  waters. "tt  ft  is 
God  himself  who  points  out  Babylon  under  that  description.  And  yet  that 
very  river  Euphrates  shall  be  the  cause  of  her  ruin.  Cyrus,  by  a  stratagem, 
of  which  there  never  had  been  any  example  before,  nor  has  there  been  an}' 
thing  like  it  since,  shall  divert  the  course  of  that  river,  shall  lay  its  channel 
diy,  and  by  that  means  open  himself  a  passage  into  the  city  :  "  I  will  dry  up 
her  sea,  and  make  her  springs  dry.  A  drought  is  upon  her  waters,  and  they 
shall  be  dried  up. "JJ  Cyrus  shall  take  possession  of  the  keys  of  the  river  ; 
and  ^he  waters,  which  rendered  Babylon  inaccessible,  shall  be  dried  up,  as  if 
they  had  been  consumed  by  fire  ;  "  the  passages  are  stopped,  and  the  reeds 
(hey  have  burnt  with  fire.§§ 

4.  She  shall  be  taken  in  the  night  time,  upon  a  day  of  feasting  and  rejoicir^, 
even  while  her  inhabitants  are  at  table,  and  think  upon  nothing  but  eatii^ 


*  lia.  xiii.  4. 
Q  Im.  x\v\i  If. 


t  Isa.  xiii.  5.  X  This     ibe  spns.'  of  th«  Hebrew  word.  J 

IT  Ibid  Jer  I.  '24.        f\      r  il.  la.        It  J«r.  i.  3S.  Vu  36.        {j  Jer.  k.  » 


HISTORY  OF  CYRUS. 


339 


jind  drinking  :  *^  In  her  heat  I  will  make  their  feasts,  and  1  will  make  them 
drunken,  that  they  may  rejoice,  and  sleep  a  perpetual  sleep,  and  not  wake, 
the  Lord.''"*^  It  is  remarkable  that  it  is  God  who  does  all  this,  who  lays 
a  snare  for  Babylon  :  "1  have  laid  a  snare  for  thee  ;"t  who  drieth  up  the  wa- 
ters of  the  river  ;  ""4  will  dry  up  her  sea;"  and  who  brings  that  drunkenness 
and  drowsiness  upon  her  princes;  "I  will  make  drunk  her  princes. "J 

5.  The  king  shall  be  seized  in  an  instant  with  incredible  terror  and  pertur- 
bation of  mind :  "  my  loins  arc  filled  with  pain  ;  pangs  have  taken  hold  ci? 
me,  as  the  pangs  of  a  woman  that  travaileth  :  I  was  bowed  down  at  the  hear- 
111^  of  it ;  I  was  dismayed  at  the  seeing  of  it;  my  heart  panted,  fearfulnes? 
affrighted  me  ;  the  night  of  my  pleasure  hath  he  turned  into  fear  unto  me."§ 
This  is  the  condition  Belshazzar  was  in,  when,  in  the  middle  of  the  entertain- 
ment, he  saw  a  hand  come  out  of  the  wall,  which  wrote  such  characters  upon 
it,  as  none  of  his  diviners  could  either  explain  or  read ;  but  more  especially 
when  Daniel  declared  to  him,  that  those  characters  imported  the  sentence  ot 
his  death  :  "  Then,"  says  the  Scripture, "  the  king's  countenance  was  changed, 
and  his  thoughts  troubled  him,  so  that  the  joints  of  his  loins  were  loosed,  and 
his  knees  smote  one  against  another."||  The  terror,  astonishment,  fainting 
and  trembling  of  Belshazzar,  are  here  described  and  expressed  in  the  same 
manner  by  the  prophet  who  was  an  eye-witness  of  them,  as  they  were  by  the 
prophet  who  foretold  them  two  hundred  years  before. 

But  Isaiah  must  have  had  an  extraordinary  measure  of  divine  illumination, 
to  be  able  to  add,  immediately  after  the  description  of  Belshazzar's  consterna- 
tion, the  following  words  :  prepare  the  table,  watch  in  the  watch-tower;  eat, 
drink." IT  The  prophet  foresees,  that  Belshazzar,  though  terribly  dismayed  and 
confounded  at  first,  shall  recover  his  courage  and  spirit  again,  through  the  ex- 
hortation of  his  courtiers ;  but  more  particularly  through  the  persuasion  of  the 
queen,  his  mother,  who  represented  to  him  the  unreasonableness  of  being  af- 
fected with  such  unmanly  fears,  and  unnecessary  alarms ;  "  Let  not  thy  thoughts- 
trouble  thee,  nor  let  thy  countenance  be  changed."**  They  exhorted  him, 
therefore,  to  make  himself  easy,  to  satisfy  himself  with  giving  proper  orders, 
and  with  the  assurance  of  being  advertised  of  every  thing  by  the  vigilance  of  the 
sentinels;  to  order  the  rest  of  the  supper  to  be  served,  as  if  nothing  had  hap- 
pened ;  and  to  recall  that  gayety  and  joy,  which  his  excessive  fears  had  ba- 
nished from  the  table :  "  Prepare  the  table,  watch  in  the  watch-tower ;  eat, 
drink." 

6.  But"at  the  same  time  that  men  are  giving  their  orders,  God  on  his  part  is 
likewise  giving  his  :  *' Arise,  ye  princes,  and  anoint  the  shieId."tT  It  is  God 
himself  that  commands  the  princes  to  advance,  to  take  their  arms,  and  to  enter 
boldly  into  a  city  drowned  in  wine,  and  buried  in  sleep. 

7.  Isaiah  acquaints  us  with  two  material  and  important  circumstances  con- 
cerning the  taking  of  Babylon.  The  first  is,  that  the  troops  with  which  it  is 
filled  shall  not  keep  their  ground  or  stand  firm  any  where,  neither  at  the  palace, 
nor  the  citadel,  nor  any  other  public  place  whatever ;  that  they  shall  desert 
and  leave  one  another,  without  thinking  of  any  thing  but  making  their  escape  , 
tliat  in  running  away  they  shall  disperse  themselves,  and  take  different  roads, 
just  as  a  flock  of  deer,  or  of  sheep  is  dispersed  and  scattered  when  they  are 
affrighted:  And  it  shall  be  as  a  chased  roe,  and  as  a  sheep  that  no  man  ta 
keth  up. "it  The  second  circumstance  is,  that  the  greatest  part  of  those 
troops,  though  they  were  in  the  Babylonian  service  and  pay,  were  not  Baby- 
lonians; and  that  they  shall  return  into  the  provinces  from  whence  they  came, 
without  being  pursued  hj  the  conquerors  ;  because  the  divine  vengeance  was 
chiefly  to  fall  upon  the  citizens  of  Babylon :  "  They  shall  every  man  turn  to 
his  own  people,  and  flee  every  one  into  his  own  land."§§ 


*  Jer.  li.  39. 
i)  Dan.  V.  6. 
ft  Iw,  «u  14 


t  Jer.  li.  39. 


IT  Isa.  XXI 
it  Isa.  xlii  14 


X  Jer.  li.  57 


^  Isa.  xxi  3,  14. 
♦*  Dan.  T.  10. 

M  Isa.  xiii  14 


340 


HISTORY  OP  CYRUS 


8.  Lastly,  not  to  mention  the  dreadful  slaughter  which  is  to  be  made  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Babylon,  where  no  mercy  will  be  shown  either  to  old  men,  wo- 
men, or  children,  or  even  to  the  child  that  is  still  within  its  mother's  womb,  as 
has  been  already  taken  notice  of ;  the  last  circumstance  which  the  prophei 
foretells,  is  the  death  of  the  king  himself,  whose  body  is  to  have  no  burial 
and  the  entire  extinction  of  the  royal  family ;  both  which  calamities  are  de 
scribed  in  the  Scripture,  after  a  manner  equally  terrible  and  instructive  to  al 
princes.  "  B'.it  thou  art  cast  out  of  thy  grave,  like  an  abominable  branch 
rhou  shalt  not  be  joined  with  them  (thy  ancestors)  in  burial,  because  thou 
hast  destroyed  thy  land,  and  slain  thy  people."*  That  king  is  justly  forgot, 
who  has  never  remembered  that  he  ought  to  be  the  protector  and  father  of  his 
people.  He  that  has  lived  only  to  ruin  and  destroy  his  country,  is  unworthy 
of  the  common  privilege  of  burial.  As  he  has  been  an  enemy  to  mankind, 
living  or  dead,  he  ought  to  have  no  place  among  them.  He  was  like  unto 
tne  wild  beasts  of  the  field,  and  like  them  he  shall  be  buried :  and  since  he 
had  no  humanity  himself^  he  deserves  to  meet  with  no  humanity  from  others. 
This  is  the  sentence  which  God  himself  pronounceth  against  Belshazzar :  and 
the  malediction  extends  itself  to  his  children,  who  were  looked  upon  as  hii 
associates  in  tne  throne,  and  as  the  source  of  a  long  posterity  and  succes- 
sion of  kings,  and  were  entertained  with  nothing  by  the  flattering  courtierf, 
but  ihe  pleasing  prospect  and  ideas  of  their  future  grandeur.  "  Prepare  slaugh- 
terfoi  his  children,  for  the  iniquity  of  their  fathers;  that  they  do  not  rise,  nor 
possess  the  land.  For  I  will  rise  up  against  them,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  and 
cut  off  from  Babylon  the  name  and  remnant,  and  son  and  nephew,  saith  the 
Lord.^t 

SECTION  II. — A  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  TAKING  OF  BABYLON. 

After  having  seen  the  predictions  of  every  thing  that  was  to  happen  to  im 
pious  Babylon,  it  is  now  time  to  come  to  the  completion  and  accomplishment 
of  those  prophecies  ;  and  in  order  thereto,  we  must  resume  the  thread  of  our 
history,  with  respect  to  the  taking  of  that  city. 

As  soon  as  Cyrus  saw  that  the  ditch,  which  they  had  long  w^orked  upon,  was 
finished,  he  began  to  think  seriously  upon  the  execution  of  his  vast  design,  which 
as  yet  he  had  communicated  to  nobody.  Providence  soon  furnished  him  with 
as  fit  an  opportunity  for  this  purpose  as  he  could  desire.  He  was  informed, 
that  in  the  city,  on  a  certain  day,  a  great  festival  was  to  be  celebrated  ;  and 
that  the  Babylonians, -on  occasion  of  that  solemnity,  were  accustomed  to  pass  - 
the  whole  night  in  drinking  and  debauchery. 

Belshazzar  himself  was  more  concerned  in  this  public  rejoicing  than  any 
other,  and  gave  a  magnificent  entertainment  to  the  chief  officers  of  the  king- 
dom, and  the  ladies  of  the  court.  In  the  heat  of  his  wine  he  ordered  the  gold 
and  silver  vessels,  which  had  been  taken  from  -the  temple  of  Jerusalem  to  he 
brought  out ;  and,  as  an  insult  upon  the  God  of  Israel,  he,  his  whole  court,  and 
all  his  concubines,  drank  out  of  those  sacred  vessels.  God,  who  was  provoked 
at  such  insolence  and  impiety,  in  the  very  action,  made  him  sensible  who  it 
was  that  he  offended,  by  a  sudden  apparition  of  a  hand,  writing  certain  cha 
racters  upon  the  wall.  The  king,  terribly  surprised  and  affrighted  at  this 
vision,  immediately  sent  for  all  the  wise  men,  his  diviners,  and  astrologers, 
that  they  might  read  the  writing  to  him,  and  explain  the  meaning  of  it.  But 
they  all  came  in  vain,  not  one  of  them  being  able  to  expound  the  matter,  or 
even  to  read  the  characters.]:  It  is  probably  in  relation  to  this  occurrence, 
that  Isaiah,  after  having  foretold  to  Babylon,  that  she  should  be  overwhelmed 
with  calamities  which  she  did  not  expect,  adds,  "  stand  now  with  thine  en- 
cnantments,  and  with  the  multitude  of  thy  sorceries.  Let  now  the  astrologers, 
the  star-gazers,  the  monthly  prognosticators,  stand  up-,  and  save  thee  From 


*  Isa.  xiv.  19,  20.  +  Isa.  xiv.  21,  22. 

%  The  reaBon  whjr  they  could  not  read  ihW  sentence  was,  that  it  was  written  in  Hebrew  letters,  wbteli 
t.renow  o«Ued  the  Samaritan  characters,  and  which  the  Babylonians  did  not  understand. 


HISTORY  OF  CYRD« 


341 


these  things  that  shall  come  upon  thee,"  Isa.  xvlii.  12,  13.  The  queen-mo- 
ih^r,  Nitocris,  a  princess  of  great  merit,  coming  upon  the  noise  of  this  prodigy 
inio  the  banqueting-room,  endeavoured  to  compose  the  spirit  of  the  king,  her 
son,  advising  him  to  send  for  Daniel,  with  whose  abilities  in  such  matters  she 
w^as  well  acquainted,  and  whom  she  had  always  employed  in  the  government 
of  the  state.* 

Daniel  was  therefore  immediately  sent  for,  and  spoke  to  the  king  with  a 
freedom  and  liberty  becoming  a  prophet.  He  put  him  in  mind  of  the  dreadful 
manner  in  which  God  had  punished  the  pride  of  his  grandfather,  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, and  the  crying  abuse  he  made  of  his  power,  when  he  acknowledged 
no  law  but  his  own  will,  and  thought  himself  master  to  exalt  and  to  abase,  to 
mflict  destruction  and  death  wheresoever  he  would,  only  because  such  was  his 
will  and  pleasure.!  "  ^nd  thou  his  son,"  says  he  to  the  king,  hast  not  hum- 
bled thine  heart,  though  thou  knewest  all  this,  but  hast  lifted  up  thyself  againet 
the  Lord  of  heaven  ;  and  they  have  brought  the  vessels  of  his  house  before 
thee  ;  and  thou  and  thy  lords,  thy  wives  and  thy  concubines,  have  drunk  wine 
in  them  ;  and  thou  hast  praised  the  gods  of  silver  and  gold,  of  brass,  iron,  wood, 
and  stone,  which  see  not,  nor  hear,  nor  know:  and  the  God  in  whose  hand  thy 
breath  is,  and  whose  are  all  thy  ways,  hast  thou  not  glorified.  Then  was  the 
part  of  the  hand  sent  from  him,  and  this  writing  was  written.  And  this  is  the 
writing  that  was  written,  jMene,  Tekel,  Upharsin.§  This  is  the  interpreta 
tionof  the  thing;  Mene,  God  hath  numbered  thy  kingdom,  and  finished  it; 
Tekel,  thou  art  weighed  in  the  balances,  and  art  found  wanting  ;  Peres,  thy 
kingdom  is  divided,  and  given  to  the  Medes  and  Persians."  This  interpreta- 
tion, one  would  think,  should  have  enhanced  the  king's  trouble  ;  but  some  way 
or  other,  they  found  means  to  dispel  his  fears,  and  make  him  easy  ;  probably 
upon  the  persuasion,  that  the  calamity  was  not  denounced  as  present  or  im- 
mediate, and  that  time  might  furnish  them  with  expedients  to  avert  it.  This, 
however,  is  certain,  that  for  fear  of  disturbing  the  general  joy  of  the  present 
festival,  they  put  off  the  discussion  of  serious  matters  to  another  time,  and  sat 
down  again  to  their  mirth  and  liquor,  and  continued  their  revellings  to  a  very 
late  hour. 

Cyrus,  in  the  mean  time,  well  informed  of  the  confiision  that  was  generally 
occasioned  by  this  festival,  both  in  the  palace  and  the  city,  had  posted  a  pari 
of  his  troops  on  that  side  where  the  river  entered  into  the  city,  and  another  part 
on  that  side  where  it  w^ent  out,  and  had  commanded  them  to  enter  the  city  that 
very  night,  by  marching  along  the  channel  of  the  river,  as  soon  as  ever  they 
found  it  fordable.  Having  given  all  necessary  orders,  and  exhorted  his  officers 
to  follow  him,  by  representing  to  them  that  He  marched  under  the  conduct  of 
the  gods  ;  in  the  evening  he  made  them  open  the  great  receptacles,  or  ditches, 
on  both  sides  of  the  town,  above  and  below,  that  the  water  of  the  river  might 
run  into  them.  By  this  means  the  Euphrates  was  quickly  emptied,  and  its 
channel  became  dry.  Then  the  two  fore-mentioned  bodies  of  troops,  according 
to  their  orders,  went  into  the  channel,  the  one  commanded  by  Gobryas,and 
the  other  by  Gadates,  and  advanced  towards  each  other  without  meeting  with 
any  obstacle.  The  invisible  Guide,  who  had  promised  to  open  all  the  gates 
to  Cyrus,  made  the  general  negligence  and  disorder  of  that  riotous  night  sub- 
servient to  his  design,  by  leaving  open  the  gates  of  brass,  which  were  made 
to  shut  up  the  descents  from  the  quays  to  the  river,  and  which  alone,  if  they 
had  not  been  left  open,  were  sufficient  to  have  defeated  the  whole  enterprise. 
Thus  did  these  two  bodies  of  troops  penetrate  into  the  very  heart  of  the  city 
without  any  opposition,  and  meeting  together  at  the  royal  palace,  according  to 
their  agreement,  surprised  the  guards,  and  cut  them  to  pieces.  Some  of  the 
company  that  were  within  the  palace  opening  the  doors,  to  know  what  noise 

*  Dan.  V.  1—29. 

t  •  Whom  he  would  ne  slew,  and  whom  he  would  he  kept  alive,  and  whom  he  would  he  set  up,  and 
vhom  he  would  he  pul  qow  i."    Dan.  v.  19. 

J  These  three  words  signify  nuwAtr,  twe/g-A/,  divit^on.  J  Or  Pef*. 


342 


H^rORY  OF  CYRUS. 


\t  was  they  heard  without,  the  soldiers  rushed  in  and  quickly  madu  them?eivei 
masters  of  it.  And  meeting  the  king,  who  came  up  to  them  sword  in  hand,  at 
tlie  head  of  those  that  were  in  the  way  to  succour  him,  they  killed  liim  and  put 
all  those  that  attended  him  to  the  sword.  The  first  thing  the  conquerors  did 
afterwards,  was  to  thank  the  gods  for  having  at  last  punished  that  impious  king. 
These  words  are  Xenophon's,  and  are  very  remarkahle,  as  they  so  perfectly 
agree  with  what  the  Scriptures  have  recorded  of  the  impious  Belshazzar.* 

The  taking  of  Babylon  put  an  end  to  the  Babylonian  empi^-e,  after  a  dura 
tion  of  two  hundred  and  ten  years  from  the  beginning  of  Nabonassar's  reign, 
r;ho  was  the  founder  thereof.  Thus  was  the  power  of  that  proud  city  a  bo 
lished,  just  fifty  years  after  she  had  destroyed  the  city  of  Jerusalem  and  hei 
temple.  And  herein  were  accomplished  those  predictions  which  the  prophets 
Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  Daniel,  had  denounced  against  her,  and  of  which  we  have 
already  given  a  particular  account.  There  is  still  one  more,  the  most  important 
and  the  most  incredible  of  them  all,  and  yet  the  Scripture  has  set  it  down  in 
the  strongest  terms,  and  marked  it  out  with  the  greatest  exactness  ;  a  prediction 
literally  fulfilled  in  all  its  points,  the  proof  of  which  still  actually  subsists,  is  the 
most  easy  to  be  verified,  and  indeed  of  a  nature  not  to  be  contested.  What  I 
mean  is,  the  prediction  of  so  total  and  absolute  a  ruin  of  Babylon,  that  not  the 
least  remains  or  footsteps  should  be  left  of  it.  I  think  it  may  not  be  improper 
to  give  an  account  of  the  perfect  accomplishment  of  this  famous  prophecy,  be- 
fore we  proceed  to  speak  of  what  followed  the  taking  of  Babylon.1 

SECTION  III. — THE  COMPLETION  OF  THE  PROPHECY  WHICH  FORETOLD  THE 
TOTAL  RUIN  AND  DESTRUCTION  OF  BABYLON. 

This  prediction  we  find  recorded  in  several  of  the  prophets,  but  particularly 
in  Isaiah,  in  the  13th  chapter,  from  the  19th  to  the  22d  verse,  and  in  the  23d 
and  24th  verses  of  the  14th  chapter.  I  have  already  inserted  it  at  lai^e,  page 
336,  &c.  It  is  there  declared,  that  Babylon  should  be  utterly  destroyed,  as  the 
criminal  cities  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  formerly  were  ;  that  she  shall  be  no 
more  inhabited;  that  she  shall  never  be  rebuilt;  that  the  Arabs  shall  nat  so 
much  as  set  up  their  tents  there ;  that  neither  herdsman  nor  shepherd  shall 
come  thither  even  to  rest  his  herd  or  his  flock  ;  that  it  shall  become  a  dwelling- 
place  for  wild  beasts,  and  a  retreat  for  the  birds  of  the  night ;  that  the  place 
where  it  stood  shall  be  covered  over  with  a  marsh,  or  fen,  so  that  no  mark  or 
footstep  shall  be  left  to  show  where  Babylon  had  been.  It  was  God  himself 
who  pronounced  this  sentence,  and  it  is  for  the  seiTice  of  religion,  to  show  how 
exactly  every  article  of  it  has  been  successively  accomp?*shea. 

1.  In  the  Jirst  place,  Babylon  ceased  to  be  a  royal  citjr,  the  kings  of  Persia 
choosing  to  reside  elsewhere.    They  delighted  more  in  Shusan,  Ecbatana, 
Persepolis,  or  any  other  place,  and  did  tnemselves  destroy  a  great  part  o 
Babylon, 

2.  We  are  Informed  by  Strabo  and  Pliny,  that  the  Macedonians,  vho  suc- 
ceeded the  Persians,  did  not  only  neglect  it,  and  forbear  to  make  any  embel- 
lishments, or  even  reparations  in  it,  but  that  moreover  they  built  Seleucia  in 
the  neighbourhood,  on  purpose  to  draw  away  its  inhabitants,  and  cause  it  io 
be  deserted. §  Nothing  can  better  explain  what  the  prophet  had  foretold,**  li 
fhall  not  be  inhabited."  Its  own  masters  endeavour  to  depopulate  it. 

3.  The  new  kings  of  Persia,  who  afterwards  became  masters  of  Babylon, 
completed  the  ruin  of  it,  by  building  Ctesiphon,||  which  carried  away  all  the 
remainder  of  the  inhabitants ;  so  that,  from  the  time  the  anathema  was  pro 

*  Cyrop.  1.  vii.  p.  189—192.  t  A.  M.  3466.    Ant.  .T.  C.  538. 

J  Partorn  urbis  Persae  diruerunt,  partem  tempus  consumpsit,  ct  Macedonuni  neglitrentia  ;  maxime  post 
quam  Selencus  Nicator  Seleuciam  ad  I'igrira  condidit,  stadiis  tantJini  treccntis  a  Babylone  dissitam. — Strab. 
I.  xvi.  p.  738. 

In  ioUtudinemrediitexhausta  vicinitate  Seleuciae.ob  id  conditje  a  Nicatore  intra  nonagesimum  (or  q«adr 
rarcsimum)  lapidem — Plin.  1.  vi.  c.  26. 

5  A.  M.  3880.    Ant.J.  C.  124. 
y  Pro  ilia  Seleuciam  st  CUiiphontem  urbei  Persarum  inclitas  tecerunt. — S.  Hieron.  in  cap.  I§a. 


HISTORY  OF  CYRUS. 


iioiinced  against  that  city,  it  seems  as  if  those  very  persons  that  ougi.t  to  have 
protected  her  vi^ere  become  her  enemies  :  as  if  they  had  all  thought  it  theii 
duty  to  reduce  her  to  a  state  of  solitude,  though  by  indirect  means,  and  with 
out  using  any  violence  ;  that  it  might  the  more  manifestly  appear  to  be  the 
hand  of  God,rather  than  the  handot  man,  which  brought  about  her  destruction. 

4.  She  was  so  totally  forsaken,  that  nothing  of  her  w^as  left  remaining  but 
the  walls.  And  to  this  condition  was  she  reduced  at  the  time  when  Pausanias 
wrote  his  remarks  upon  Greece.*  Ilia  autem  Babylon^  omnium  quas  unquorn  sol 
aspexit  urhlum  maxima ^  jam  "propter  muros  nihil  habet  reliqui.  Pans,  in  Ar- 
I'dd,  p.  509.t 

5.  The  kings  of  Persia,  finding  the  place  deserted,  made  a  park  of  it,  in 
Hiich  they  kept  wild  beasts  for  hunting.  Thus  did  it  become,  as  the  prophet 
had  foretold,  a  dwelling-place  for  ravenous  beasts,  that  are  enemies  to  man  ; 
Dr  for  timorous  animals,  that  flee  before  him.  Instead  of  citizens,  it  was  now 
inhabited  by  wild  boars,  leopards,  be  a  ^-s,  deer,  and  wild  asses.  Babylon  was 
now  the  retreat  of  fierce,  savage,  deadly  creatures,  that  hate  the  light,  and  de- 
light in  darkness.  "  WHd  beasts  of  the  desert  shall  lie  there,  and  "  dragons 
shall  dwell  in  their  pleasant  palaces. 

St.  Jerome  has  transmitted  to  us  the  follomng  valuable  remark,  which  he  had 
from  a  Persian  monk,  that  had  himself  seen  what  he  related  to  him  ;  Didici- 
mus  a  quodum  fratre  Elamita,  qui  de  illis  Jinibus  egrediens,  nunc  Hierosolymis 
vitam  exegii  monachorum,  venationes  regias  esse  in  Babylone^  et  omnis  generis 
bestias  murorum  ejus  ambitu  tantum  contineri. — In  cap.  Isa.  xiii.  22. § 

6.  But  it  was  still  too  much  that  the  walls  of  Babylon  were  standing.  At 
length  they  fell  down  in  several  places,  and  were  never  repaired.  Various  ac- 
cidents destroyed  the  remainder.  The  animals,  which  served  for  pleasure  to 
the  Persian  kings,  abandoned  the  place  ;  serpents  and  scorpions  remained,  so 
that  it  became  a  dreadful  place  for  persons  that  should  have  the  curiosity  Vj 
visit,  or  search  after  its  antiquities.  The  Euphrates,  that  used  to  run  through 
the  city,  having  no  longer  a  free  channel,  took  its  course  another  way  ;  so  thaf 
in  Theodoret's  time,  there  was  but  a  very  little  stream  of  water  left,  which 
ran  across  the  ruins,  ahd,  not  meeting  with  a  descent  or  free  passage,  necessarily 
expanded  into  a  marsh.|| 

In  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great,  the  river  had  left  its  ordinary  channel, 
by  reason  of  the  outlets  and  canals  which  Cyrus  had  made,  and  of  which  we 
have  already  given  an  account  ;  ttiese  outlets,  being  ill  stopped  up,  had  occa- 
sioned a  great  inundation  in  the  country.  Alexander,  designing  to  fix  the  seat 
of  his  empire  at  Babylon,  projected  the  bringing  back  the  Euphrates  into  its 
natural  and  former  channel,  and  had  actually  set  his  men  to  work.^  But  the 
Almighty,  who  watched  over  the  fulfilling  of  his  prophecy,  and  w^ho  declared 
he  would  destroy  even  to  the  very  remains  and  traces  of  Babylon,  "  I  will  cut 
olf  from  Babylon  the  name  and  remnant,*'*^  defeate  1  this  enterprise  by  the  death 
of  Alexander,  which  happened  soon  after.  It  is  e«^5y  to  comprehend  how,  after 
thi«»  Babylon  being  neglected  to  such  a  degree  as  we  have  seen,  its  river  was 
converted  into  an  inaccessible  pool,  which  covered  the  very  place  where  tiiat 
impious  city  had  stood,  as  Isaiah  had  foretold, "  I  will  make  it  pools  of  water. ''tt 
And  this  was  necessary,  lest  the  place  where  Babylon  had  stood  should  be 
discovered  hereafter  by  the  course  of  the  Euphrates. 

7.  By  means  of  all  these  changes,  Babylon  became  an  utter  desert,  and  all 
the  country  round  fell  into  the  same  state  of  desolation  and  horror  ;  so  that  the 
ablest  geographers  at  this  day  cannot  determine  the  place  were  it  stood.j]:  In 
this  manner  God's  prediction  was  literally  fulfilled  ;  "  I  will  make  it  a  posses- 


*  He  wrote  in  the  rei2:n  of  Antoninus,  successor  to  Adrian, 
t  A.  D.  90.  1  isa.  xiii.  21,  22.  J  A.  D.  400. 

I)  Euphrates  quondam  urbem  ipsam  mediam  divi-iehat ;  nunc  autem  fiuvius  conrersus  est  in  aliam  v.-am, 
tt  perrudera  minimus  aquarum  meatus  fluil. — Theod.  in  cap.  1.  Jerem.  38  et  39. 

H  Arrian.  de  Kxped.  Alex.  1.  vlii.  *♦  Isa.  xvi.  22.  ft  Iga.  xvi.  aSi. 

XX  Nuac  omnino  destructa«  itA  ut  vix  sjus  suptrsint  rudera. — BaMdran- 


844 


HISTORY  OF  CYRUS. 


•?on  for  the  bittern,  and  pools  of  water  ;  and  1  will  sweep  it  with  the  bea4>o; 
of  destrjction,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts/'*  I  myself,  saith  the  Lord,  will  ex 
amine  with  a  jealous  eye,  to  see  if  there  be  any  remains  of  that  city,  which 
was  an  enemy  to  my  name  and  to  Jerusalem.  1  will  thoroughly  sweep  the 
p^ace  where  it  stood,  and  will  clear  it  so  effectually,  by  defacing  every  trace 
of  the  city,  that  no  person  shall  be  able  to  preserve  the  memory  of  the  place 
chosen  b}^  Nimrod,  and  which  I,  who  am  the  Lord,  have  abolished.  "  1  will 
sweep  it  with  the  besom  of  destruction,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts." 

o.  (rod  was  not  satisfied  with  causing  all  these  alterations  to  be  foretold, 
but,  to  give  the  greater  assurance  of  their  certainty,  thought  fit  to  seal  the  pre 
diction  of  them  by  an  oath.  "  The  Lord  of  hosts  hath  sworn,  saying,  Surely 
as  1  have  thought,  so  shall  it  come  to  pass ;  and  as  I  have  purposed,  so  shall 
stand."!  But  if  we  should  take  this  dreadful  oath  in  its  full  latitude,we  must 
not  confine  it  either  to  Babylon,  or  to  its  inhabitants,  or  to  the  princes  who 
reigned  therein.  The  malediction  relates  to  the  whole  world  ;  it  is  the  genera) 
anathema  pronounced  against  the  wicked  ;  it  is  the  terrible  decree,  by  which 
the  two  cities  of  Babylon  and  Jerusalem  shall  be  separated  for  ever,  and  an 
eternal  divorce  be  put  between  the  good  and  the  wicked.  The  Scriptures, 
that  have  foretold  it,  shall  subsist  till  the  day  of  its  execution.  The  sentence 
is  written  therein,  and  deposited,  as  it  were,  in  the  public  archives  of  religion. 

The  Lord  of  hosts  hath  sworn,  saying.  Surely,  as  I  have  thought,  so  shall  it 
come  to  pass ;  and  as  I  have  purposed,  so  shall  it  stand." 

What  I  have  said  of  this  prophecy  concerning  Babylon,  is  almost  entirely 
taken  out  of  an  excellent  treatise  upon  Isaiah,  which  is  still  in  manuscript. 

SECTION  IV. — WHAT  FOLLOWED  UPON  THE  TAKING  OF  BABYLON. 

Cyrus  having  entered  the  city  after  the  manner  we  have  described,  put  all 
to  the  sword  that  were  found  in  the  streets  ;  then  commanded  the  citizens  to 
Dring  him  all  their  arms,'  and  afterw^ards  to  shut  themselves  up  in  their  houses. 
The  next  morning,  by  break  of  day,  the  garrison,  which  kept  the  citadel, 
being  surprised  that  the  city  was  taken,  and  their  king  killed,  surrendered 
themselves  to  C^^rus.  Thus  did  this  prince,  almost  without  striking  a  blow, 
and  without  any  resistance,  find  himself  in  peaceable  possession  of  the  strongest 
place  in  the  world.;j; 

The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  thank  the  gods  for  the  success  they  had  given 
him.  And  then,  having  assembled  his  principal  officers,  he  publicly  ap|)lauded 
their  courage  and  prudence,  their  zeal  and  attachment  to  his  person,  and  dis- 
tributed rewards  to  his  whole  army.  After  which  he  represented  to  them, 
that  the  only  means  of  preserving  what  they  had  acquired,  >vas  to  persevere  in 
their  ancient  virtue  ;  that  the  proper  end  of  victory  was  not  to  give  themselves 
up  to  idleness  and  pleasure ;  that  after  having  conquered  their  enemies  by  force 
of  arms,  it  would  be  shameful  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  overthrown  by  the 
allurements  of  pleasure  ;  that,  in  order  to  maintain  their  ancient  glory,  it  be- 
hooved them  to  keep  up  among  the  Persians  at  Babylon  the  same  discipline 
they  had  observed  in  their  own  country,  and,  for  that  end,  to  take  parti- 
cular care  to  give  their  children  education.  This,  says  he,  will  necessarily 
engage  us  daily  to  make  farther  advances  in  virtue,  as  it  will  oblige  us  to  be 
diligent  and  careful  in  setting  them  good  examples ;  nor  will  it  be  easy  for 
them  to  be  corrupted,  w  hen  they  shall  neither  hear  nor  see  any  thing  among 
js  but  what  excites  them  to  virtue,  and  shall  be  continually  employed  inhon- 
"jurable  and  laudable  exercises. § 

Cyrus  committed  the  different  parts  and  offices  of  his  government  to  differ- 
ent persons,  according  to  their  various  talents  and  qualifications ;  but  the  care 
of  forming  and  appointing  general  officers,  governors  of  provinces,  ministers, 
and  ambassadors,  he  reserved  to  himself,  looking  upon  that  as  the  proper  duty 
and  employment  of  a  king,  upon  w^hich  depended  his  glory,  the  success  of  fais 


•  iMujiv.  23.  t  Isa.  XIV.  24.  J  Cyro;>.  1.  vii.  p.  19Q  {  Cyrop.  1.  vii.  p.  197-^2^90 


HISTORY  OF  CYRUB. 


345 


affairs,  and  the  happiness  and  tranquillity  of  his  kingdom.  His  great  talent  was 
to  study  the  particular  character  <){  men,  in  order  to  place  every  one  in  his 
proper  sphere,  to  give  them  authority  in  proportion  to  their  merit,  to  make 
their  private  advancement  concur  with  the  puhlic  good,  and  to  make  tlie  whole 
machine  of  the  state  move  in  so  regular  a  manner,  that  every  part  should  have 
a  dependence  upon,  and  mutuall}^  contribute  to  support  each  other  ;  and  that 
the  strength  of  one  should  not  exert  itself  but  for  the  benefit  and  advantage  of 
the  rest.  Each  person  had  his  district,  and  his  particular  sphere  of  business, 
of  which  he  gave  an  account  to  another  above  him,  and  lie  again  to  a  third, 
and  so  on,  till,  by  these  different  degrees  and  regular  subordination,  the  cog- 
\iizance  of  affairs  came  to  the  king  himself,  who  did  not  stand  idle  in  the  mids* 
of  all  this  motion,  but  was,  as  it  were,  the  soul  to  the  body  of  the  state,  which, 
by  this  means,  he  governed  with  as  much  ease  as  a  father  governs  his  pri- 
vate family.* 

When  he  afterwards  sent  governors,  called  satraps,  into  the  provinces  under 
his  subjection,  he  would  not  suffer  the  particular  governors  of  places,  or  the 
commanding  officers  of  the  troops  maintained  for  the  security  of  the  country, 
to  depend  upon  those  provincial  governors,  or  to  be  subject  to  any  one  but  him- 
self ;  that  if  any  of  the  satraps,  elated  with  his  power  or  riches,  made  an  ill 
use  of  his  authority,  there  might  be  found  witnesses  and  censors  of  his  mal- 
administration within  his  own  government.  For  there  was  nothing  he  so  care- 
fully avoided,  as  the  trusting  any  one  man  with  an  absolute  power,  knowing 
that  a  prince  will  quickly  have  reason  to  repent  his  having  exalted  one  person 
so  high,  that  all  others  are  thereby  abased  and  kept  under.t 

Thus  Cyrus  established  a  wonderful  order  with  respect  to  his  military  affairs, 
his  treasury,  and  civil  government.  In  all  the  provinces  he  had  persons  of  ap- 
proved integrity,  w^ho  gave  him  an  account  of  every  thing  that  passed.  He 
made  it  his  principal  care  to  honour  and  reward  all  such  as  distinguished  them- 
selves by  their  merit,  or  were  eminent  in  any  respect  w'hatever.  He  preferred 
clemency  far  before  martial  courage,  because  the  latter  is  often  the  cause  of 
ruin  and  desolation  to  whole  nations,  w^hereas  the  former  is  ahvays  beneficent 
and  useful.];  He  was  sensible,  that  good  laws  contribute  very  much  to  the 
forming  and  preserving  of  good  manners ;  but,  in  his  opinion,  the  prince,  by 
his  example,  was  to  be  a  living  law  to  his  people  :§  nor  did  he  think  a  man 
worthy  to  reign  over  others,  unless  he  was  more  wise  and  virtuous  than  those 
he  governed  :|1  he  w^as  also  persuaded,  that  the  surest  means  for  a  prince  to 
gain  the  respect  of  his  courtiers,  and  of  such  as  approached  his  person,  w^as  to 
liave  so  much  regard  for  them,  as  never  to  do  or  say  any  thing  before  them, 
contrary  to  the  rules  of  decency  and  good  manners. IF 

He  looked  upon  liberality  as  a  virtue  truly  royal ;  nor  did  he  think  there 
was  any  thing  great  or  valuable  in  riches,  but  the  pleasure  of  distributing  them 
to  others.**  "  I  have  prodigious  riches,"  says  he  to  his  courtiers,  1  o\vn,  a-id 
I  am  glad  the  world  knows  it;  but  you  may  assure  yourselves,  they  are  as 
much  yours  as  mine.  ^  For  to  what  end  should  I  heap  up  wealth?  For  my  own 
use,  and  to  consume  it  myself?  That  w^ould  be  impossible,  if  I  desired  it. 
No ;  the  chief  end  I  aim  at,  is  to  have  it  in  my  powder  to  reward  those  who  serve 
/he  public  faithfully,  and  to  succour  and  relieve  those  that  will  acquaint  me 
with  their  wants  and  necessities. "It 

Crcesus  one  day  represented  to  him,  that  by  continual  giving,  he  w^ould  af 
last  make  himself  poor ;  whereas  he  might  have  amassed  infinite  treasures,  and 
(lave  been  the  richest  prince  in  the  wwld.  *'  And  to  what  sum,"  replied  Cyrus, 

do  you  think  those  treasures  might  hare  amounted?"  Croesus  named  a  cer- 
tain sum,  which  was  immensely  great.  Cyrus  thereupon  ordered  a  short  not', 
^o  be  written  to  the  lords  of  his  court,  in  which  it  was  signified  to  them,  thr.t 
he  had  occasion  for  money.  Immediately  a  much  larger  sum  w^as  brought  .o 
him  than  Crcesus  had  mentioned.      Look  iiere,"  says  Cyrus  to  him,  here 


*  Cyrop.  p.  20^1.  t  Cyrop.  1  vlii.  p.  ^29.  t  Cvrop.  p.  509.  ^  Cvrop.  y.  '.01 

It  Cyrov.  p.  Sfe^  IB"  Cyrop.  p  t204.  *♦  Cyrop.  !.  viii.  p. -ICO.  ft  '-'>f^v'-  P- 


346 


HISTORir  OF  CYRUS, 


are  my  treasures  :  the  chests  I  keep  my  riches  in,  are  the  hearts  and  affectiom 
of  my  subjects."* 

But  as  much  as  he  esteemed  liberality,  he  still  laid  a  greater  stress  upon 
kindness  and  condescension,  affability  and  humanity,  which  are  qualities  still 
more  engaging,  and  more  apt  to  acquire  the  affection  of  a  people,  which  is  pro- 
perly to  reign.  For  a  prince  to  be  more  generous  than  others  in  giving,  when 
he  is  infinitely  more  rich  than  tlffejs  has  nothing  in  it  so  surprising  or  extraor 
dinary,  as  to  descend  in  a  manner  from  the  throne,  and  to  put  hinr  self  upon  a 
level  with  his  subjects. 

But  what  Cyrus  preferred  to  all  other  things,  was  the  worship  of  the  gods, 
and  a  reppect  for  religion.  Upon  this,  therefore,  he  thought  himself  obliged 
to  bestow  his  first  and  principal  care,  as  soon  as  he  became  more  at  leisure,  and 
more  master  of  his  time,  by  the  conquest  of  Babylon.  He  began  by  establish- 
ing a  number  of  magi,  to  sing  daily  a  morning-service  of  praise  to  the  honour 
of  the  gods,  and  to  offer  sacrifices  ;  which  was  always  practised  among  them 
in  succeeding  ages.t 

The  prince's  disposition  quickly  became,  as  is  usual,  the  prevailing  dispo- 
sition among  his  people  ;  and  his  example  became  the  rule  of  their  conduct. 
The  Persians,  who  saw  that  Cyrus's  reign  had  been  but  one  continued  chain 
and  series  of  prosperity  and  success,  believed,  that  by  serving  the  gods  as  he 
did,  they  should  be  blessed  with  the  like  happiness  and  prosperity  :  besides, 
they  were  sensible  that  it  w^as  the  surest  way  to  please  their  prince,  and  to  make 
their  court  to  him  successfully.  Cyrus,  on  the  other  hand,  was  extremely  glad 
to  find  them  have  such  sentiments  of  religion,  being  convinced,  that  who- 
ever sincerely  fears  and  worships  God,  will  at  the  same  time  be  faithful  to  his 
king,  and  preserve  an  inviolable  attachment  to  his  person,  and  to  the  welfare 
of  the  state.    All  this  is  excellent,  but  is  only  true  and  real  in  the  true  religion. 

Cyrus  being  resolved  to  settle  I  is  chief  residence  at  Babylon,  a  powerful 
city,  which  could  not  be  very  well  affected  to  him,  thought  it  necessary  to  be 
more  cautious  than  he  had  been  hitherto,  in  regard  to  the  safety  of  his  person. 
The  most  dangerous  hours  for  princes  within  their  palaces,  and  the  most  likely 
for  treasonable  attempts  upon  their  lives,  are  those  of  bathing,  eating,  and 
sleeping.  He  determined,  therefore,  to  suffer  nobody  to  be  near  him  at  those 
times,  but  those  persons  on  whose  fidelity  he  could  absolutely  rely ;  and  on 
this  account  he  thought  eunuchs  preferable  to  all  others ;  because  as  they  had 
neither  wives,  children,  nor  families,  and  besides  were  generally  despised  on 
account  of  the  meanness  of  their  birth,  and  the  ignominy  of  their  condition, 
they  were  engaged  by  all  sorts  of  reasons  to  an  entire  attachment  to  their  mas- 
ter, on  whose  life  their  whole  fortune  depended,  and  on  whose  account  alone 
it  was,  that  they  were  of  any  consideration.  Cyrus  therefore  filled  all  the 
ofBces  of  his  household  with  eunuchs  ;  and  as  this  had  been  the  practice  be- 
fore his  time,  from  henceforth  it  became  the  general  custom  of  all  the  eastern 
countries.! 

It  is  well  known,  that  in  after  times  this  usage  prevailed  also  among  the  Ro- 
man emperors,  with  whom  the  eunuchs  were  the  reigning,  all  powerful  favour- 
ites ;  nor  is  it  any  wonder.  It  was  very  natural  for  the  prince,  after  having 
confided  his  person  to*  their  care,  and  experienced  their  zeal,  fidelity,  ana 
nierit,  to  intrust  them  also  with  the  management  of  affairs,  and  by  degrees  to 
give  himself  up  to  them.  These  expert  courtiers  knew  how  to  improve  those 
favourable  nioments,  when  sovereigns,  delivered  fro.n  the  weight  of  their  dig- 
nity, which  is  a  burden  to  them,  become  men,  and  familiarize  themselves  with 
their  officers.  And  by  this  policy  having  got  possession  of  their  masters'  mindt 
and  confidence,  they  came  to  be  in  great  credit  at  court,  to  have  the  adminis- 
tration of  public  affairs,  and  the  disposal  of  employments  and  honours,  and  to 
arrive,  themselves,  at  the  highest  offices  and  dignities  of  the  state. 

But  the  good  emperors,  such  as  Alexander  Severus,  held  the  eunuchs  in  ab- 
korrence,  looking  upon  them  as  creatures  sold  and  attached  only  to  their  for- 


Cyrop.  f  *10. 


t  Cyrop.  p.  104. 


HISTORY  OF  CVRUfi. 


347 


c»aie,.ind  enemies  by  principle  to  the  public  good  ;  persons,  whose  only  vicfi 
was  o  get  possession  of  the  prince's  mind,  to  keep  all  persons  of  merit  from 
him,  to  conceal  affairs  as  much  as  possible  from  his  knowledge,  and  to  keep 
him  shut  up  and  imprisoned  in  a  manner,  within  the  narrow  circle  of  three  or 
four  officers,  who  had  an  entire  ascendant  and  dominion  over  him  Clandentes 
principem  suum,  et  agentes  ante  omnia  ne  quid  sciat,^ 

When  Cyrus  had  given  orders  about  every  thing  relating  to  the  govern- 
ment, ne  resolved  to  show  himself  publicly  to  his  people,  and  to  his  new-con- 
quered subjects,  in  a  solemn,  august  cerem.ony  of  religion,  hy  marching  in  a 
pompous  cavalcade  to  the  places  consecrated  to  the  gods,  in  order  to  offer 
sacrifices  to  them.  In  this  procession  Cyrus  thought  fit  to  displa}^  all  possible 
splendour  and  magnificence,  to  catch  and  dazzle  the  eyes  of  the  people.  This 
was  the  first  time  that  this  prince  ever  aimed  at  procuring  a  respect  to  himself, 
not  only  by  the  attractions  of  virtue,  says  the  historian,  but  by  such  an  exter- 
nal pomp  as  was  proper  to  attract  the  multitude,  and  work  like  a  charm  or 
enchantment  upon  their  imaginations.!  He  ordered  the  superior  officers  of  the 
Persians  and  allies  to  attend  him,  and  gave  each  of  them  a  suit  of  clothes  of 
the  Median  fashion,  that  is  to  say,  long  garments  which  hung  down  to  the 
feet.  These  clothes  were  of  various  colours,  all  of  the  finest  and  brightest 
dye,  and  richly  embroidered  with  gold  and  silver.  Besides  those  that  were 
for  themselves,  he  gave  them  others,  very  splendid  also,  but  less  costly,  to 
present  to  the  subaltern  officers.^  It  was  on  this  occasion  the  Persians  first 
dressed  themselves  after  the  manner  of  the  Medes,  and  began  to  imitate  them 
in  colouring  their  eyes,  to  make  them  appear  more  lively,  and  in  painting 
their  faces,  in  order  to  beautify  their  complexions. § 

When  the  time  appointed  for  the  ceremony  was  come,  the  whole  company 
assembled  at  the  king's  palace  by  break  of  day.  Four  thousand  of  the  guards, 
drawn  up  four  deep,  placed  themselves  in  front  of  the  palace,  and  two  thou- 
sand on  the  two  sides  of  it,  ranged  in  the  same  order.  All  the  cavalry  were 
also  drawn  out,  the  Persians  on  the  right,  and  that  of  the  allie.«  on  the  left. 
The  chariots  of  war  were*  ranged  half  on  one  side,  and  half  on  the  other.  As 
soon  as  the  palace  gates  were  opened,  a  great  number  of  bulls  of  exquisite 
beauty  were  led  out  by  four  and  four  :  these  were  to  be  sacrificed  to  Jupiter 
and  other  gods,  according  to  the  ceremonies  prescribed  by  the  magi.  Next 
followed  the  horses  that  were  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  Sun.  Immediately  aftei 
them  a  white  chariot,  crowned  with  flowers,  the  pole  of  which  was  gilt :  this 
was  to  be  offered  to  Jupiter.  Then  came  a  second  chariot  of  the  same  co- 
lour, and  adorned  in  the  same  manner,  to  be  offered  to  the  Sun.  After  these 
followed  a  third,  the  horses  of  which  were  caparisoned  with  scarlet  housings. 
Behind  came  the  men  who  carried  the  sacred  fire  in  a  large  hearth.  When 
all  these  were  on  their  march,  Cyrus  himself  made  his  appearance  upon  his 
car,  with  his  upright  tiara  upon  his  head,  encircled  with  the  royal  diadem. 
His  under  tunic  was  of  purple  mixed  with  white,  which  was  a  colour  peculiar 
to  kings.  Over  his  other  garments  he  wore  a  large  purple  cloak.  His  hands 
were  uncovered.  A  little  below  him  sat  the  master  of  the  horse,  who  was  of 
a  comely  stature,  but  not  so  tall  as  Cyrus,  for  which  reason  the  stature  of  the 
latter  appeared  still  more  advantageously.  As  soon  as  the  people  perceived 
the  prince,  they  all  fell  prostrate  before  him, and  worshipped  him:  whether 
it  was,  that  certain  persons  appomted  on  purpose,  and  placed  at  proper  dis- 
tances, led  others  by  their  example,  or  that  the  people  were  moved  to  do  it 
of  their  own  accord,  being  struck  with  the  appearance  of  so  much  pomp  and 
magnificence,  and  with  so  many  awful  circumstances  of  majesty  and  splendour. 
The  Persians  had  never  prostrated  themselves  in  this  manner  before  Cyrus, 
till  on  this  occasion. 


*  Lamprid.  in  vita  Alex.  Sever, 
t  *AXXa  xa]  KaTayotjTfufiv  &£to  xP^vai  aurSi- 
t  Cyrop.  I.  tIU.  p.  3l».  3M  ^  Cyv^.  p.  30«. 


348 


HISTORY  OF  CYRIS 


TV  hen  Cyrus's  chariot  was  come  out  of  the  palace,  the  lour  thousand  guards 
began  to  march  ;  the  other  two  thousand  moved  at  the  same  time,  and  placed 
themselves  on  each  side  of  the  chariot.  The  eunuchs,  or  great  officers  of  the 
king's  household,  to  the  number  of  three  hundred,  richly  clad,  with  javelins 
in  their  hands,  and  mounted  upon  stately  horses,  marched  immediately  after 
the  chariot.  After  them  were  led  two  hundred  horses  of  the  king's  stable, 
each  of  them  having  embroidered  furniture  and  bits  of  gold.  Next  came  the 
Persian  cavalry,  divided  into  four  bodies,  each  consisting  of  ten  thousand  men ; 
then  the  Median  horse,  and  after  those  the  cavalry  of  the  allies.  The  chari- 
ots of  war,  four  abreast,  brought  up  the  rear,  and  closed  the  procession. 

When  the}'-  came  to  the  fields  consecrated  to  the  gods,  they  offered  thcii 
sacrifices  first  to  Jupiter,  and  then  to  the  Sun.  To  the  honour  of  the  first, 
bulJs  were  burnt,  and  to  the  honour  of  the  second,  horses.  They  likewise 
sacrificed  some  victims  to  the  Earth,  according  to  the  appointment  of  the  Magi ; 
then  to  the  demi-gods,  the  patrons  and  protectors  of  Syria.* 

In  order  to  recreate  the  people  after  this  grave  and  solemn  ceremony,  Cyrus 
thought  fit  that  it  should  conclude  with  games,  and  horse  and  chariot  races. 
The  place  where  they  were  was  large  and  spacious.  He  ordered  a  certain 
portion  of  it  to  be  marked  out  about  the  distance  of  five  stadia,!  and  proposed 
prizes  for  the  victors  of  each  nation,  which  were  to  encounter  separately,  and 
among  themselves.  He  himself  won  the  prize  in  the  Persian  horse-races,  (or 
nobody  was  so  complete  a  horseman  as  he.  The  chariots  ran  but  two  at  > 
fime,  one  against  another. 

This  kind  of  racing  continued  a  long  time  afterwards  among  the  Persians 
except  only  that  it  was  not  always  attended  with  sacrifices.  All  the  ceremo 
nies  being  ended,  they  returned  to  the  city  in  the  same  order. 

Some  days  after,  Cyrus  to  celebrate  the  victory  he  had  obtained  in  the  horse 
races,  gave  a  great  entertainment  to  all  his  chief  officers,  as  well  strangers  a.« 
Medes  and  Persians.  They  had  never  yet  seen  any  thing  of  the  kind  so  sump- 
tuous and  magnificent.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  feast  he  made  every  one  a 
noble  present ;  so  that  they  all  went  home  with  hearts  overflowing  with  joy, 
admiration,  and  gratitude  ;  and  all  pow^erful  as  he  was,  master  of  all  the  East, 
and  so  many  kingdoms,  he  did  not  think  it  descending  from  his  majesty  tc 
conduct  the  whole  company  to  the  door  of  his  apartment.  Such  were  the 
manners  and  behaviour  of  those  ancient  ttmes,  when  men  understood  how  tc 
unHe  great  simplicity  with  the  highest  degree  of  human  grandeur.J 

ARTICLE  III. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  CYRUS    FROM  THE  TAKING  OF  BABYLON  TO  THE  TIME  OP 

HIS  DEATH. 

Cyrus,  finding  himself  master  of  all  the  East  by  the  taking  of  Babylon,  did 
not  imitate  the  example  of  most  other  conquerors,  who  sully  the  glory  of  theii 
victories  by  a  voluptuous  and  effeminate  life,  to  which  they  fancy  they  may 
justly  abandon  themselves  after  their  past  toils,  and  the  long  course  of  hard- 
ships they  have  gone  through.  He  thought  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  maintain 
his  reputation  by  the  same  methods  he  had  acquired  it,  that  is,  by  a  prudent 
conduct,  by  a  laborious  and  active  life,  and  a  constant  application  to  the  duties 
of  his  high  station. 

SKCTION  I.  CYRUS  TAKES  A  JOURNEY  INTO*  PERSIA.     AT  HIS  RETURN  FROM 

THENCE  TO  BABYLON,  HE  FORMS  A  PLAN  OF  GOVERNMENT  FOR  THE  WHOLE 

EMPIRE.    Daniel's  credit  and  power. 

When  Cyrus  judged  he  had  sufficiently  regulated  his  affairs  at  Babylon,  he 
thought  proper  to  take  a  journey  into  Persia.§    In  his  way  thither  he  wen^ 

*  Anion?  Ibe  ancients,  Syria     often  put  for  Aitjria.  t  ^  * 

X  Cyrop.  1.  v.J^  p.  220—234.  5  Cyrop.  1.  viii,  p.  227 


niSTOllV  OF  CYRirs. 


.'^49 


through: Me d\ a,  lo  visit  his  uncle  Cyaxares,  to  whom  he  carried  very  magnifi- 
cent preseris,  telling  him.  at  the  same  time,  that  he  would  find  a  noble  palace 
at  labylon,  ready  prepared  for  him,  whenever  he  should  please  o  ^o  thither  ; 
and  that  he  was  to  look  upon  that  city  as  his  own.  Indeed  Cyrus,  as  long  as 
his  uncle  lived,  held  the  empire  only  in  copartnership  with  him,  though  he  had 
entirely  conquered  and  acquired  it  by  his  own  valour.  Nay,  so  far  did  he 
carry  his  complaisance,  that  he  let  his  qncle  enjoy  the  first  rank.  This  is  t-he 
Cyaxares,  who  is  called  in  Scripture  Darius  the  Mode  ;  and  we  shall  find,  that 
under  his  reign,  which  lasted  but  two  years,  Daniel  had  several  revelations.*^  U 
appears,  that  Cyrus,  when  he  returned  from  Persia,  was  accompanied  by  Cyax- 
ares to  Babylon. 

When  they  arrived  there,  they  concerted  together  a  scheme  of  government 
for  the  whole  empire.  They  divided  it  into  a  hundred  and  twenty  provinces. 1 
And  that  the  prince's  orders  might  be  conveyed  with  the  greater  expedition, 
Cyrus  caused  post-houses  to  be  erected  at  proper  distances,  where  the  couriers, 
that  travelled  day  and  night,  found  horses  always  ready,  and  by  that  mean*^ 
performed  their  journeys  with  incredible  despatch.^  The  government  of  these 
provinces  was  given  to  those  persons  that  had  assisted  Cyrus  most,  and  ren- 
dered him  the  greatest  service  in  the  w^ar.§  Over  these  governors  were  ap- 
pointed three  superintendents,  who  were  always  to  reside  at  court,  and  to  whom 
the  governors  were  to  give  an  account,  from  time  to  time,  of  every  thing  that 
passed  in  their  respective  provinces,  and  from  whom  they  were  to  receive  the 
prince's  orders  and  instructions  ;  so  that  these  three  principal  ministers  had  the 
superintendency  over,  and  the  chief  administration  of,  the  great  affairs  of  the 
whole  empire.  Of  these  three  Daniel  was  made  chief.il  He  highly  deserved  such 
a  preference,  not  only  on  account  of  his  great  wisdom,  which  was  celebrated 
throughout  all  the  East,  and  had  appeared  in  a  distinguished  manner  at  Bel- 
shazzar's  feast,  but  likewise  on  account  of  his  great  age,  and  consummate  expe- 
rience. For  at  that  time  it  was  fully  sixty-seven  years,  from  the  fourth  of 
Nebuchodonosor,  since  he  had  been  employed  as  prime  minister  of  the  kings 
of  Babylon. 

As  this  distinction  had  made  him  the  second  person  in  the  empire,  and  placed 
him  immediately  under  the  king,  the  other  courtiers  conceived  so  great  a 
jealousy  of  him,  that  they  conspired  to  destroy  him..  As  there  was  no  hold  to 
be  taken  of  him,  unless  it  w^as  on  account  of  the  law  of  his  God,  to  which  they 
knew  him  inviolably  attached,  they  obtained  an  edict  from  Darius,  whereby  all 
persons  were  forbidden  to  ask  any  thing  whatever,  for  the  space  of  thirt}' 
days,  either  of  any  god  or  any  man,  save  of  the  king  ;  and  that  upon  pain  of 
being  cast  into  the  den  of  lions.  Now,  as  Daniel  w^as  saying  his  usual  prayers, 
with  his  face  turned  towards  Jerusalem,  he  was  surprised,  accused,  and  ca^* 
into  the  den  of  lions.  But  being  miraculously  preserved,  and  coming  out  safe 
and  unhurt,  his  accusers  were  thrown  in,  and  immediately  devoured  by  those 
animals.    This  event  still  augmented  Daniel's  credit  and  reputation.^ 

Towards  the  end  of  the  same  year,  which  was  reckoned  the  first  of  Darius 
the  Mede,  Daniel,  knowing  by  the  computation  he  made,  that  the  seventy  years 
of  Judah's  captivity,  determined  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah,were  drawing  towards 
an  end,  he  prayed  earnestly  to  God,  that  he  w^ould  remember  his  people,  re« 
build  Jerusalem,  and  look  with  an  eye  of  mercy  upon  his  holy  city,  and  the 
sanctuary  he  had  placed  therein.  Upon  which  the  angel  Gabriel  assured  him 
in  a  vision,  not  only  of  the  deliverance  of  the  Jews  from  their  temporal  capti 
vity,  but  likewise  of  another  deliverance  much  more  considerable,  namely,  a 
deliverance  from  the  bondage  of  sin  and  Satan,  which  God  w^ould  procure  to 
his  church,  and  w^hich  was  to  be  accomplished  at  the  end  of  seventy  weeks, 
that  were  to  elapse  from  the  time  the  order  should  be  given  for  the  rebuilding 
of  Jerusalem,  that  is,  after  the  space  of  four  hundred  and  ninety  years;  for, 


*  A.  M.  3466.    Ant.  J.  C  538.  f  Dan.  v'u  1.  %  Cvrop.  1.  viil.p.232. 

(  CfTOp.  p.  230.  H  Dan.  vi.  2,  3.  IT  Cyro-^  vi.  4—27. 


3b0 


lUS'J'ORY  OF  CYRUS. 


taking  each  day  for  a  year,  according  to  the  language  soine^imes  used  ir»  r)o]y 
Scripture,  those  seventy  weeks  of  years  make  up  exactly  four  hundred  and 
ninety  years.* 

Cyrus,  upon  his  return  to  Babylon,  had  given  orders  for  all  his  forces  to  join 
him  there.  On  the  general  review  made  of  them,  he  found  they  consisted  of 
a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  horse,  tw^o  thousand  chariots  armed  witli 
scythes,  and  six  hundred  thousand  foot.  When  he  had  furnished  the  garrisons 
w^ith  as  many  of  them  as  were  necessary  for  the  defence  of  the  several  parts  of 
the  empire,  he  marched  with  the  remainder  into  Syria,  where  he  regulated  the 
affairs  of  that  province,  and  then  subdued  all  those  countries,  as  far  as  the  Red 
Sea,  and  the  confines  of  Ethiopia.! 

^  It  was  probably  in  this  interval  of  time,  that  Daniel  was  cast  into  the  den  of 
lions  and  miraculously  delivered  from  them,  as  we  have  just  related. 

Perhaps  in  the  same  interval  also  were  those  famous  pieces  of  gold  coined, 
which  are  called  Darics,  from  the  name  of  Darius  the  Mede,  which  for  their 
fineness  and  beauty,  were  for  several  ages  preferred  to  all  other  money  through- 
out the  East. 

SECTION  II. — THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  UNITED  EMPIRE  OF  THE  PERSIANS  AND 
MEDES.     THE  FAMOUS  EDICT  OF  CYRUS.     DANIEl's  PROPHECIES. 

Here,  properly  speaking,  begins  the  empire  of  the  Persians  and  Medes 
united  under  one  and  the  same  authority.  This  empire  from  Cyrus,  the  first 
king  and  founder  of  it,  to  Darius  Codomanus,  w^ho  w^as  vanquished  by  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  lasted  for  the  space  of  two  hundred  and  six  years,  namely, 
from  the  year  of  the  w-orld  3468  to  the  year  3674.  But  in  this  volume  J  pro- 
pose to  speak  only  of  the  first  three  kings  ;  and  little  remains  to  be  said  of  the 
founder  of  this  new  empire. 

Cyrus.J  Cyaxares  dying  at  the  end  of  two  years,  and  Cambyses  likewise 
ending  his  days  in  Persia,  Cyrus  returned  to  Babylon,  and  took  upon  him  the 
government  of  the  new  empire. 

The  years  of  Cyrus's  reign  are  computed  differently.  Some  make  it  thirty 
years,  beginning  from  his  first  setting  out  from  Persia,  at  the  head  of  an  army, 
to  succour  his  uncle  Cyaxares  :  others  make  the  duration  of  it  to  be  but  seven 
years,  because  they  date  it  only  from  the  time  when,  by  the  death  of  Cyaxa- 
res and  Cambyses,  he  became  sole  monarch  of  the  whole  empire. § 

In  the  first  of  these  seven  years  precisely,  expired  the  seventieth  year  of  the 
Babylonish  captivity,  when  Cyrus  published  the  famous  edict,  whereby  the 
Jews  were  permitted  to  return  to  Jerusalem. ||  There  is  no  question  but  this 
edict  was  obtained  by  the  care  and  solicitations  of  Daniel,  who  was  in  great 
credit  and  authority  at  court.  That  he  might  the  more  effectually  induce  the 
king  to  grant  him  his  request,  he  showed  him  undoubtedly  the  prophecies  of 
Isaiah,  wherein,  above  two  hundred  years  before  his  birth,  he  was  marked  out 
by  name,  as  a  prince  appointed  by  God  to  be  conqueror,  and  to  reduce  a  mul- 
titude of  nations  under  his  dominion ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  be  the  deliverer 
of  the  captive  Jews,  by  ordering  their  temple  to  be  rebuilt,  and  Jerusalem  and 
Judea  to  be  repossessed  by  their  ancient  inhabitants.  I  think  it  may  not  be 
improper,  in  this  place,  to  insert  that  edict  at  length,  which  is  certainly  the 
most  glorious  circumstance  in  the  life  of  Cyrus,  and  for  which  it  may  be  pre- 
sumed God  had  endowed  him  with  so  many  heroic  virtues,  and  blessed  him 
with  such  an  uninterrupted  series  of  victories  and  success. 

"  Now  in  the  first  year  of  Cyrus,  king  of  Persia,  (that  the  word  of  the  Lord 
by  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah,  might  be  fulfilled,)  the  Lord  stirred  up  the  spirit 
(i  Cyrus  king  of  Persia,  that  he  made  a  proclamation  throughout  all  his  king 
d  m,  and  put  it  also  in  writing,  saying,  Thus  saith  Cyrus  king  of  Persia,  The 
Lord  God  of  heaven  hath  given  me  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  and  he  hath 


♦  rWin.  ix.  1—27.  t  Cyrop.  1.  riii.  p.  235 

i  Cic.  1.  i.  d«  D\r  n  46 


t  A.  M.  3468.  Ant.  /  C.  53« 
P  I»a  xlir.  aod  sir. 


HISTORY  OF  CYRUi^. 


351 


charged  me  to  build  a  house  at  Jerusalem,  which  is  in  Judah.  Who  is  i.iere 
ainonfi^  you  of  all  his  people  ?  his  God  be  with  him,  and  let  him  go  up  to  Jeru- 
salem, which  is  in  Judah,  and  build  the  house  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  (he 
is  the  true  God)  which  is  in  Jerusalem.  And  whosoever  remaineth  in  any  place 
where  he  sojourneth,  let  the  men  of  his  place  help  him  with  silver,  and  with 
£;old,  and  with  goods,  and  with  beasts,  besides  the  free-will-oifering  for  the 
house  of  God  that  i«  in  Jerusalem."* 

Cyrus  at  the  same  time  restored  to  the  Jews  all  the  vessels  of  the  temple  of 
ihe  Lord,  which  Nebuchodonosor  had  brought  from  Jerusalem,  and  placed  in 
the  temple  of  his  god  Baal.  Shortly  after,  the  Jews  departed  under  the  con- 
duct of  Zorobabel,  to  return  into  their  own  country. 

The  Samaritans,  who  had  formerly  been  the  declared  enemies  of  the  Jews, 
did  all  they  possibly  could  to  hinder  the  building  of  the  temple  ;  and  though 
they  could  not  alter  Cyrus's  decree,  yet  they  prevailed  by  bribes  and  secret 
dealings  with  the  ministers  and  other  otTicers  concerned  therein,  to  obstruct  the 
execution  of  it,  so  that  for  several  years  the  building  went  on  very  slowly.  \ 

It  seems  to  have  been  outof  grief  to  see  the  execution  of  this  decree  so  lonff 
retarded,  that  in  the  third  year  of  Cyrus,  in  the  first  month  of  that  year,  Daniel 
gave  himself  up  to  mourning  and  fasting  for  three  weeks  together.  J  He  was 
then  near  the  river  Tigris  in  Persia.  When  this  time  of  fasting  was  ended, 
he  saw  the  vision  concerning  the  succession  of  the  kings  of  Persia,  the  empire 
of  the  Macedonians,  and  the  conquests  of  the  Romans.  This  revelation  is  rela- 
ted in  the  tenth,  eleventh,  and  twelfth  chapters  of  the  prophecies  of  Daniel,  of 
which  1  shall  soon  speak. 

By  what  we  find  in  the  conclusion  of  the  last  chapter,  we  have  reason  to  con- 
jecture that  he  died  soon  after  ;  and,  indeed,  his  great  age  makes  it  unlikely 
that  he  could  live  much  longer ;  for,  at  this  time,  he  must  have  been  at  least 
eighty-five  years  of  age,  if  we  suppose  him  to  have  been  twelve  when  he  was 
carried  to  Babylon  with  the  other  captives.  From  that  early  age  he  had  given 
proofs  of  something  more  than  human  wisdom,  in  the  judgment  of  Susannah. 
He  was  ever  afterwards  very  much  esteemed  by  all  the  princes  who  reigned 
at  Babylon,  and  was  always  employed  by  them  with  distinction  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  their  affairs. § 

Daniel's  wisdom  did  not  only  reach  to  things  divine  and  political,  but  also 
to  arts  and  sciences,  and  particularly  to  that  of  architecture.  Josephus  speaks 
of  a  famous  edifice  built  by  him  at  Susa,||  in  the  manner  of  a  castle,  which  he 
says  still  subsisted  in  his  time,  finished  with  such  wonderful  art,  that  it  then 
seemed  as  fresh  and  beautiful  as  if  it  had  been  but  lately  built.  11  Within  this 
palace  the  Persian  and  Parthian  kings  were  usually  buried  ;  and  for  the  sake 
of  the  founder,  the  keeping  of  it  was  committed  to  one  of  the  Jewish  nation, 
even  to  his  time.  It  was  a  common  tradition  in  those  parts  for  many  ages,  that 
Daniel  died  in  that  city,**  and  there  they  show  his  monument  even  to  this  day. 
It  is  certain,  that  he  used  to  go  thither  from  time  to  time,  and  he  himself  tells 
us,  that  "  he  did  the  king's  business  there  ;"tt  that  is,  was  governor  for  the  king 
of  Babylon. 

REFLECTIONS  ON  DANIEL's  PROPHECIES, 

I  HAVE  hitherto  deferred  making  any  reflections  upon  the  prophecies  of 
Daniel,  which  certainly  to  any  reasonable  mind  are  a  very  convincing  proof 
of  the  truth  of  our  religion.  I  shall  not  dwell  upon  that  which  personally  re- 
lated to  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  foretold  in  what  manner,  for  the  punishment 
of  his  pride,  he  should  be  reduced  to  the  condition  of  the  beasts  of  the  field. 


*  Ezra  ii.  1—7.  t  Ezra  xv.  1—5.  %  A.  M.  3470.    Ant.  J.  C.  534.  Dan.  x.  1—3 

{  "But  go  thou  thy  way  till  the  end  be  ;  for  thou  shalt  rest,  and  stand  in  thy  Ijt  at  the  end  of  the  days.** 

Dan.  xii.  13.  '  ^ 

{|  So  it  ought  to  be  read,  according  to  St.  Jerom,  -who  relates  the  i«me  fact ;  Com.  in  Dao.  riii.  2.  aad  Mf* 

Ccbatana,  as  it  is  now  read  in  the  text  of  Josephus. 

%  Antiq.  1.  x.  cap.  12.  N»w  called  Tuiter.  t|  Dan.  riii.  07 


HISTORY  or  CYRUS. 

and  after  a  certain  number  of  years,  restored  again  to  his  understanding  and 
to  his  throne.  It  is  well  known,  the  thing  happened  exactly  according  tc 
Daniel's  prediction  ;  the  king  himself  relates  it  in  a  declaration,  addressed  to 
all  the  people  and  nations  of  his  empire.  Was  it  possible  for  Daniel  to  ascribe 
SMch  a  manifesto  or  proclamation  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  if  it  had  not  been  genuine  ; 
to  speak  of  it,  as  a  thing  sent  into  all  the  provinces,  if  nobody  had  seen  it ;  and 
in  tfie  midst  of  Babylon,  that  was  full  both  of  Jews  and  Gentiles,  to  publish  an 
attestation  of  so  important  a  matter,  and  so  injurious  to  the  king  and  of  which 
the  faNehood  must  have  been  notorious  to  all  the  world  ?* 

I  shall  content  myself  with  representing  very  briefly,  and  under  one  and  the 
same  point  of  view,  the  prophecies  of  Daniel,  which  signify  the  succession  of 
four  great  empires,  and  which  for  that  reason  have  an  essential  and  necessary 
relation  to  the  subject  matter  of  this  work,  which  is  only  the  history  of  those 
very  empires. 

The  tirst  of  these  prophecies  was  occasioned  by  the  dream  Nebuchadnezzar 
iVad,  of  an  image  composed  of  different  metals,  gold,  silver,  brass,  and  iron  , 
which  image  was  broken  in  pieces,  and  beat  as  small  as  dust,  by  a  little  stone 
from  the  mountain,  which  afterwards  became  itself  a  mountain  of  extraordinary 
height  and  magnitude.!  This  dream  I  have  already  spoken  of  at  large.J 

About  fifty  years  after,  the  same  Daniel  saw  another  vision,  very  like  that 
which  I  have  just  been  speakine:  of  :§  this  was  the  vision  of  the  four  large  beasts, 
which  came  out  of  the  sea.  The  first  was  like  a  lion,  and  had  eagle's  wings  : 
the  second  was  like  a  bear:  the  third  was  like  a  leopard,  which  had  four 
heads  :  the  fourth  and  last,  still  more  strong  and  terrible  than  the  other,  had 
great  iron  teeth  ;  it  devoured  and  brake  in  pieces,  and  stamped  the  residue 
with  its  feet.  From  the  midst  of  the  ten  horns  which  this  beast  had,  there 
came  up  a  little  one,  which  had  eyes  like  those  of  a  man,  and  a  mouth  speaking 
great  things,  and  this  horn  became  greater  than  the  others  :  the  same  horn  made 
war  with  the  saints,  and  prevailed  against  them,  until  the  Ancient  of  Days,  that 
is,  the  everlasting  God,  came,  and  sitting  upon  his  throne,  surrounded  with  a 
thousand  millions  of  angels,  pronounced  an  irreversible  judgment  upon  the  four 
beasts,  whose  time  and  duration  he  had  determined,  and  gave  the  Son  of  Man 
power  over  all  the  nations  and  all  the  tribes,  an  everlasting  power  and  dominion 
which  shall  not  pass  away,  and  a  kingdom  which  shall  not  be  destroyed. 

It  is  generally  agreed,  that  these  two  visions,  the  one  of  the  image  composed 
of  different  metals,  the  other  of  the  four  beasts  that  came  out  of  the  sea,  sig- 
nified so  many  different  monarchies,  which  were  to  succeed  one  another,  were 
to  be  successively  destroyed  by  each  other,  and  were  all  to  give  place  to  the 
eternal  empire  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  whom  alone  they  had  subsisted.  It  is  also 
agreed,  that  these  four  monarchies  were  those  of  the  Babylonians,  of  the  Per- 
sians and  Medes  united,  of  the  Macedonians,  and  of  the  Romans. ||  This  is 
plainly  demonstrated  by  the  very  order  of  their  succession.  But  where  did 
Daniel  see  this  succession  and  this  order  ?  Who  could  reveal  the  changes  of 
empires  to  him,  but  He  only  who  is  the  master  of  times  and  monarchies,  who 
has  determined  every  thing  by  his  own  decrees,  and  who,  by  a  supernatural, 
revelation,  imparts  the  knowledge  of  them  to  whom  he  pleases  ?1I 

In  the  following  chapter,  this  prophet  still  speaks  with  greater  clearness  and 
precision.**  For  after  having  represented  the  Persian  and  Macedonian  monar 
chies  under  the  figure  of  two  beasts,  he  thus  expounds  his  meaning  in  the  plain- 
est manner.  The  ram  which  hath  two  unequal  horns,  represents  the  king  of  th«5 
Medes  and  Persians  ;  the  goat  which  overthrows  and  tramples  him  under  his 
feet,  is  the  king  of  the  Grecians  ;  and  the  great  horn,  which  that  animal  has  be- 


*  Dan.  iv.  f  Dan.  ii.  J  Page  288  of  this  volume. 

{  This  was  the  first  year  of  Belshazzar,  king  of  Babylon.    Dan.  vii. 
II  Some  interpreters,  instead  of  the  Romans^  put  the  kings  of  Syria  and  Egypt,  Alcxander*i  successorii 
If  »'  Hechang**h  the  timet  and  the  seasons;  he  removeth  and  setteth  up  kings;  he  revealeth  th«  d«9t 
».-id  secret  thinjs  ;  and  th«  light  dwelleth  with  him."    Dan.  ii.  21,  22. 

**  Dan.  viii. 


HISTORY  OF  CYltta. 


353 


tween  bis  eyes,  represents  the  first  king  and  founder  of  that  monarchy.  How 
did  Daniel  see,  that  the  Persian  empire  should  be  composed  of  two  different 
nations,  Medes  and  Persians  ;  and  that  this  empire  should  be  destroyed  by  the 
power  of  the  Grecians  ?  How  did  he  foresee  the  rapidity  of  Alexander's  con- 
quests, which  he  so  aptly  describes,  by  saying,  that  "he  touched  not  the  ground?" 
How  did  he  learn,  that  Alexander  should  n(>t  have  any  successor  equal  to  him- 
self, and  that  the  first  m.onarch  of  the  Grecian  empire  should  be  likewise  tlie 
most  powerful  ?''^  By  what  other  light  than  that  of  divine  revelation  could  he 
discover,  that  Alexander  would  have  no  son  to  succeed  h  im  5  that  his  empire 
would  be  dismembered,  and  divided  into  four  principal  kingdoms,  and  his 
successors  would  be  of  his  nation,  but  not  of  his  blood ;  and  that  out  of  the 
/uins  of  a  monarchy  so  suddenly- formed,  several  states  would  be  established, 
i)f  which  some  would  be  in  the  east,  others  in  the  west,  some  in  the  south,  and 
others  in  the  north  ? 

The  particulars  of  the  facts  foretold  in  the  remainder  of  the  eighth,  and  in 
the  eleventh  chapter,  are  no  less  astonishing.  How  could  Daniel  m  Cyrus's 
reign,  foretell,!  that  the  fourth  of  Cyrus's  successors^  should  gather  together 
all  his  forces,  to  attack  the  Grecian  states  ?  How  could  this  prophet,  who  lived 
so  long  before  the  times  of  the  Maccabees,  particularly  describe  all  the  per- 
secutions which  Antiochus  should  bring  upon  the  Jews  ;  the  manner  of  his  abc 
lishing  the  sacrifices,  which  were  daily  offered  in  the  temple  of  Jerusalem  ;  the 
profanation  of  that  holy  place,  by  setting  up  an  idol  therein,  and  the  vengeance 
which  God  w^ould  inflict  upon  him  for  it  ?  How  could  he,  in  the  first  year  of 
the  Persian  empire,  foretell  the  wars  which  Alexander's  successors  would  make 
in  the  kingdoms  of  Syr'm  and  Egypt,  their  mutual  invasions  of  one  another's 
territories,  their  insincerity  in  their  treaties  and  their  marriage  alliances,  which 
could  only  be  made  to  cloak  their  fraudulent  and  perfidious  designs  ?§ 

I  leave  to  the  intelligent  and  religious  reader  to  draw  the  conclusion  which 
naturally  results  from  these  predictions  of  Daniel ;  for  they  are  so  clear  and 
express,  that  Porphyry,  a  professed  enemy  of  the  Christian  religion,  could  find 
no  other  way  of  disputing  the  divine  original  of  them,  than  by  pretending  that 
they  were  written  after  the  events,  and  rather  a  narration  of  things  past,  than 
a  prediction  of  things  to  come.ll 

Before  i  conclude  this  article  of  Daniel's  prophecies,  I  must  desire  the  reader 
to  remark,  what  an  opposition  the  Holy  Ghost  has  put  between  the  empires  of 
the  world,  and  the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  the  former,  every  thing  appears 
great,  splendid,  and  magnificent.  Strength,  power,  glory,  and  majesty,. seem 
to  be  their  natural  attendants.  In  them  we  easily  discern  those  great  warriors, 
those  famous  conquerors,  those  thunderbolts  of  war,  who  spread  terror  every 
where,  and  whom  nothing  could  withstand.  But  then  they  are  represented  as 
wild  beasts,  as  bears,  lions,  and  leopards,  whose  sole  attribute  is  to  tear  in 
pieros,  to  devour,  and  to  destroy.  What  an  image  and  picture  is  this  of  con- 
guerors !  How  admirably  does  it  instruct  us  to  lessen  the  ideas  we  are  apt  to 
^^rm,  as  well  of  empires,  as  of  their  founders  or  governors  ! 

In  the  empire  of  Jesus  Christ  it  is  quite  otherwise.  Let  us  consider  its  origm 
and  first  rise,  or  carefully  examine  its  progress  and  growth  at  all  times,  and  we 
shall  find,  that  weakness  and  meanness,  if  I  may  be  allow^ed  to  say  so,  have 
always  outwardly  been  its  striking  characteristics.  It  is  the  leaven,  the  grain 
of  mustard-seed,  the  little  stone  cut  out  of  the  mountain.  And  yet,  m  reality, 
there  is  no  true  greatness  but  in  this  empire.  The  eternal  Word  is  the  founder 
and  the  king  thereof.  All  the  thrones  of  the  earth  come  to  pay  homage  to  his. 
and  to  bow  themselves  before  him.    The  end  of  his  reign  is  the  salvation  oi 


*  And  a  mi|  nty  king  shall  stand  up,  that  shall  rule  with  great  domiaion :  and  his  king-dom  shall  be  dy 
--■•dcd  towards  the  four  winds  of  heaven,  and  not  to  his  posterity,  nor  according  to  his  dominion  which  he 
ruled."  Dan.  XI.  3,  4.  Four  kingdoms  shall  stand  up  out  of  the  nation,  but  not  in  bis  power.'* — Dan. 
riii.  2-7. 

\  "  Behold,  there  shall  stand  up  yet  three  kings  of  Persia,  and  the  fourth  shall  be  far  richer  than  they 
til :  and  by  his  strength,  through  his  riches,  he  shall  stijup  all  ag'ainst  the  realm  of  Grecia." — Dan.  xi.  li, 
X  Xerxes.  {  Dan.  xi.  < — 45.  ||  S.  Hieron.  in  Froen  .  ad  Com.  1).  Dan 

Vol.  I 


354 


HISTORY  OF  CYRIiS 


mankind  ;  it  is  to  make  them  eternally  happy,  and  to  form  to  himself  a  nation 
of  saints  and  just  persons,  who  are  all  of  them  so  many  kings  and  conquerors. 
It  is  for  their  sakesonly,  that  the  whole  world  doth  subsist :  and  when  the  num- 
ber of  them  shall  be  complete,  "  then,"  says  St.  Paul,  "  cometh  the  end  and 
consummation  of  all  things,  when  Jesus  Christ  shall  have  delivered  up  the 
kingdom  to  God.  even  the  Father ;  when  he  shall  have  put  down  all  rule,  ar.d 
all  auth3rity  and  power.'"*^ 

Can  a  writer  who  sees,  in  the  prophecies  of  Daniel,  that  the  several  empires 
of  the  world,  after  having  subsisted  the  time  determined  for  them  by  the  sove 
reign  Disposer  of  kingdoms,  do  all  terminate  and  centre  in  the  empire  of  Jesus 
Christ; — can  a  writer,!  say,  amid  all  these  profane  objects,  forbear  turning  his 
eyes  now  and  then  towards  that  great  and  divine  one,  and  not  have  it  always 
in  view,  at  least  at  a  distance,  as  the  end  and  consummation  of  all  othei-s 

SECTION  III.  THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  CYRUS.     THE  DEATH  OF  THAT  PRINCE. 

Let  us  return  to  Cyrus.  Being  equally  beloved  by  his  own  natural  subjects, 
and  by  those  of  the  conquered  nations,  he  peaceably  enjoyed  the  fruits  of  hi« 
labours  and  victories.  His  empire  was  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  river  Indus^ 
on  the  north  b}^  the  Caspian  and  Euxine  Seas,  on  the  west  by  the  iEgean  Sea, 
and  on  the  south  by  Ethiopia  and  the  Sea  of  Arabia.  He  established  his  resi- 
dence in  the  midst  of  all  these  countries,  spending  generally  seven  montlis  of 
the  year  at  Babylon  in  the  winter  season,  because  of  the  warmtli  of  that  cli- 
mate ;  three  months  at  Susa  in  the  spring,  and  two  months  at  Ecbatana  durin;^ 
the  heat  of  the  summer.! 

Seven  years  being  spent  in  this  state  of  tranquillity,  Cyrus  returned  into  Per- 
sia, which  was  the  seventh  time  from  his  accession  to  the  whole  monarchy,  which 
shows  that  he  used  to  go  regularly  into  Persia  once  a  j^ear.  Cambyseshad 
now  been  dead  for  some  time,  and  Cyrus  himself  w^as  grown  pretty  old,  being 
at  this  time  about  seventy  years  of  age  ;  thirty  of  which  had  passed  since  his 
being  first  made  general  of  the  Persian  forces,  nine  from  the  taking  of  Bab^^lon, 
and  seven  from  his  beginning  to  reign  alone  after  the  death  of  Cyaxares. 

To  the  very  last  he  enjoyed  a  vigorous  state  of  health,  which  was  the  fruit 
of  his  sober  and  temperate  life.J  And  as  they  who  give  themselves  up  to  drunk- 
enness and  debauchery  often  feel  all  the  infirmities  of  age,  even  while  they  are 
young,  Cyrus,  on  the  contrary,  at  a  very  advanced  age,  enjoyed  all  the  vigour 
and  advantages  of  youth. 

When  he  perceived  the  time  of  his  death  to  draw  nigh,  he  ordered  his  chikU 
ren,  and  the  chief  officers  of  the  state,  to  be  assembled  about  him  ;  and  after 
having  thanked  the  gods  for  all  their  favours  towards  him  through  the  course 
of  his  life,  and  implored  the  like  protection  for  his  children,  his  country,  and 
his  friends,  he  declared  his  eldest  son,  Cambyses,  his  successor,  and  left  the 
other,  whose  name  was  Tanaoxares,  several  very  considerable  governments 
He  gave  them  both  excellent  instructions,  by  representing  to  ihem,  that  the 
main  strength  and  support  of  the  throne,  was  neither  the  vast  ex  tent  of  coun- 
tries, nor  the  number  of  forces,  nor  immense  riches,  but  a  dm  respect  for  the 
gods,  a  good  understanding  between  brethre-n,  and  the  art  of  accjuiring  and  pre 
serving  true  and  faithful  friend§.  "  I  conjure  you,  therefore,'  said  he,  my 
dear  children,  in  the  name  of  the  gods,  to  respect  and  love  one  another,  if  you 
would  retain  any  desire  to  please  me  for  the  future.  For  I  do  not  think  you 
will  esteem  me  to  be  no  longer  any  thing,  because  you  will  not  see  me  after 
my  death.  You  never  saw  my  soul  to  this  instant ;  you  must  have  known, 
however,  by  its  actions,  that  it  really  existed.  Do  you  believe,  that  honours 
would  still  be  paid  to  those  whose  bodies  are  now  but  ashes,  if  their  souls  had 
no  longer  any  being  or  power  ?    No,  no,  my  sons  ;  I  could  never  imagine  that 


*  1  Cor.  XV.  24.  ^     I  Cyrop.  1.  viii.  p.  233,  &c. 

I  Cyrui,  quidem,  apud  Xenophontem  eo  sermone.quem  inoriens  habull,  cum  a^lmodum  senex  esset.netfat 
■e  un^uam  fenwMe  senectutem  suam  imbecilliort^m  factaut,  quam  ;;dolescentia  fuisset.-  Cic.  de  Ben.  u.  30 


% 


H1»T0RV   >r  CYRUS. 


fhe  soul  only  lived  whiit;  m  a  morial  body,  and  died  when  separa  ed  from  it. 
But  if  1  mistake,  and  nothing  of  me  shall  rergain  after  death,  at  least  fear  the 
p^ods,  who  never  die,  who  see  all  things,  and  whose  power  is  infinite.  Fear 
them,  and  let  that  fear  prevent  you  from  ever  doing,  or  deliherating  to  do,  any 
thing  contrary  to  religion  and  justice.  Next  to  them  fear  mankind,  and  tlie 
ages  to  come".  The  gods  have  not  buried  you  in  obscurity,  but  iiave  exposed 
you  upon  this  great  theatre  to  the  view  of  the  whole  universe.  If  your  actions 
are  guiltless  and  upright,  be  assured  they  will  augment  your  glor^  and  power. 
Fo,  my  body,  my  sons,  when  life  has  forsaken  it,  enclose  it  neither  in  gold  nor 
silver,  nor  any  other  matter  whatever.  Restore  it  immediately  to  the 
EARTH.  Can  it  be  more  happy  than  in  being  blended,  and  in  a  manner  incoi  - 
porated,with  the  benefactress  and  common  mother  of  mankind  ?"  After  having 
given  his  hand  to  be  kissed  by  all  that  were  present,  finding  himself  at  the  point 
of  death,  he  added  these  last  words  :  "  Adieu,  dear  children  ;  may^  your  lives 
be  happy ;  carry  my  last  remembrance  to  your  mother.  And  tor  you,  my 
faithful  friends,  as  well  absent  as  present,  receive  this  last  farewell,  and  may 
you  live  in  peace!"  After  having  said  this,  he  covered  his  face,  and  died 
equally  lamented  by  all  his  people.'* 

The  order  given  by  Cyrus  to  restore  his  body  to  the  earth,  is'very  remarka- 
ble He  would  have  thought  it  disgraced  and  injured,  if  enclosed  in  gold  or 
silver.  Restore  it  to  the  earth,  says  he.  Where  did  that  prince  learn, 
that  it  was  from  thence  it  derived  its  original  ?  Behold  one  of  those  precious 
traces  of  tradition  as  old  as  the  world.  Cyrus,  after  having  done  good  to  his 
subjects  during  his  whole  life,  demands  to  be  incorporated  with  the  earth,  that 
benefactress  of  the  human  race,  to  perpetuate  that  good,  in  some  measure, 
even  after  his  death. 

character  and  eulogy  of  CYRUS. 

Cyrus  may  justly  be  considered  as  the  wisest  conqueror,  and  the  most  ac- 
complished prince,  to  be  found  in  profane  history.  He  was  possessed  of  all 
(he  qualities  requisite  to  form  a  great  man ;  wisdom,  moderation,  courage, 
magnanimity,  noble  sentiments,  a  wonderful  ability  in  managing  men's  tem- 
pers and  gaining  their  affections,  a  thorough  knowledge  of  every  branch  of 
the  military  art  as  far  as  that  age  had  carried  it,  a  vast  extent  of  genius  and 
capacity  for  forming,  and  an  equal  steadiness  and  prudence  for  executing  the 
greatest  designs. 

It  is  very  common  for  those.heroes  who  shine  in  the  field,  and  make  a  great 
figure  in  the  time  of  action,  to  make  but  a  very  poor  one  upon  other  occasions, 
and  in  matters  of  a  different  nature.  We  are  astonished,  when  we  see  them 
alone  and  without  their  armies,  to  find  what  a  difference  there  is  between  a 
general  and  a  great  man  ;  to  see  what  low  sentiments  and  mean  actions  they 
are  capable  of  in  private  life  ;  how  they  are  influenced  by  jealousy,  and  go- 
verned by  interest ;  how^  disagreeable  and  even  odious  they  render  themselves 
by  their  haughty  deportment  and  arrogance,  which  they  think  necessary  to 
preserve  their  authority,  and  which  only  serve  to  make  them  hated  and  despised 

Cyrus  had  none  of  these  defects.  He  appeared  always  the  same,  that  is, 
always  great,  even  in  the  most  indifferent  matters.  Being  assured  of  his  great- 
ne>s,  of  which  real  merit  was  the  foundation  and  support,  he  thought  o^'  no- 
thing more  than  to  lender  himself  affable,  arid  easy  of  access  :  and  whatever 
he  seemed  to  lose  by  this  condescending,  humble  demeanor,  was  abundantly 
compensated  by  the  cordial  affection  and  sincere  respect  it  procured  him  from 
his  people. 

Never  was  any  prince  a  greater  master  of  the  art  of  insinuation,  so  neces- 
sary for  those  that  govern,  and  yet  so  little  understood  or  practised.  He  knew 
perfectly  what  advantages  may  result  from  a  single  word  rightly  timed,  frora 
an  obliging  carriage,  from  a  command  ten>pered  with  reason,  from  a  little 


♦  A.  M.  3475.    Ant  J.  C.  529. 


HISTORY  OF  UyKt'S 

praise  in  grantinff  a  favour,  and  from  softening  a  refusal  with  expressions  ol 
concern  and  good-will.    His  history  abounds  with  beauties  of  this  kind 

He  was  rich  in  a  sort  of  wealth  which  most  sovereigns  want,  who  are  pos- 
sessed of  every  thing  but  faithful  friends,  and  whose  indigence  in  that  paiti 
cular  is  concealed  by  the  splendour  and  affluence  with  which  they  are  sur- 
rounded. Cyrus  was  beloved,  because  he  himself  had  a  love  for  others  ;  for. 
has  a  man  any  friends,  or  does  he  deserve  to  have  an}^  when  he  himself  i.« 
void  of  friendship  ?  Nothing  affects  us  more,  than  to  see  in  Xenophon,  the 
manner  in  which  Cyrus  lived  and  conversed  with  his  triends,  always  preserving 
as  much  dignity  as  was  requisite  to  keep  up  a  due  decorum,  and  yet  infinitely 
removed  from  that  ill-judged  haughtiness,  which  deprives  the  great  of  the 
most  innocent  and  agreeable  pleasure  in  life,  that  of  conversing  freely  and  so 
ciably  with  persons  of  merit,  though  of  an  inferior  station.* 

The  use  he  made  of  his  friends  may  serve  as  a  perfect  model  to  all  persons 
m  authority.  His  friends  had  received  from  him  not  only  the  liberty,  but  an 
express  command,  to  tell  him  whatever  they  thought.!  And  though  he  was 
much  superior  M  all  his  officers  in  understanding,  yet  he  never  undertook  any 
thing  without  asking  their  advice  :  and  whatever  w^as  to  be  done,  whether  it 
was  to  reform  any  thing  in  the  government,  to  make  changes  in  the  army,  or 
to  form  a  new  enterprise,  he  would  always  have  every  man  speak  his  senti- 
ments, and  would  often  make  use  of  them  to  correct  his  own  ;  so  different  was 
lie  from  the  person  mentioned  by  Tacitus,  who  thought  it  a  sufficient  reason  for 
fv^jecting  the  most  excellent  project  or  advice,  that  it  did  not  proceed  from  him- 
self :  Consilii,  qnamvis  egregii,  quod  ipse  non  qfferet^  inimicus.X 

Cicero  observes,  that,  during  the  whole  time  of  Cyrus's  government,  he  was 
never  heard  to  speak  one  rough  or  angry  word :  Cujus  swnmo  in  imperio  nemo 
unquam  verbum  ullum  asperius  audivit,^  What  a  high  encomium  for  a  prince 
is  comprehended  in  thai  short  sentence !  Cyrus  must  have  had  a  very  great 
command  of  himself,  to  be  able,  in  the  midst  of  so  much  agitation,  and  in 
spite  of  all  the  intoxicating  effects  of  sovereign  power,  always  to  preserve  his 
mind  in  such  a  state  of  calmness  and  composure,  that  no  crosses,  disappoint- 
ments, or  unforeseen  accidents,  should  ever  ruffle  its  tranquillity,  or  provoke 
him  to  utter  any  harsh  or  offensive  expression. 

But,  what  was  still  greater  in  him,  and  more  truly  royal  than  all  this,  was  his 
steadfast  persuasion,  that  all  his  labours  and  endeavours  ought  to  tend  to  the 
happiness  of  his  people  ;  and  that  il  was  not  by  the  splendour  of  riches,  by 
pompous  equipages,  luxurious  living,  or  a  magnificent  table,  that  a  king  ought 
to  distinguish  himself  from  his  subjects,  but  by  a  superiority  of  merit  in  every 
kind,  and  particularly  by  a  constant  indefatigable  care  and  vigilance  to  pro 
mote  theii  interests,  and  to  secure  the  public  welfare  and  tranquillity.il  He  said 
himself  one  day,  as  he  was  discoursing  with  his  courtiers  upon  the  duties  of  a 
king,  that  a  prince  ought  to  consider  himself  as  a  shepherd, iI  the  image  under 
which  both  sacred  and  profane  antiquity  represented  good  kings,  and  that  he 
ought  to  exercise  the  same  vigilance,  care,  and  goodness.  "  It  is  his  duty,"  says 
he,  "  to  watch,  that  his  people  may  live  in  safety  and  quiet;  to  charge  him- 
self with  anxieties,  and  cares,  that  they  may  be  exempt  from  them  :  to  choose 
whatever  is  salutary  for  them,  and  remove  what  is  hurtful  and  prejudicial ;  to 
place  his  delight  in  seeing  them  increase  and  multiply,  and  valiantly  expose 
his  own  person  in  their  defence  and  protection.  This,"  says  he,  "  is  the  na 
tural  idea,  and  the  just  image  of  a  good  king.  It  is  reasonable,  at  the  same  time, 
that  his  subjects  should  render  him  all  the  service  he  stands  in  need  of;  hxii 
it  is  still  more  reasonable,  that  he  should  labour  to  make  them  happy ;  because 
it  is  for  that  very  end  that  he  is  their  king,  as  much  as  it  is  the  end  and  office 
of  a  shepherd  to  take  care  of  his  flock." 


*  Habes  amicos,  quia  amicus  ipse  es. — Paneg-.  Trajan.  f  Plut.  i.  iii.  de  Leg-,  p.  694. 

X  Hist.  1  i.  c.  26.  \  Cic.  1.  i.  Epist.       ait  ^.  Fratrem.  jj  Cyrop.  1.  i.  p.  27 

U  *«  Thou  •halt  feed  my  reople,"  la^id  God  to  David,  :  Sam.  v.  2.  TTom' vf  \au)V,  «avs  Homer  in  maov 
(laceg. 


HISTORY  OF  CYRUS.  j^-^ 

^,  Indeed,  to  be  the  guardian  of  the  commonwealth,  and  to  be  king  ;  to  be  for 
(he  people,  and  to  be  their  sovereign,  is  but  one  and  the  same  thing.  A  man 
is  born  for  others,  when  he  is  born  to  govern,  because  the  reason  and  end  of 
governing  others  is  only  to  be  useful  and  serviceable  to  them.  The  very  basi* 
and  foundation  of  the  condition  of  princes  is,  not  to  be  for  themselves  ;  the 
very  characteristic  of  their  greatness  is,  thatthe}^  are  consecrated  to  the  public 
good.  They  may  properly  be  considered  as  a  light,  which  is  placed  on  high, 
only  to  diffuse  and  shed  its  beams  on  every  thing  belo^v.  Are  such  sentiments 
as  these  ^ny  disparagement  to  the  dignity  of  the  regal  state  ? 

It  was  by  the  concurrence  of  all  these  virtues  that  Cyrus  founded  such  an  ex- 
tensive empire  in  so  short  a  time  ;  that  he  peaceably  enjoyed  the  fruits  of  his 
conquests  for  many  years  ;  that  he  made  himself  so  much  esteemed  and  be- 
loved, not  only  by  his  own  natural  subjects,  but  by  all  the  nations  he  had  con- 
quered ;  that  after  his  death  he  was  universally  regretted  as  the  common  father 
of  all  the  people. 

We  ought  not,  indeed,  to  be  surprised  that  Cyrus  was  so  accomplished  in 
every  virtue  (it  will  be  readily  understood,  that  I  speak  only  of  pagan  virtues,) 
because  we  know  it  was  God  himself,  who  had  formed  him  to  be  the  instrument 
and  agent  of  his  gracious  designs  towards  his  peculiar  people. 

When  I  say  that  God  himself  had  formed  this  prince,  I  do  not  mean  that  he 
did  it  by  any  sensible  miracle,  nor  that  he  immediately  made  him  such  as  we 
admire  in  the  accounts  we  have  of  him  in  history.  God  gave  him  a  happy 
genius,  and  implanted  in  his  mind  the  seeds  of  all  the  noblest  qualities,  dis- 
posing his  heart  at  the  same  time  to  aspire  after  the  most  excellent  and  sublime 
virtues.  But  above  all,  he  took  care  that  this  happy  genius  should  be  ctltiva- 
ted  by  a  good  education,  and  by  that  means  be  prepared  for  the  great  designs 
for  which  he  intended  him.  We  may  venture  to  say,  without  fear  of  being 
mistaken,  that  the  greatest  excellencies  in  Cyrus  were  owing  to  his  education, 
where  the  confounding  of  him,  in  some  sort,  with  his  subjects,  and  the  keeping 
him  under  the  same  subjection  to  the  authority  of  his  teachers,  served  to  era- 
dicate that  pride  which  is  so  natural  to  princes ;  taught  him  to  hearken  to 
advice,  and  to  obey  before  he  came  to  command  ;  inured  him  to  hardship  and 
toil ;  accustomed  him  to  temperance  and  sobriety  ;  and,  in  a  word,  rendered 
him  such  as  we  have  seen  him  throughout  his  whole  conduct,  gentle,  modest, 
affable,  obliging,  compassionate  ;  an  enemy  to  all  luxury  and  pride,  and  still 
more  so  to  flattery. 

It  must  be  confessed,  that  such  a  prince  is  one  of  the  most  precious  and  valu- 
able gifts  that  Heaven  can  make  to  mortal  men.  The  infidels  themselves 
have  acknowledged  this;  nor  has  the  darkness  of  their  false  religion  been 
able  to  hide  these  two  remarkable  truths  from  their  observation,  that  all  good 
kings  are  the  gift  of  God.  and  that,  such  a  gift  includes  many  others  ;  for 
nothing  can  be  so  excellent  as  that  which  bears  the  most  perfect  resemblance 
to  the  Deity  ;  and  the  nob  est  image  of  the  Deity  is  a  just,  moderate,  chaste, 
and  virtuous  prince,  who  rules  with  no  other  view  than  to  establish  the  reign 
of  justice  and  virtue.  This  is  the  portraiture  which  Pliny  has  left  us  of  Trajan, 
anci  which  has  a  great  resemblance  to  that  of  Cyrus.  Nullum  est  prarstabiltus 
et  pulchrius  Dei  munus  erga  mortales,  quam  castm,  et  sanctus,  et  Deo  similli^ 
mus  princeps* 

When  I  narrowly  examine  this  hero's  life,  there  seems  to  have  been  one  cir- 
cumstance Avanting  to  his  glor}%  which  would  have  enhanced  it  exceedingly  ; 
(  mean  that  of  having  struggled  under  some  grievous  ca-lamity  for  some  time, 
ind  of  having  his  virtue  tried  by  some  sudden  reverse  of  fortune.  I  know, 
indeed,  thpt  the  emperor  Galba,  when  he  adopted  Piso,  told  him  that  the  stings 
of  prosperity  were  infinitely  sharper  than  those  of  adversity ;  and  that  the 
former  put  the  soul  to  a  much  severer  trial  than  the  latter :  Fortunam  adhuc 
iantum  adversam  tulisli :  secundce  res  acrioribus  stimulis  explorant  animos,^ 


•  Paneg.  Tra|f. 


t  Tac.  Hist.  1.  i.  c.  15- 


558 


BISTORT  Ox""  CYKUS. 


And  the  reason  he  gives  is,  that  when  misfortunes  come  with  their  whole  weig  1 
upon  a  man's  soul,  she  exerts  herself,  and  summons  all  her  strength  to  bear<  9 
the  burden  ;  whereas  prosperit}^  attacking  the  mind  secretly  or  insensibl  » 
leaves  it  all  its  weakness,  and  insinuates  a  poison  into  it,  by  «jo  much  the  mc  < 
dangerous,  as  it  is  the  more  subtile  :  Quia  mtserice  tolerantur,  felicitate  n  • 
rumpimur. 

However,  it  must  be  owned  that  adversity,  when  supported  with  nooien 
and  dignity,  and  surmounted  by  an  invincible  patience,  adds  a  great  lustre  tu 
a  prince's  glory,  and  gives  him  occasion  to  display  many  fine  qi  alities  >r]d 
virtues,  which  would  have  been  concealed  in  the  fcosom  of  prosperity  ;  as  a 
greatness  of  mind,  independent  of  every  thing  without ;  an  unshaken  constancy, 
proof  agam«;t  the  severest  strokes  of  fortune  ;  an  intrepidity  of  soul  animated  at 
the  sight  ol  danger ;  a  fruitfulness  in  expedients,  improving  even  from  crosses 
and  disappointments;  a  presence  of  mind,  which  views,  and  provides  against 
every  thing ;  and  lastly,  a  firmness  of  soul,  that  not  only  suffices  to  support  itself, 
but 's  capable  of  supporting  others. 

Cyrus  wanted  this  kind  of  glory.*  He  himself  informs  us,  that  during  the 
whole  course  of  his  life,  which  was  pretty  long,  the  happiness  of  it  was  never 
interrupted  }  y  any  unfortunate  accident ;  and  that  in  all  his  designs  the  suc- 
cess had  ansrvered  his  utmost  expectation.  But  he  acquaints  us,  at  the  same 
time,  with  another  thing  almost  incredible,  and  which  was  the  source  of  all  thai 
moderation  and  evenness  of  temper  so  conspicuous  in  him,  and  for  which  he 
can  never  be  sufficiently  admired ;  namely,  that  in  the  midst  of  his  uninter- 
rupted prosperity  he  still  preserved  in  his  heart  a  secret  fear,  proceeding  from 
the  changes  and  misfortunes  that  might  happen :  and  this  prudent  fear  was  not 
only  a  preservative  against  insolence,  but  even  against  intemperate  joy.  j 

There  remains  one  point  more  to  be  examined,  with  regard  to  this  prince's 
reputation  and  character ;  I  mean  the  nature  of  his  victories  and  conquests, 
upon  which  I  shall  touch  but  lightlj^.  If  these  were  founded  only  upon  ambi- 
tion, injustice,  and  violence,  Cyrus  would  be  so  far  from  meriting  the  praises 
bestowed  upon  him,  that  he  would  deserve  to  be  ranked  among  those  famous 
robbers  of  the  universe,  those  public  enemies  to  mankind,!  who  acknowledged 
no  right  but  that  of  force  ;  who  looked  upon  the  common  rules  of  justice,  as 
laws  which  only  private  persons  were  obliged  to  observe,  and  derogatory  to 
the  majesty  of  kings  ;  who  set  no  other  bounds  to  their  designs  and  pretensions, 
than  their  incapacity  of  carrying  them  any  farther  ;  who  sacrificed  the  lives  of 
millions  to  their  particular  ambition  ;  who  made  their  glory  consist  in  spread-  ^ 
ing  desolation  and  destruction,  like  fires  and  torrents ;  and  who  reigned  as 
bears  and  lions  would  if  they  were  masters.§ 

This  is  indeed  the  true  character  of  the  greatest  part  of  those  pretended  he- 
roes whom  the  world  admires ;  and  by  such  ideas  as  these,  w^e  ought  to  correct 
the  impressions  made  upon  our  minds  by  the  undue  praises  of  some  historians, 
and  the  sentiments  of  many,  deceived  by  his  false  images  of  greatness. 

I  do  not  know  whether  I  am  not  biassed  in  favour  of  Cyrus,  1:  it  he  seems  to 
me  to  have  been  of  a  very  difFeient  character  from  those  conqtierors,  whom  I 
have  just  now  described.  Not  that  I  would  justify  Cyrus  in  eveiy  respect,  oi 
represent  him  as  exempt  from  ambition,  which  undoubtedly  was  the  roul  of  all 
his  undertakings;  but  he  certainly  reverenced  the  law^s,  and  knew  that  thtr? 
are  unjust  wars,  which  render  him  who  wantonly  provokes  them  accountable 
for  all  the  blood  that  is  shed.  Now,  every  war  is  of  this  sort,  to  which  the 
prince  is  induced  by  no  other  motive  than  that  of  enlarging  his  conquests,  of 
acquiring  a  vain  reputation,  or  rendering  himself  terrible  to  his  neighbours. 

Cyrus,  as  we  have  seen,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  founded  all  hi?  hopes  of 
success  on  the  justice  of  his  cause,  and  represented  to  his  soldiers,  in  order  to 

♦  Cyrop.  1.  riii.  p.  234.  t  Obu  elaiiiya.  (pfovcrv,  «5'  fu<pf afvfo-0ai  ixTrfTrTajAixoi. 

\  la  in  summa  fortuna  asquius  quoA  ralidius.    Et  sua  retinere,  privatas  domus :  de  alienis  certaire,  re^i 
•m  Iaud«m  et««. — Tacit.  Annal.  lib.  xr.  cap.  1. 

9  Q,ufle  alia  rita  ewift,  si  leones  unique  regnarent? — Sea.  de  Clem.  lib.  i.  cap.  36. 


,  HISTORV  OF  CYRUS 

tospire  them  with  the  greater  courage  and  confidence,  fhat  they  were  not  the 
aggressors  ;  that  it  was  the  enemy  that  attacked  them  ;  and  that  therefore  they 
were  entitled  to  the  protection  of  the  gods,  who  seemed  themselves  to  have  put 
their  arms  into  their  hands,  that  they  might  fight  in  defence  of  their  friends  and 
allies,  unjustly  oppressed.  If  we  carefully  examine  Cyrus's  conquests,  we 
shall  find  that  they  were  all  consequences  of  the  victories  he  obtained  over 
CrcBSus,  king  of  Lydia,  who  was  master  of  the  greatest  part  of  Lesser  Asia  ; 
wid  over  the  king  of  Babylon,  who  was  master  of  all  upper  Asia,  and  many 
•  Other  countries ;  both  which  prince?  were  the  aggressors.* 

With  good  reason,  therefore,  is  Cyrus  represented  as  one  of  the  greatest 
princes  recorded  in  history  ;  and  his  reign  justl^r  proposed  as  the  model  of  a 
perfect  government,  which  it  could  not  be  ,  unless  justice  had  been  the  basis  and 
foundation  of  it :  Cyrus  a  Xenophonte  scriptus  adjusti  effigie in  imperii j] 

SECTION  IV. — WHEREIN  HERODOTUS  AND  XENOPHON  DIFFER  IN  THEIR 

ACCOUNTS  OF  CYRUS. 

Herodotus  and  Xenophon,  who  perfectly  agree  in  the  substance  and  most 
essential  part  of  the  history  of  Cyrus,  and  particularly  in  what  relates  to  his 
expedition  against  Babylon,  and  his  other  conquests,  yet  differ  extremely  in  the 
accounts  they  give  of  several  very  important  facts,  as  the  birth  and  death  of  that 
prince,  and  the  establishment  of  the  Persian  empire.  I  therefore  thmk  myself 
obliged  to  give  a  succinct  account  of  what  Herodotus  relates  as  to  these  points. 

He  tells  us,  as  Justin  does  after  him,  that  Astyages,  king  of  the  Medes,  being 
warned  by  a  frightful  dream,  that  the  son  who  was  to  be  born  of  his  daughter 
would  dethrone  him,  did  therefore  marry  his  daughter  Mandane  to  a  Persian 
of  obscure  birth  and  fortune,  whose  name  was  Cambyses  :  this  daughter  being 
delivered  of  a  son,  the  king  commanded  Harpagus,  one  of  his  principal  officers, 
to  destroy  the  infant.  He,  instead  of  killing  the  child,  put  it  into' the  hands  of 
one  of  the  king's  shepherds,  and  ordered  him  to  leave  it  exposed  in  a  forest 
But  the  child,  being  miraculously  preserved,  and  secretly  brought  up  by  the 
shepherd's  wife,  was  afterwards  known  to  be  the  same  by  his  grandfather,  who 
contented  himself  with  banishing  him  to  the  most  remote  parts  of  Persia,  and 
v^ented  all  his  wrath  upon  the  unfortunate  Harpagus,  whom  he  invited  to  a  feast, 
and  entertained  with  the  flesh  of  his  own  son.  Several  years  after,  young  Cy- 
rus, being  informed  by  Harpagus  who  he  was,  and  being  encouraged  by  his 
counsels  and  remonstrances,  raised  an  army  in  Persia,  marched  against  Asty- 
ages,  came  to  a  battle,  and  defeated  him,  and  so  transferred  the  empire  from 
the  Medes  to  the  Persians.J 

The  same  Herodofus  makes  Cyrus  die  in  a  manner  little  becoming  so  great 
a  conqueror.  This  prince,  according  to  him,  carried  his  arms  against  the  Scy- 
thians ;  and,  afte^-  having  attacked  them,  in  the  first  battle,  feigned  a  flight,  leaving 
a  great  quantity  of  vvine  and  provisions  behind  him  hi  the  field.  The  Scythians 
did  not  fail  to  seize  the  booty.  When  they  had  drank  freely,  ^nd  were  asleep, 
Cyrus  returned  upon  them,  aixi  obtained  an  easy  victory,  taking  a  vast  number 
01  prisoners,  among  whom  was  the  son  of  the  queen,  named  Tomyris,  who  com- 
ffianded  the  army.  This  young  captive  prince,  whom  Cyrus  refused  to  restore 
h  his  mother,  being  recovered  from  his  drunken  fit,  and  not  able  to  endure  his 
captivity,  killed  himself  with  his  own  hand.  His  mother  Tomyris,  animated 
with  a  desire  of  revenge,  gave  the  Persians  a  Jsttond  battle,  and  feigning  a  flight, 
asthey  had  done  before,  by  that  means  drew  them  into  an  ambush,  and  killed 
f  bove  two  hundred  thousand  of  their  men,  together  with  their  king  Cyrus.  Then 
ordering  Cyrus's  head  to  be  cut  off,  she  flung  it  into  a  vessel  full  of  blood,  in 
^ulting  him  at  the  same  time  with  these  opprobrious  words,§  "  Now  glut  thy- 
Bi^lf  with  blood,  in  which  thou  hast  always  delighted,  and  of  which  thy  tbirsi 
lias  always  been  insatiable. '*i| 


•  1,  f.  1».       t  Cic.  1.  i.  Epist.  1.  ftd  Q,.  Fratrern.       %  Her.  1.  i.  c.  107—130.    Justin.  I.  i  c.  4,« 

J  fltlit  %•*  isquitf  MMg^uine,  quern  sitisti.  cuiusoue  insatiabilis  semper  fuisti. — Justin.  1.  i.  c  3. 
fl  Her.  1.  i.  c  ^.%.^':4.    Jn?!ia.  1.  i.  r  3. 


360 


HISTORY  OF  CAMBYSES. 


The  account  given  by  Herodotus  of  the  infancy  of  Cyrus,  and  his  first  ad- 
ventures, has  much  more  the  air  of  a  romance  than  of  a  histoiy.  And  as  tc 
the  manner  of  his  death,  v^  hat  probability  is  there  that  a  prince,  so  experienced 
in  ^\ar,  and  no  less  renowned  for  his  prudence  than  for  his  bravery,  should  so 
easily  fall  into  an  ambuscade  laid  for  him  by  a  woman  ?  What  the  same  histo- 
rian relates  concerning  his  hasty,  violent  passion,  and  his  childish  revenge  upon 
the  yiver  Gyndes,  in  which  one  of  his  sacred  horses  was  drowned,  ancT  which 
he  imnrediately  caused  to  be  cut  by  his  army  into  three  hundred  and  sixty 
channels,  is  directly  repugnant  to  the  idea  we  have  of  Cyrus,  who  w^as  a  prince 
of  extraordinary  moderation  and  temper.^  Besides,  is  it  at  all  probable,  that 
Cyrus,  who  was  m.arching  to  the  conquest  of  Babylon,  should  so  idly  waste  his 
time  when  so  precious  to  him,  should  spend  the  ardour  of  his  troops  in  such  an 
unprofitable  piece  of  work,  and  miss  the  opportunity  of  surprising  the  Baby- 
lonians, by  amusing  himself  with  a  ridiculous  war  with  a  river  instead  of  carry- 
ing it  against  his  *^nomies.t 

iBut  what  decides  this  point  unanswerabl}^  in  favour  of  Xenophon,  is  the  con- 
formity we  find  between  his  narrative  and  the  holy  Scripture ;  where  we  see, 
that  instead  of  Cyrus's  having  raised  the  Persian  empire  upon  the  ruins  of  that 
of  the  Medes,  as  Herodotus  relates  it,  those  two  nations  attacked  Babylon  to- 
gether, arid  united  their  forces  to  reduce  the  formidable  power  of  the  Baby- 


From  whence,  then,  could  so  great  a  difference  as  there  isbehveen  these  tw^o 
historians  proceed  ?  Herodotus  himself  explains  it  to  us.  In  the  very  place 
where  be  gives  the  account  of  Cyrus's  birth,  and  in  that  where  he  speaks  of  his 
death,  he  acquaints  us,  thai  even  at  that  time  those  two  great  events  were  re- 
lated different  ways.  Herodoius  followed  that  which  pleased  him  best ;  for 
it  appears  that  he  was  fond  of  extraordinary  and  wonderful  things,  and  was  veiy 
credulous.  Xenophon  was  of  a  graver  disposition  and  of  less  credulity  ;  and 
in  the  very  beginn  ng  of  his  history  informs  us,  that  he  had  taken  great  care  and 
pains  to  inform  hi  riself  of  Cyrus's  birth,  education  and  character. 


As  soon  as  Cambyses  was  seated  on  the  throne,  he  resolved  to  ma!ce  war 
against  Egypt,  for  a  particular  affront,  which,  according  to  Herodotun,  he  pre- 
tended to  have  received  from  Amasis,  of  which  I  have  already  given  an  ac- 
count. But  it  is  more  probable,  that  Amasis,  who  had  submitted  to  Cyrus, 
and  become  tributary  to  him,  might  draw  this  war  upon  himself,  by  refusing, 
after  Cyrus's  death,  to  pay  the  same  homage  and  tribute  to  his  successor,  and 
by  attempting  to  shake  off  his  yoke.J 

Cambyses,  in  order  to  carry  on  the  war  with  success,  made  vast  preparation** 
both  by  sea  and  land.  The  Cypriots  aRd  Phoenicians  furnished  him  with  ships. 
As  for  his  land  army,  he  added  to  his  own  troops  a  great  number  of  Grecians, 
fonians,  and  iEolians,  which  made  up  the  principal  part  of  his  forces.  But 
none  was  of  greater  service  to  him  in  this  war,  than  Phanes  of  Halicarnassus, 
who,  being  the  commander  of  some  auxiliary  Greeks  in  the  service  of  Amasis, 
and  being  in  some  manner  dissatisfied  with  that  prince,  came  over  to  Camby- 
ses, and  gave  him  such  intelligence  concerning  the  nature  of  the  country,  the 
strength  of  the  enemy,  and  the  state  of  his  affairs,  as  very  much  facilitated  the 
success  of  his  expedi-tion.  It  was  particularly  by  his  advice,  that  he  contracted 
with  an  Arabian  king,  whose  territories  lay  between  the  confines  of  Palestine  and 
Egypt,  to  furnish  his  army  with  water  during  his  march  through  the  desert  that 
lay  between  those  two  countries :  which  agreement  that  prince  fulfilled,  by 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  CAMBYSZ2S. 


♦  H-rof1.  1.  i.  c.  189. 


t  A.  M  8475.    ArX  J.  C.  529.    Rcrod.  1.  tii.  c.  1—3 


HISJ'ORY  or  (.'AMBYSKfl  jg^ 

^nfiing  the  water  on  the  backs  of  camels,  without  which  Camuyses  could  Dcv«r 
^Hve  marched  his  army  that  way.* 

^^flaving  made  all  these  preparations,  he  invaded  ]\i2:ypt  in  the  fourth  ye'^r  of 
his  reign  I  When  he  arrived  upon  the  frontiers,  he  \vas  informed  that  Amasis 
wafe' just  dead,  and  that  Psammenitus,  his  son,  v/ho  s-icceeded  hiin,  was  busy 
in  collecting-  all  his  forces,  to  hinder  him  from  penetrntins^  into  his  kingdom. 
Before  Cambyses  could  open  a  passage  into  the  country,  it  w:»s  necessaiy  he 
should  render  himself  master  of  Pelusium,  which  was  the  key  of  Egypt  on  thi- 
side  where  he  invaded  it.  Now  Pelusium  was  so  strong  a  place,  tliat  in  al. 
probability  it  must  have  stopped  him  a  great  while.  But,  according  to  Polya> 
nus,  to  facilitate  this  enterprise,  Cambyses  adopted  the  following  stratagem. 
B(iir«g  informed  that  the  whole  garrison  consisted  of  Egyptians,  he  placed  in 
U'ont  of  his  army  a  great  number  of  cats,  dogs,  sheep,  and  other  animals. 
v\>^h  were  looked  upon  as  sacred  by  that  nation,  and  then  attacked  the  city 
,17  ;-'orm.  The  soldiers  of  the  garrison,  not  daring  either  to  fling  a  dart,  oi 
an  a^rrow  that  way,  for  fear  of  hitting  some  of  those  animals,  Cainbysc*- 
">€c\TAvi  master  of  the  place  without  opposition.;}; 

W'biVTi  Cambyses  had  got  possession  of  the  city.  Psamn^enitus  advanced 
"vith  .1  great  army  to  stop  his  progress  ;  and  a  considerable  battle  ensued  be 
tweei)  thtm.  But  before  the}^  engaged,  the  Greeks,  who  ^vere  in  tiie  army  0/ 
Psamin.K-nitus,  in  order  to  be  revenged  of  Phanes  for  his  revolt,  took  his  cliild 
ren,  which  he  had  been  obliged  to  leave  in  Egypt  when  he  fled,  cut  their 
throats  b»tween  the  two  camps,  and  in  presence  of  the  two  armies  drank  their 
[?bod.  'I'his  outrageous  cruelty  did  not  procure  them  the  victory.  The  Per- 
sians, enr^iged  at  so  horrid  a  spectacle,  fell  upon  them  with  great  fury,  quickly 
t  outed  and  overthrev/the  whole  Egyptian  army,  the  greatest  part  of  which  were 
kJled  upcn  the  spot.    Those  that  could  save  themselves  escaped  to  Memphis. § 

On  the  occasion  of  this  battle,  Herodotus  takes  notice  of  an  extraordinary 
circumstance,  of  which  he  himself  was  a  witness.  The  bones  of  the  Persians 
and  Egyptians  were  still  in  the  place  where  the  battle  was  fought,  but  separated 
fn(3m  one  another.  The  skulls  of  the  Egyptians  were  so  hard,  that  a  violent 
.stroke  of  a  stone  would  hardly  break  them  ;  and  those  of  the  Persians  so  soft, 
that  yo"j  might  break  them,  or  pierce  them  through,  with  the  greatest  ease 
imaginable.  The  reason  of  this  difference  was,  that  the  former,  from  their  in 
fancy,  weie  accustomed  to  have  their  heads  shaved,  and  to  go  uncovered 
whereas  the  latter  had  their  heads  always  covered  with  their  tiaras,  which  i> 
one  of  their  principal  ornaments. || 

Cambyses,  having  pursued  the  fugitives  to  Memphis,  sent  a  herald  into  the 
rity,  in  a  vessel  of  Mitylene,  by  the  river  Nile,  on  which  Memphis  stood,  to 
summon  the  inhabitants  to  surrender.    But  the  people,  transported  with  rage 
fell  upon  the  herald,  and  tore  him  and  all  ttiat  were  with  him  to  piejes.  Cam- 
byses, having  soon  after  taken  the  place,  fully  revenged  the  indig'iity,  causing 
ten  times  as  many  Egyptians,  of  the  first  nobility,  as  there  had  beej  of  his  people 
massacred,  to  be  publicly  executed.  Among  these  was  the  elde^.t  son  of  Psam 
menitus.    As  for  the  king  himself,  Cambyses  was  inclined  to  creat  him  kindly 
rie  not  only  spared  his  life,  but  appointed  him  an  honourable  maintenance 
But  the  Egyptian  monarch,  little  affected  with  this  kind  usage,  did  what  he 
U)uld  to  raise  new  troubles  and  commotions,  in  order  to  recover  his  kingdom 
LS  a  punishment  for  which,  he  was  made  to  drink  bull's  blood,  and  died  .*mme 
diately.    His  reign  lasted  but  six  months,  after  which  all  Egypt  submitted  to 
the  conqueror    On  the  news  of  this  success,  the  Lydians  the  Cyrenians  .  and 
tlie  Barceans,  all  sent  ambassadors  with  presents  to  Cambyses,  to  offei  him 
^  their  submissions. IT 

W  From  Memphis  he  went  to  the  city  of  Sais,  which  was  the  burying-place  ot 
Ihf  kings  of  Egypt.  As  soon  as  he  entered  the  palace,  he  caused  the  bodyol 
lUaasis  to  be  taken  out  of  his  tomb ;  and,  after  having  exposed  it  to  a  thousand 


•  Herod      in.  c.  4 — 9 
Herod.  I  iii  •  11. 


t  HeioH.  1.  iii.  c.  10. 
I]  '''rrn.  r.  U 


i  Polya».n.  !.  vVi. 
*\  Id«ni.  c  13 


362 


HiSTORY  OF  CAMUYSm 


mdigiiitiea  in  his  own  presence,  he  ordered  it  to  be  cast  into  the  are  and  humy/M 
which  was  a  thing  equally  contrary  to  the  customs  of  the  Persians  and  Egy^^B 
tia'is.    The  rage  this  prince  testified  against  the  dead  carcase  of  Amasis.  showH| 
to  what  a  degree  he  hated  his  person.    Whatever  was  the  cause  of  that  aver- 
sion, it  serins  to  have  been  one  of  the  chief  motives  Cambyses  had  for  carrying 
his  arms  into  Egypt.* 

The  next  year,  which  was  the  sixth  of  his  reign,  he  resolved  to  make  w^ai  in 
three  different  countries ;  against  the  Carthaginians,  the  Ammonians,  and  the 
Ethiopians.  The  first  of  these  projects  he  was  obliged  to  lay  aside,  because 
the  Phoenicians,  without  whose  assistance  he  could  not  carry  on  that  war,  refused 
to  succour  him  against  the  Carthaginians,  who  were  descended  from  them,  Car- 
thage being  originally  a  Tyrian  colony. t 

But,  being  determined  to  invade  the  other  tv/o  nations,  he  sent  ambassador* 
into  Ethiopia,  who,  under  that  character,  were  to  act  as  spies  for  him,  to  learn 
the  state  and  strength  of  the  country,  and  give  him  intelligence  of  both.  They 
carried  presents  along  with  them,  such  as  the  Persians  were  used  toTuake,  as 
purple,  golden  bracelets,  perfumes,  and  wine.  These  presents,  among  which 
there  was  nothing  useful  or  serviceable  to  life,  except  the  wine,  w^ere  despised 
by  the  Ethiopians ;  neither  did  they  make  much  more  account  of  his  ambas- 
sadors, whom  they  took  for  what  they  really  w^ere,  spies  and  enemies  in  dis- 
guise. However,  the  king  qf  Ethiopia  was  willing,  after  his  manner,  to  make 
a  present  to  the  king  of  Persia  ;  and  taking  a  bow  in  his  hands,  which  a  Persian 
was  so  far  from  being  able  to  draw,  that  he  could  scarcely  lift  it,  he  drew  it  in 
presence  of  the  ambassadors,  and  told  them  :  "  This  is  the  present  and  the 
counsel  the  king  of  Ethiopia  gives  the  kmg  of  Persia.  When  the  Persians  shall 
be  able  to  use  a  bow  of  this  size  and  strength,  with  as  much  ease  as  I  have  now 
bent  it,  then  let  him  come  to  attack  the  Ethiopians,  and  bring  more  troops  with 
him  than  Cambj^ses  is  master  of.  In  the  mean  time,  let  them  thank  the  gods 
for  not  having  put  it  into  the  hearts  of  the  Ethiopians  to  extend  their  dominion? 
beyond  their  own  country. "J 

This  answer  having  enraged  Cambyses,  he  commanded  his  army  to  begin 
their  march  immediately,  without  considering,  that  he  neither  had  provisions 
nor  any  thing  necessary  for  such  an  expedition  :  but  he  left  the  Grecians  be- 
hind him,  in  his  newly  conquered  country,  to  keep  it  in  subjection  during  his 
absence. § 

As  soon  as  he  arrived  at  Thebes,  in  Upper  Egj^pt,  he  detached  fifty  thou 
sand  of  his  men  against  the  Ammonians,  ordered  them  to  ravage  the  country  ^ 
and  to  destroy  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Ammon,  w^hich  was  famous  there.  Bu* 
after  they  had  made  several  days  march  in  the  desert,  a  violent  wind  blowing 
from  the  south,  brought  such  a  vast  quantity  of  sand  upon  the  army,  that  the 
men  were  all  overwhelmed  and  buried  under  it.  11 

In  the  mean  time,  Cambyses  marched  forw^ard  like  a  madman  against  the 
EthioDians,  not^vithstanding  his  being  destitute  of  all  sorts  of  provisions,which 
quickly  caused  a  terrible  famine  in  his  army.  He  had  still  time,  says  Hero- 
dotus, to  remedy  this  evil ;  but  Cambyses  would  have  thought  it  a  dishonour  to 
have  desisted  irom  his  undertaking,  and  therefore  proceeded  in  his  expedition. 
Alt  first  his  army  was  obliged  to  live  upon  herbs,  roots,  and  leaves  of  trees 
but,  coming  afterwards  into  a  country  entirely  barren,  they  were  reduced 
to  the  necessity  of  eating  their  beasts  of  burden.  At  last  they  w^ere  brought 
to  such  a  cruel  extremity,  as  to  be  obliged  to  eat  one  another ;  every  tenth 
man  upon  whom  the  lot  fell,  being  doomed  to  serve  as  meat  for  his  compan- 
ions ;  a  meat,  says  Seneca,  more  cruel  and  terrible  than  famine  itself  :  Deci^ 
mum  ouemque  sortiti,  alimentieni  na(meruntfame  siEvius.^  Notwithstanding  all 
this,  the  king  still  pershvcd  in  his  design,  or  rather  in  his  madness,  nor  did  the 
miserable  desolation  of  his  army  make  him  sensible  of  his  error.  But  at  length, 
beginning  to  be  afraid  for  his  own  person,  he  ordered  them  to  return.  Dy 


*  Her«d.  I.  iii  r.  if^.  t  Iifein.  c.  17,  19.  %  Idem.  c.  20^-24. 

4  ia«in.  c.  ^  Idem.  o.  2S.  n{  Pc  Irn,  I  iii 


HISTORY  OF  CAMliYSES. 


363 


ring  all  tin's  dread/'ul  famine  among  the  troops,  (who  would  believe  it  ?)  ther^ 
was  no  abatement  of  delicacies  at  his  fcible,  and  camels  were  still  reserved  to 
Ccxiry  his  kitchen  furniture,  and  the  instruments  of  his  luxury  :  Servabantur 
illi  interim  gertrosfe  aves,  et  instrumenta  epularum  camelis  vehebantur^  cum 
%ortircntHr  milites  ejus  quis  male  periret,  cjuis  pejus  viveret,'^ 

The  remainder  of  his  army,  of  which  the  greatest  part  was  lost  in  this  ex- 
pedition, he  brought  back  to  Thebes,  where  he  succoeded  nujch  better  in 
the  war  declared  against  the  gods,  whom  he  found  more  easy  1o  h^.  conquered 
than  men.  Thebes  was  full  of  temples,  that  were  incredibly  ricn  and  niagsii- 
ncent.  All  these  Cambyses  pillaged,  and  then  set  them  on  fire.  The  rich- 
ness of  these  temples  must  have  been  vastly  great,  since  the  very  remains, 
saved  from  the  flames,  amounted  to  an  immense  sum,  three  hundred  talents 
of  gold,  and  two  thousand  three  hundred  talents  of  silver.!  He  likewise  car- 
ried awa}^  at  this  time  the  famous  circle  of  gold,  that  encompassed  the  tomb 
of  Ozyinandias,  being  three  hundred  and  fifty-five  cubits  in  circumference, 
and  in  which  were  represented  all  the  motions  of  the  several  constellations. t 

From  Thebes  he  went  back  to  Memphis,  where  he  dismissed  all  the  Greeks, 
and  sent  them  to  their  respective  homes  ;  but  on  his  return  into  the  city,  find- 
ing it  full  of  rejoicings,  he  fell  into  a  great  rage,  supposing  all  this  to  have 
been  for  the  ill  success  of  his  expedition.  He  therefore  called  the  magistrates 
before  him,  to  know  the  meaning  of  these  public  rejoicings  ;  and  upon  their 
telling  him,  that  it  was  because  they  had  found  their  god  Apis,  he  would  not 
believe  them,  but  caused  them  to  be  put  to  death  as  impostors  that  insulted 
him  and  his  misfortunes.  And  then  he  sent  for  the  priests,  who  made  him  the 
same  aiisw^er  ;  upon  which  he  replied,  that  since  their  god  was  so  kind  an'l 
familiar  as  to  appear  among  them,  he  w^ould  be  acquainted  with  him,  and 
therefore  commanded  him  forthwith  to  be  brought  to  him.  But  when  instead 
of  a  god  he  saw  a  calf,  he  w^as  strangely  astonished,  and  falling  again  into  a 
rage,  he  drew  out  his  dagger,  and  run  it  into  the  thigh  of  the  beast  ;  and  then, 
upbraiding  the  priests  for  their  stupidity  in  worshipping  a  brute  for  a  god,  or- 
dered them  to  be  severely  whipped,  and  all  the  Egyptians  in  Memphis,  tha 
sliould  be  found  celebrating  the  feast  of  Apis,  to  be  slain.  The  god  was  car 
ried  back  to  the  temple,  where  he  languished  of  his  wound  for  some  time, 
and  then  died.§ 

The  Egyptians  say,  that  after  this  fact,  which  they  reckoned  to  have  ]}een  tlie 
highest  instance  of  impiety  that  ever  was  committed  among  them,  Carnbyses 
g^ew  mad.  But  his  actions  showed  him  to  have  been  mad  l^ng  before,  of  which 
he  continued  to  give  various  instances  :  among  the  rest  are  these  following.!! 

He  had  a  brother,  the  only  son  of  Cyrus,  besides  himself,  and  born  of  the 
same  mother :  his  name,  according  to  Xenophon,  was  Tanaoxares,  but  Hero- 
dotus calls  him  Smerdis,  and  Justin,  Mergis.  He  accompanied  Cambyses  in 
his  Egyptian  expedition.  But,  being  the  only  person,  among  all  the  Persians, 
that  could  draw  the  bow  which  the  ambassadors  of  Cambyses  brought  bin: 
from  the  king  of  Ethiopia,  Cambyses  from  hence  conceived  such  a  jealousy 
against  him,  that  he  could  bear  him  no  longer  in  the  army,  but  sent  him  back 
into  Persia.  And  not  long  after,  dreaming  that  somebody  told  him  that  Smer- 
dis sat  on  the  throne,  he  conceived  a  suspicion  that  his  brother  aspired  to  the 
throne,  and  sent  after  him  into  Persia,  Prexaspes,  one  of  his  chief  confidents 
Vi  ith  orders  to  put  him  to  death,  w^hich  he  accordingly  executed. II 

This  murder  was  the  cause  of  another  still  more  criminal.  Camln^ses  had 
A  ah  him  in  the  camp  his  youngest  sister,  whose  name  was  Meroe.  Herodotus 
informs  us  in  what  a  strange  manner  his  sister  became  his  wife.  As  the  prin- 
cess  was  exceedingly  beautiful,  Cambyses  absolutely  resolved  to  marry  her. 
To  that  end  he  called  together  all  the  judges  of  the  Persian  nation,  to  whom 
belonged  the  interpretation  of  their  laws,  to  know  of  them,  whether  there  wai 
any  law  that  would  allow  a  brother  to  marry  a  sister.    The  judges,  being  un- 


*  T)e  Ira.  1.  iii.  c  20- 


t  Diod.  Sic.  1.  i.  p  43. 
}}  Herod.  1.  ii'i.  - 


X  Idem.  p.  46. 


364 


History  of  cambysbs 


willing  on  the  one  hand  directlj  to  authorize  such  an  incestuous  marriage,  and 
on  the  other,  fearing  the  king's  violent  temper  should  they  contradict  him,  en- 
deavoured to  find  out  a  subterfuge,  and  gave  him  this  crafty  answer  :  that  they 
had  no  law  indeed  which  permitted  a  brother  to  marry  a  sister,  but  they  had 
a  law  which  allowed  the  king  of  Persia  to  do  what  he  pleased.  This  answer, 
serving  his  purpose  as  w^ell  as  a  direct  approbation,  he  solemnly  married  her, 
and  hereby  gave  the  first  example  of  that  incest,  which  was  afterwards  prac- 
tised by  most  of  his  successors,  and  by  some  of  them  carried  so  far  as  to  marrj 
their  own  daughters,  how  repugnant  soever  it  be  to  modesty  and  good  order. 
This  lady  he  carried  with  him  in  all  his  expeditions,  and  her  name  being  Me- 
roe,  he  gave  it  to  an  island  in  the  Nile,  between  Egypt  and  Ethiopia,  on  the 
conquering  of  it,  having  advanced  thus  far  in  his  wijd  march  against  the  Ethio- 
pians. The  circumstance  that  gave  occasion  to  his  murdering  this  princess, 
"tvas  as  follow^s.  One  day  Cambyses  was  diverting  himself  in  seeing  a  combat 
between  a  young  lion  and  a  young  dog ;  the  lion  having  the  better,  another 
dog,  brother  to  him  that  was  engaged,  came  to  his  assistance,  and  helped  him 
to  master  the  lion.  This  adventure  mightily  delighted  Cambyses,  but  drew 
tears  from  Meroe,  who  being  obliged  to  tell  her  husband  the  reason  of  her 
weeping,  confessed  that  this  combat  made  her  call  to  mind  the  fate  of  her 
brother  Smerdis,  who  had  not  the  same  good  fortune  as  that  littfe  dog.  There 
needed  no  more  than  this  to  excite  the  rage  of  this  brutal  prince,  who  imme- 
diately gave  her,  notwithstanding  her  being  with  child,  such  a  blow  with  his 
foot  on  the  belly,  that  she  died  of  it.  So  abominable  a  marriage  deserved  no 
better  end.* 

He  caused  also  several  of  the  principal  of  his  followers  to  be  buried  alive, 
and  daily  sacrificed  some  one  or  other  of  them  to  his  wild  fury.  He  had 
obliged  Prexaspes,  one  of  his  principal  officers  and  favourites,  to  declare  to 
him  w^hat  his  Persian  subjects  thought  and  said  of  him.  "  They  admire,  Sir," 
says  Prexaspes,  "  a  great  many  excellent  qualities  they  see  in  you,  but  they 
are  somewhat  mortified  at  your  immoderate  love  of  wine."  ''I  understand 
you,"  replied  the  king,  "  that  is,  they  pretend  that  wine  deprives  me  of  my 
reason  ;  you  shall  be  judge  of  that  immediately."  Upon  which  he  began  to 
drink  excessively,  pouring  it  down  in  larger  quantities  than  he  had  ever  done 
before.  Then  ordering  Prexaspes's  son,  who  w^as  his  chief  cup-bearer,  to  stand 
upright  at  the  end  of  the  room,  with  his  left  hand  upon  his  head,  he  took  his 
bow%  and  levelled  it  at  him ;  and  declaring  that  he  aimed  it  at  his  heart,  let 
fly,  and  actually  shot  him  in  the  heart.  He  then  ordered  his  side  to  be  opened, 
and  showing  the  father  the  heart  of  his  son,  which  the  arrow  had  pierced, 
asked  him,  in  an  insulting,  scoffing  manner,  if  he  had  not  a  steady  hand  ?  The 
wretched  father,  who  ought  not  to  have  had  either  voice  or  life  remaining, 
after  a  stroke  like  this,  was  so  mean-spirited  as  to  reply,  Apollo  himself 
could  not  have  shot  better."  Seneca,  who  copied  this  story  from  Herodotus, 
after  having  shown  his  detestation  of  the  barbarous  cruelty  of  the  prince,  con- 
demns still  more  the  cowardly  and  monstrous  flattery  of  the  father^  Scelera- 
tius  telum  illud  laudotum  est,  quam  missurn,] 

When  Croesus  took  upon  him  to  advise  Cambyses  against  these  proceedings, 
and  laid  before  him  the  ill  consequences  they  would  lead  to,  he  ordered  him 
to  De  put  to  death.  And  when  those  who  rt>ceived  his  order,  knowing  he 
would  repent  of  it  the  next  day,  deferred  the  execution,  he  caused  them  all  to 
V?e  put  to  death,  because  they  had  not  obeyed  his  commands,  though  at  the 
same  time  he  expressed  great  joy  that  Croesus  w^as  alive.J 

It  was  about  thi?  time,  Oretes,  one  of  the  satraps  of  Cambyses,  who  had  the 
government  of  Sardis,  after  a  very  strange  and  extraordinary  manner,  brought 
about  the  death  of  Polycrates,  tyrant  of  Samos.  The  story  of  this  Polycrates  i? 
of  so  singular  a  nature,  that  the  reader  will  not  be  displeased  if  I  repeat  it  here. 

This  Polycrates  was  a  prince,  who,  through  the  whole  course  of  his  life,  had 
been  perfectly  prosperous  and  successful  in  all  his  affairs,  and  had  never  mel 


•  Herod.  I.  iii  e.  3J,  32.  f  Idem.  c.  S4>  S6.    Sen.  )  iii  d«  Ira,  c  14.        t  H*rod.  >    v,  e.  S6 


HISTORY  OF 


^65 


with  the  least  disappointment,  or  unfortunate  accident,  to  disturb  his  felioty. 
Amasis,  king  of  Egypt,  his  friend  and  ally,  thought  himself  obliged  to  send  hinc 
a  letter  of  admonition  upon  that  subject.  In  this  letter  he  declared  to  him,  that 
he  had  terrible  apprehensions  concerning  his  condition ;  that  such  a  long  and 
uninterrupted  course  of  prosperity  was  to  be  suspected ;  that  some  malignam 
mvidious  god,  who  looks  upon  the  fortune  of  men  with  a  jealous  eye,  woulo 
certainly,  sooner  or  later,  bring  ruin  and  destruction  upon  him  ;  and,  in  ordci 
to  prevent  such  a  fatal  stroke,  he  advised  him  to  procure  some  misfortune  tG 
himself  by  some  voluntary  loss,  that  he  was  persuaded  would  prove  a  sensible 
mortification  *o  him.* 

The  tyrant  followed  his  advice.  Having  an  emerald  ring  which  he  highly 
♦isteemed,  particularly  for  its  curious  workmanship,  as  he  was  walking  upon 
ihedeck  of  one  of  his  galleys  with  his  courtiers,  he  threw  it  into  the  sea  w  ith 
out  any  one's  perceiving  what  he  had  done.  Not  many  days  after,  some- 
fishermen,  having  caught  a  fish  of  an  extraordinary  size,  made  a  present  of 
to  Polycrates.  When  the  fish  was  opened,  the  king's  ring  was  found  in  the 
belly  of  it.    His  surprise  was  very  great,  and  his  joy  still  greater. 

When  Amasis  heard  what  had  happened,  he  was  very  differently  affected 
with  it.  He  wrote  another  letter  to  Polycrates,  telling  him,  that  to  avoid  the 
mortification  of  seeing  his  friend  and  ally  fall  into  some  grievous  calamity,  he 
from  that  time  renounced  his  friendship  and  alliance.  A  strange,  whimsical 
notion!  as  if  friendship  was  merely  a  name,  or  a  title  destitute  of  all  substance 
and  reality. 

Be  that  as  it  will,  the  thing  did  really  happen  as  the  Egyptian  king  appre- 
hended. Some  years  aftci',  about  the  time  Cambyses  fell  sick,Oretes,  who,  as  1 
said  before,  was  his  governor  at  Sardis,  not  being  able  to  bear  the  reproach 
which  another  sairap  had  cast  upon  him,  in  a  private  quarrel,  for  his  not 
having  yet  conquered  the  isle  of  Samos,  which  lay  so  near  his  government,  and 
would  be  so  commodious  to  his  master,  Oretes,  upon  this  resolved,  at  any  rate, 
to  destroy  Polycrates,  that  he  might  get  possession  of  the  island.  The  way  he 
took  to  effect  his  design  was  this.  He  feigned  an  inclination,  upon  some  pre 
tended  discontent,  to  revolt  from  Cambyses,  and  in  order,  he  said,  to  secure  his 
treasure  and  effects,  he  was  determined  to  deposit  them  in  the  hands  of  Poly- 
ciates,  at  the  same  time  to  make  him  a  present  of  one  half  of  them,  which  would 
enable  him  to  conquer  Ionia  and  the  adjacent  islands,  a  project  he  had  long  had 
in  view.  Oretes  knew  the  tyrant  loved  money,  and  passionately  coveted  to  en- 
large his  dominions.  He  therefore  laid  that  double  bait  before  him,  hy  which 
he  equally  tempted  his  avarice  and  ambition.  Potycrates,  that  he  might  not 
rashly  engage  in  an  affair  of  that  importance,  thought  it  proper  to  inform  him- 
self more  surely  of  the  truth  of  the  matter,  and  to  that  end  sent  a  messenger  of 
his  own  to  Sardis.  When  he  came  there,  Oretes  showed  him  a  vast  number  of 
bags  full  of  goid  as  he  said,  but  in  truth  filled  with  stones,  and  having  only  the 
mouth  of  them  covered  with  gold  coin.  As  soon  as  he  was  returned  home,  Poly* 
crates,  impatient  to  go  and  seize  his  prey,  set  out  for  Sardis,  contrary  to  the 
advice  of  all  his  friends,  and,  and  took  along  with  him  Democedes,  a  cele- 
brated physician  of  Crotona.  Immediately  on  his  arrival,  Oretes  had  him  ar- 
rested, as  an  enemy  to  the  state,  and  as  such  caused  him  to  be  hanged.  In  such 
Jin  ignominious  and  shameful  manner  did  he  end  a  life,  which  had  been  butcne? 
continued  series  of  prosperity  and  good  fortune.! 

Cambyses,  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  year  of  his  reign,  left  Ea:ypt  in 
order  to  return  into  Persia.  VVhen  he  reached  Syria,  he  found  a  herald  there, 
sent  from  Susa  to  the  army,  to  let  them  know  that  Smerdis,  the  son  of  Cyrus, 
was  proclaimed  king,  and  to  command  them  all  to  obey  him.  This  event  had 
been  brought  about  in  the  tollowing  manner.  Cambyses, at  his  departure  from 
i^usa  on  his  Egyptian  expedition,  had  lefHhe  administration  of  affairs  during 
•is  absence  in  the  hands  of  Patisithes,  one  of  the  chief  of  the  Magi.  This 


t  HfMvid  \.  iii.  c  VIO  -126. 


HlSTOttY  OF  SMLR0iS. 


Patisithes  had  a  brother  strongly  resembling;  Smerdis,  the  son  of  Cyrus,  and 
who,  perhaps,  for  that  reason  was  called  by  "the  same  name.  As  soon  as  Pa- 
tisithes was  fully  assured  of  the  death  of  that  prince,  which  was  concealed 
from  the  public,  knowing,  at  the  same  time,  that  Cambyses  indulged  his  ex- 
travagance to  such  a  degree,  that  he  was  grown  insupportable,  he  placed  /.is 
own  brother  upon  the  throne,  giving  out  that  he  was  the  true  Smerdis,  the  son 
of  Cyrus  ;  and  immediately  despatched  heralds  into  all  the  parts  of  the  em- 
pire, to  give  notice  of  Smerdis's  ai  cession,  and  to  require  all  the  subjects 
tliereof  to  pay  him  obedience.* 

Cambyses  caused  the  herald  that  came  with  these  orders  into  Syria  to  be 
arrested ;  and  having  strictly  examined  him  in  the  presence  of  Prexaspes, 
who  had  received  orders  to  kill  his  brother,  he  found  that  the  true  Smerdis 
was  certainly  dead,  and  he  who  had  usurped  the  throne  was  no  other  thai 
Smerdis  the  Magian.  Upon  this  he  made  great  lamentations,  that  being  de- 
ceived by  a  dream,  and  the  identity  of  the  names,  he  had  been  induced  to 
destroy  his  own  brother  ;  and  immediately  gave  orders  for  his  army  to  march 
and  cut  off  the  usurper.  But  as  he  w^s  mounting  his  horse  for  this  expedition, 
his  sword  slipped  out  of  its  scabbard^  and  gave  him  a  wound  in  the  thigh,  of 
which  he  died  soon  after.  The  Egyptians  remarking,  that  it  was  upon  the 
same  part  of  the  body  where  he  had  wounded  their  god  Apis,  looked  upon  it 
as  a  judgment  upon  him  for  that  sacrilegious  impiety.j 

While  he  was  in  Egypt,  having  consulted  the  oracle  of  Butos,  which  was 
famous  in  that  country,  he  w^as  told  that  he  should  die  at  Ecbatana  ;  under- 
standing this  of  Ecbatana  in  Media,  he  resolved  to  preserve  his  life  by  nevei 
going  thither;  but  what  he  thought  to  avoid  in  Media,  he  found  in  Syria;  for 
the  town  where  he  lay  sick  of  this  wound  was  also  called  Ecbatana.  On  this 
being  made  known  to  him,  taking  it  for  certain  that  he  must  die  there,  he  as- 
sembled the  chiefs  of  the  Persians  together,  and  representing  to  them  that"  it 
was  Smerdis  the  Magian  who  had  usurped  the  throne,  earnestly  exhorted  them 
not  to  submit  to  that  impostor,  nor  to  suffer  the  sovereignty  to  pass  from  the 
Persians  again  to  the  Medes,  of  vs^hich  nation  the  Magian  w?.s,  but  to  take  care 
to'  set  up  a  kivng  over  them  of  their  own  people.  The  Persians,  thinking  he 
had  said  all  this  out  of  hatred  to  his  brother,  paid  no  regard  to  it,  but  upon  his 
death,  quietly  submitted  to  him  whom  they  found  on  the  throne,  supposing  him 
to  be  the  true  Smerdis.J 

Cambyses  reigned  seven  years  and  five  months.  In  Scripture  he  is  called  ^ 
Ahasuerus.  When  he  first  came  to  the  crown,  the  enemies  of  the  Jews  made 
their  addresses  directly  to  him,  desiring  him  to  prevent  the  b  jiiding  of  theii 
temple.  And  their  application  was  not  in  vain.  Indeed,  he  did  not  openly 
revoke  the  edict  of  his  father  Cyrus,  perhaps  out  of  some  lemains  of  respect 
for  his  memory,  but  in  a  great  measure  frustrated  its  intent,  by  the  many  dis- 
couragements he  laid  the  Jews  under ;  so  that  the  work  went  on  very  slowl* 
during  his  reign. § 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  SMIERBIS  THE  MAGIAN. 

Thi5  prince  is  called  in  Scripture  Artaxerxes.'^  A-s  ^on  as  he  w^as  settled 
on  the  throne,  by  the  death  of  Cambyses,ll  the  inhabitants  of  Samaria  wrote 
a  letter  to  him,  setting  forth  w^hat  a  turbulent,  seditious,  and  rebellious  people 
fhe  Jews  were.  By  virtue  of  this  letter,  they  obtained  an  order  from  the  kin^, 
prohibiting  the  Jews  from  proceeding  any  farther  in  the  rebuilding  of  their 
city  and  temple.  ,  So  that  the  Avork  was  suspended  till  the  second  year  of  Da- 
rius, for  about  the  space  of  two  years. 


*  Herod.  1.  ili.  c.  t\. 
i  \  Esd.  iv  4  6 


crod.  1,  iii.  c.  62 — ^64.  J  Herod.  1.  iii.  c.  G  l — tift. 

t)  A.  M.  34m.    Anl.  J.  C.  S^2.    \  Fsd.  iv.  7-l» 


KIS'j'OKV  OF  J^WEIiDlS. 


3G7 


The  Magian,  sensible  how  important  it  was  for  him  that  the  imposture  should 
•x)t  be  discovered,  affected,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  eastern  monartlis 
in  those  times,  never  to  appear  in  public,  but  to  live  retired  in  his  palace,  and 
there  transact  all  his  affairs  by  the  intercourse  of  his  eunuchs,  without  adn) it- 
ting  any,  but  his  most  inti^nate  confidants,  to  his  presence. 

And,  the  better  to  secure  himself  in  the  possession  of  the  throne  he  l»3<l 
usurped,  he  studied,  from  his  first  accession,  to  gain  the  affections  of  his  sun- 
jects,  by  granting  them  an  exemption  from  taxes,  and  from  all  military  service 
for  three  years ;  and  did  so  many  things  for  their  benefit,  that  his  death  was 
much  lamented  by  the  generality  of  the  Persians,  on  the  revolution  that  hap- 
pened afterwards.* 

But  the  very  precautions  he  made  use  of,  to  keep  himself  out  of  the  way^ 
of  being  discovered  either  by  the  nobility  or  the  people,  did  but  make  it  the 
wore  suspected  that  he  was  not  the  true  Smerdis.  He  had  married  all  his 
predecessor's  wives,  and  among  them  Atossa,  a  daughter  of  Cyrus,  and  Plie- 
dyma,  a  daughter  of  Otanes,  a  noble  Persian  of  the  first  quality.  This  noble- 
man sent  a  trusty  messenger  to  his  daughter,  to  know  of  her  whether  the  king 
was  really  Smerdis,  the  son  of  Cyrus,  or  some  other  man.  She  answered,  that 
having  never  seen  S.nerdis,  the  son  of  Cyrus,  she  could  not  tell.  He  then,  by  a 
second  message,  desired  her  to  inquire  of  Atossa,  who  could  not  but  know  her 
own  brother,  whether  this  was  he  or  not.  Whereupon  she  informed  him,  that 
the  present  king  kept  all  his  wives  apart,  so  that  they  never  could  converse 
with  one  another,  and  that  therefore  she  could  not  come  at  Atossa,  to  ask  this 
question  of  her.  He  sent  her  a  third  message,  whereby  he  directed  her  that 
when  he  should  next  lie  with  her,  she  should  take  the  opportunity  when  he 
was  fast  asleep,  to  feel  whether  he  had  any  ears  or  no.  For  Cyrus  having 
caused  the  ears  of  Smerdis  the  Magian  to  "be  cutoff  for  some  crime,  he  told 
her,  that  if  the  person  she  lay  with  had  ears,  she  might  satisfy  herself  that  he 
was  Smerdis  the  son  of  Cyrus ;  but  if  not,  he  was  Smerdis  the  Magian,  and 
therefore  unworthy  of  possessing  either  the  crown  or  her.  Phedym.a,  having 
received  these  instructions,  took  the  next  opportunity  of  making  the  trial  she 
was  directed  to  ;  and  finding  that  the  person  she  lay  with  had  no  ears,  she  sent 
word  of  it  to  her  father,  whereby  the  fraud  was  discovered.! 

Otanes  immediately  entered  into  a  conspiracy  with  five  more  of  the  chief 
Persian  nobility ;  and  Darius,  an  illustrious  Persian  nobleman,  whose  father, 
Hystaspes,  was  governor  of  Persia,3;  coming  very  seasonably,  as  they  were  form- 
ing their  plan,  was  admitted  into  the  association,  and  vigorously  promoted  the 
execution.  ^  The  affair  was  conducted  with^great  secrecy,  and  the  very  day 
fixed,  lest  it  should  be  discovered.^ 

While  they  were  concerting  their  measures,  an  extraordinaiy  occurrence, 
which  they  had  not  the  least  expectation  of,  strangely  perplexed  the  Magians. 
In  order  to  remove  all  suspicion,  they  h-^d  proposed  to  Prexa.pes,  and  ob- 
tained a  promise  from  him,  that  he  would  publicly  declare  bel  >re  the  people, 
*^'ho  were  to  be  assembled  for  that  purpose,  that  the  king  upoh  the  Vhrone  waa 
truly  Smerdis,  the  son  of  Cyrus. II 

When  the  people  were  assembled,  which  was  on  the  very  same  day,  Prex- 
aspes  spoke  from  the  top  of  a  tower,  and,  to  the  great  astonishment  of  all  pre- 
serit,  sincerely  declared  all  that  had  passed  ;  that  he  had  with  his  own  hand 
killed  Smerdis,  the  son  of  Cyrus,  by  order  of  Cambyses ;  that  the  person  wiio 
now  possessed  the  throne,  was  Smerdis  the  Magian  ;  that  he  begged  pardon  of 
the  gods  and  men  for  the  crime  he  had  committed,  by  compulsion  and  against 
his  will.  Having  said  this,  he  threw  himself  headlong  from  the  top  of  the 
tower,  and  broke  his  neck.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  what  confusion  the  nev/s  of 
this  accident  occasioned  in  the  palace. 

The  conspirators,  without  knowing  any  thing  of  what  had  happened,  were 
foing  to  the  palace  at  this  juncture,  and  were  suffered  to  enter  unsuiipected . 


368 


for  the,aater  guard,  knowing  them  to  be  persons  of  the  first  rank  at  court,  did 
not  so^uch  as  ask  ihem  any  questions.  But  coming  near  the  king's  apa-rtmei.t, 
and  finding  the  officers  there  unwilling  to  give  admittance,  they  drew  their 
scimitars,  fell  upon  the  guards,  and  forced  their  passage.  Smerdis  the  Magian 
and  his  brother,  who  were  deliberating  together  upon  the  affair  of  Prexaspes 
hearing  a  sudden  uproar,  snatched  up  their  arms,  made  the  best  defence  they 
could,  and  w^ounded  some  of  the  conspirators.  One  of  the  two  brothers  being 
quickly  killed,  the  other  fled  into  a  distant  room  to  save  himself,  but  was  pur- 
sued  thither  by  Gobryas  and  Darius.  Gobryas  having  seized  him,  held  him 
last  in  his  arms;  but,  as  it  was  quite  dark  in  that  place,  Darius  was  afraid  to 
kill  him,  lest,  at  the  same  time,  he  should  kill  his  friend.  Gobryas,  judging 
what  it  was  that  restrained  him,  obliged  him  to  run  hrs  sword  through  the  Ma- 
gian's  body,  though  he  should  happen  to  kill  them  both  together,  But  Darius 
did  it  vAih  so  much  dexterity  and  good  fortune,  that  he  killed  the  Magian  with- 
out hurting  his  companion.* 

In  the  same  instant,  with  their  hands  all  besmeared  with  blood,  they  w^ent 
out  of  the  palace,  exposed  the  heads  of  the  false  Smerdis  and  his  brother  Pati* 
sithes  to  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and  declared  the  whole  imposture.  Upon  this, 
the  people  grew  so  enraged  against  the  impostors,  that  they  fell  upon  their 
whole  sect,  and  slew  as  many  of  them  as  they  could  find.  For  this  reason,  the 
day  on  which  this  was  done,  became  thenceforward  an  annual  festival  among 
the  Persians,  by  whom  it  was  celebrated  with  great  rejoicings.  It  was  called 
The  slaughter  of  the  Magi ;  none  of  that  sect  venturing  to  appear  in  public  upon 
that  festi'val.t 

When  the  tumult  and  disorder,  inseparable  from  such  an  event,  were  ap- 
peased, the  lords  who  had  slain  the  usurper  entered  into  consultation  among 
themselves,  what  sort  of  government  was  most  proper  for  them  to  establish. 
Otanes,  who  spoke  first,  declared  directly  against  monarchy,  strongly  repre- 
senting and  exaggerating  the  dangers  and  inconveniences  to  which  that  form 
of  government  was  liable,  chiefly  flowing,  according  to  him,  from  the  absolute 
and  unlimited  power  annexed  to  it,  by  which  the  most  virtuous  man  is  almost 
unavoidably  corrupted.  He  therefore  concluded,  hj  declaring  upon  a  popu- 
lar government.  Megabyzus,  who  next  delivered  his  opinion,  admitting  all 
that  the  other  had  said  against  a  monarchial  government,  confuted  his  reasons  - 
for  a  democracy.  He  represented  the  people  as  a  violent,  fierce,  and  ungo- 
vernable animal,  that  acts  only  by  caprice  and  passion.  "A  king,"  said  he, 
''knows  what  he  does  ;  but  the  people  neither  know  nor  hear  any  thing,  and  ,  ^ 
blindly  give  themselves  up  to  those  who  know  how  to  manage  them."  He 
therefore  declared  for  an  aristocracy,  wherein  the  supreme  power  is  confided 
to  a  few  wise  and  experienced  persons.  Darius,  who  spoke  last,  showed  the 
inconveniences  of  an  aristocracy,  otherwise  called  oligarchy,  wherein  reign  dis- 
trust, envy,  dissensions,  and  ambiti^^n,  all  natural  sources  of  faction,  sedition, 
and  murder,  for  which  there  is  usually  no  other  remedy  than  submitting  to  one 
man's  authority  :  and  this  is  called  monarchy,  which  of  all  forms  of  government 
is  the  most  commendable,  the  safest,  and  the  most  advantageous  ;  the  good  that 
can  be  done  b)^  a  prince,  whose  power  is  equal  to  the  goodness  of  his  inclina- 
tions, being  inexpressibly  great.  "  In  short,"  said  he,  "  to  determine  this  point 
by  a  fact  which  to  me  seems  decisive  and  undeniable,  to  what  form,  of  govern- 
ment is  the  present  greatness  of  the  Persian  empire  owing  ?  Is  it  not  that  which 
I  am  now  recommending  ?"  The  opinion  of  Darius  was  embraced  by  the  rest 
of  the  lords,  and  they  resolved,  that  the  monarchy  should  be  continued  on  the 
.«ame  footing  whereon  it  had  been  established  by  Cyrus. 

The  next  question  was  to  know,  w  hich  of  them  should  be  king,  and  how  they 
?[Kmld  proceed  to  the  election.  This  they  thought  fit  to  refer  to  the  gods. 
Accordingly,  they  agreed  to  meet  the  nextmorning,  by  sun-rise,  on  horseback, 
ai  a  certain  place  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city,  and  he  w^hose  horse  first  neighed 
siiould  be  king.    F or  the  sun  being  the  chief  deity  of  the  Persians,  they  ima- 


*  Idem  o  70 


MAiNNEKS  OF  THE  ASSYRIANS.  ^* 


369 


pined,  that  taking  this  course  would  be  ^ivinj^  him  the  honour  of  tire  ehction. 
rhe  groom  of  Darius,  hearing  of  the  agreement,  made  use  of  the  following 
artifice  to  secure  the  crown  to  his  master.  He  carried,  the  night  before,  a 
mare  into  the  place  appointed  for  their  meeting  the  next  day,  and  brought  to 
her  his  master's  horse.  The  lords  assembling  the  next  morning  at  the  rendez- 
vous, no  sooner  was  Darius's  horse  come  to  the  place  where  he  had  smelt  the 
mare,  than  he  began  to  neigh,  whereupon  Darius  was  saluted  king  by  the  others, 
and  placed  on  the  throne.  He  was  the  son  of  Hystaspes,  a  Persian  by  birth, 
and  of  the  royal  family  of  Achaimenes.* 

The  Persian  empire  being  thus  restored  and  settled  by  the  wisdom  and  valour 
of  these  seven  lords,  they  were  raised  by  the  new  king  to  the  highest  dignities, 
and  honoured  with  the  most  ample  privileges.  They  had  access  to  his  person 
whenever  they  would,  and  in  all  public  affairs  were  the  first  to  deliver  their 
opinions.  And  whereas  the  Persians  wore  their  tiara  or  turban  with  the  top 
bent  backward,  except  the  king,  who  wore  his  erect ;  these  lords  had  the  privi 
lege  of  wearing  theirs  with  the  top  bent  forward,  because,  when  they  attacked 
the  Magi,  they  had  bent  theirs  in  that  manner,  the  better  to  know  one  another 
in  the  hurry  and  confusion.  From  that  time  forward  the  Persian  kings  of  this 
family  always  had  seven  counsellors,  honoured  with  the  same  privilege.! 

Here  I  shall  conclude  the  history  of  the  Persian  empire,  reserving  the  ip- 
mainder  of  it  for  the  following  volumes.  . 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  OT  THE  ASSY- 
RIANS, BABYI^ONIANS;  IiYDZANS, 
MEDES  AND  PERSIANS. 

I  SHALL  give,  in  this  place,  an  account  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  these 
several  nations  jointly,  because  they  agree  in  several  points  ;  and  if  I  was  to 
treat  them  separately,  I  should  be  obliged  to  make  frequent  repetitions ;  besides 
that,  excepting  the  Persians,  the  ancient  authors  say  very  little  of  the  manners  of 
the  other  nations.  I  shall  reduce  what  1  have  to  say  of  them  to  these  four  heads . 
I.  Their  government. 

II.  Their  art  of  war. 

III.  Their  arts  and  sciences.  And, 

IV.  Their  religion. 

After  which  I  shall  lay  down  the  causes  of  the  declension  and  ruin  of  the 
great  Persian  empire. 

ARTICLE  I. 

OF  THEIR  GOVERNMENT. 

After  a  short  account  of  'die  nature  of  the  government  of  Persia,  and  the 
manner  of  educating  the  children  of  their  kings,  I  shall  proceed  to  consider 
these  four  things  :  their  public  council,  wherein  the  affairs  of  state  were  con- 
sidered ;  the  administration  of  justice  ;  their  care  of  the  provinces  ;  and  the 
good  order  observed  in  their  revenues. 

SECTION  I.  THEIR  MONARCHIAL  FORM  0F  GOVERNMENT.     THE  RESPECT  THEV 

PAID  TO  THEIR  KINGS.     THE  MANNER  OF  EDUCATING  THEIR  CHILDREN.^ 

MoNARCHiAL,  or  regal  government,  as  we  call  it,  is  of  all  others  the  mcit 
hncient,  the  most  universal,  the  best  adapted  to  keep  the  people  in  peace  a  n] 
union,  and  the  least  exposed  to  the  revoluiions  and  vicissitudes  incident  ic 


*  Hftrod  1.  iii.  c.  24--8' 

Vol  I. 


370 


MANNERS  OF  THE 


states.  For  these  reasons,  the  wisest  writers  among  the  ancients,  as  Plato,  Arui- 
totle,  Plutarch,  and,  especially  Herodotus,  have  thought  fit  to  prefer  this  form 
of  government  to  all  others.  It  is  likewise  the  only  form  that  ever  was  estab- 
lished among  the  eastern  nations,  a  republican  government  being  utterly  un- 
known in  that  part  of  the  world. 

Those  pe  3ple  paid  extraordinary  honours  to  the  prince  on  the  throne,  because 
in  his  person  they  respected  the  character  of  the  Deity,  whose  image  and  vice* 
gerent  he  was  with  regard  to  them,  being  placed  on  the  throne  by  the  hand* 
of  the  Supreme  Governor  of  the  world,  and  clothed  with  his  authority  and 
power,  in  order  to  be  the  minister  of  his  providence,  and  the  dispenser  of  his 
goodness  towards  the  people.*  In  this  manner  did  the  pagans  themselves  in 
old  times  both  think  and  speak :  Principem  dat  Deus,  qui  erga  omne  hominum 
genus  vice  sua  fungatur,] 

These  sentiments  are  very  laudable  and  just.  For  certainly  the  most  pro- 
found  respect  and  reverence  are  due  to  the  supreme  power,  because  it  cometh 
from  God,  and  is  entirely  appointed  for  the  good  of  the  public  :  besides,  it  is 
evident,  that  an  authority  not  respected  according  to  the  full  extent  of  its  com- 
mission, must  thereby  either  become  useless,  or  at  least  very  much  limited  in 
the  good  effects  which  ought  to  flow  from  it.  But  in  the  times  of  paganism, 
these  honours  and  homages,  though  just  and  reasonable  in  themselves,  were 
often  carried  too  far ;  the  Christian  being  the  only  religion  that  has  known  how 
to  keep  within  bounds  in  that  particular.  We  honour  the  emperor,  said  Ter- 
tullian  in  the  name  of  all  the  Christians  ;  but  in  such  a  manner,  as  is  lawful  for 
us,  and  proper  for  him  ;  that  is,  as  a  man,  who  is  next  after  God  in  rank  and 
authority,  from  whom  he  has  received  all  that  he  is,  and  whatever  he  has,  and 
who  knows  no  superior  but  God  alone. J  For  this  reason  he  calls,  in  another 
place,  the  emperor  a  second  majesty,  inferior  to  nothing  but  the  first :  Religio 
secundce  majestatis,^ 

Among  the  Assyrians,  and  more  particularly  among  the  Persians,  the  prince 
ased  to  be  styled,  "  The  great  king,  the  king  of  kings."  Two  reasons  might 
induce  those  princes  to  take  that  ostentatious  title.  The  one,  because  their 
empire  was  formed  of  many  conquered  kingdoms,  all  united  under  one  head  ; 
the  other,  because  they  had  several  kings,  their  vassals,  either  in  their  court,  oi 
dependent  upon  them. 

The  crown  was  hereditary  among  them,  descending  from  father  to  son,  and 
generally  to  the  oldest.  When  an  heir  to  the  crown  was  born,  all  the  em- 
pire testified  their  joy  by  sacrifices,  feasts,  and  all  manner  of  publTc  rejoicing  ; 
and  his  birth-day  was  thenceforward  an  annual  festival  and  day  of  soluminiy 
for  ail  the  Persians. || 

The  manner  of  educating  the  future  master  of  the  empire  is  admired  by  Plato, 
and  recommended  to  the  Greeks  as  a  perfect  model  for  a  prince's  education. 

He  was  never  wholly  committed  to  the  care  of  the  nurse,  who  generally  was 
a  woman  of  mean  and  low  condition  :  but  from  among  the  eunuchs,  that  is,  the 
chief  officers  of  the  household,  some  of  the  most  approved  merit  and  probity 
were  chosen,  to  take  care  of  the  young  prince's  person  and  health,  till  he  was 
seven  years  of  age,  and  to  begin  to  form  his  manners  and  behaviour.  He  was 
dien  taken  from  them,  and  put  into  the  hands  of  other  masters,  who  were  to 
continue  the  care  of  his  education,  to  teach  him  to  ride  as  soon  as  his  strength 
would  permit,  and  to  exercise  him  in  hunting. 

At  fourteen  years  of  age,  when  the  mind  begins  to  attain  some  maturity,  four 
W  the  wisest  and  most  virtuous  men  of  the  state  were  appointed  to  be  his  pre- 
ceptors. The  first,  says  Plato,  taught  him  magic,  that  is,  in  their  lane:uage, 
ihe  worship  of  the  gods  according  to  their  ancient  maxims,  and  the  law  oi  Zo- 
/oaster,  the  son  of  Oromasdes  ;  he  also  instructed  him  in  the  principles  of  go- 

*  Plut.  in  Themist.  p.  125.  ad  Princ.  indoc.  p.  780.  |  Plln.  la  Paneg.  Traj. 

X  Col'imiiB  Imneratorem,  iic,  quomodo  et  nobis  licet,  et  ipsi  expedit ;  ut  hominem  a  Deo  lecuodum,  et 
^uMquid  •tU^  Peo  consecuturo,  ct  mIo  Deo  minorem.— TertuK  L.  Scap. 
k  Apolof .  e.  i.  p  9&  n  Plut.  in  A]cib.  c.  i  p.  121.  PlMt.  ia  AI«ib.  c.  \  p,  131 


A8SY11IANS,  Sec. 


femment.  The  second  was  to  accustom  him  to  speak  truth,  and  toadmini^tei 
justxe.  The  third  was  to  teach  him  not  to  he  overcome  hy  pleasures,  that  he 
mig;ht  he  truly  a  king,  and  always  free,  master  of  himself  and  his  desires. 
The  fourth  was  to  fortity  him  against  fear,  which  would  have  made  him  a  slave, 
and  to  inspire  him  with  a  noble  and  prudent  assurance,  so  necessary  for  those 
that  are  born  to  command.  Each  of  these  governors  excelled  in  his  way,  and 
was  eminent  in  that  part  of  education  assigned  to  him.  One  was  particularly 
distinguished  for  his  knowledge  in  religion,  and  the  art  of  governing  :  another 
for  his  love  of  truth  and  justice ;  this  for  his  moderation  and  absunence  from 
pleasures,  that  for  a  superior  strength  of  mind  and  uncommon  intrepidity. 

I  do  not  know,  whether  such  a  diversity  of  masters,  who,  without  doubt,  were 
of  different  tempers,  and  perhaps  had  different  interests  in  view  was  proper  to 
answer  the  end  proposed ;  or  whether  it  was  possible,  that  four  men  should 
agree  together  in  the  same  principles,  and  harmoniously  pursue  the  same  end. 
Probably,  the  reason  of  having  so  many  was,  that  they  apprehended  it  im- 
possible to  find  anyone  person  possessed  of  all  the  qualities  they  judged  ne- 
cessary for  giving  a  right  education  to  the  presumptive  heir  of  the  crown  ;  so 
great  an  idea  had  they,  even  in  those  corrupt  times,  of  the  importance  of  a 
prince's  education. 

Be  this  as  it  will,  all  this  care,  as  Plato  remarks  in  the  same  place,  was  frus- 
trated by  tlie  luxury,  pomp,  and  magnificence  with  which  the  young  prince 
was  surrounded ;  by  the  numerous  train  of  attendants,  that  paid  him  a  servile 
submission  ;  by  all  the  appurtenances  and  equipage  of  a  voluptuous  and  ef- 
feminate life,  in  which  pleasure,  and  the  inventing  of  new  diversions,  seemed 
to  engross  all  attention :  dangers  which  the  most  excellent  disposition  could 
never  surmount.  The  corrupt  manners  of  the  nation,  therefore,  quickly  de- 
bauched the  prince,  aiid  drew  him  into  the  reigning  pleasures,  against  which 
no  education  is  a  sufficient  defence. 

The  education  here  spoken  of  by  Plato,  can  relate  only  to  the  children  of 
Artaxerxes,  surnaraed  Longimanus,  the  son  and  successor  of  Xerxes,  in  whose 
time  lived  Alcibiades,  who  is  introduced  in  the  dialogue  from  whence  this  ob- 
servation is  taken.  For  Plato,  in  another  passage,  whi-ch  we  shall  cite  here- 
after, informs  us,  that  neither  Cyrus  nor  Darius,  ever  thought  of  giving  the 
princes,  their  sons,  a  good  education  ;  and  what  we  find  in  history  concerning 
Artaxerxes  Longimanus,  gives  us  reason  to  believe,  that  he  was  more  careful 
than  his  predecessors  in  the  point  of  educating  children,  but  was  not  closely 
imitated  in  that  respect  by  his  successors. 

SECTION  II. — THE  PUBLIC  COUNCIL,  WHEREIN  THE  AFFAIRS  OF  STATE  WERE 

CO<NSIDERED. 

As  absolute  as  the  regal  authority  was  among  the  Persians,  yet  it  was,  in  some 
measure,  kept  within  bounds  by  the  establishment  of  this  council,  appointed  by 
Ihe  state  ;  a  council  which  consisted  of  seven  of  the  princes,  or  chief  lords  of 
Ihe  nation,  no  less  distinguished  for  their  wisdom  and  abilities,  than  for  their 
extraction.  We  have  already  seen  the  origin  of  this  establishment  in  the  con- 
spiracy of  the  seven  Persian  noblemen,  who  entered  into  an  association  against 
Smerdis  the  Magian,  and  killed  him. 

The  Scripture  relates,  that  Ezra  was  sent  into  Judea,  in  the  name  and  by  the 
Authority  of  king  Artaxerxes  and  his  seven  counsellors  ;  "  forasmuch  as  thou  art 
lent  of  the  king  and  of  his  seven  counsellors."*  The  same  Scripture,  a  long  " 
lime  before  this,  in  the  reign  of  Darius,  otherwise  called  Ahasuerus,  wfjo  suc- 
ceeded the  Magian,  informs  us,  that  these  counsellors  were  well  versed  in  the 
laws,  ancient  customs,  and  maxims  of  the  state  ;  that  they  always  attended  the 
prince,  who  never  transacted  any  thing,  or  determined  any  affair  of  importance, 
ffithout  their  advice. 

This  last  passage  gives  room  for  some  reflections,  which  may  very  much  coil* 
^buti*  to  the  knowledge  of  the  genius  and  character  of  the  Persian  government 


*  E*rt».  v\\.  H. 


379 


MANNERS  OF  TITE 


In  the  first  place,  the  king  there  spoken  of,  that  is,  Darius,  was  one  oi  the  mosy 
celebrated  princes  that  ever  reigned  in  Persia,  and  one  of  the  most  deserving,  on 
account  of  his  wisdom  and  prudence  ;  though  he  had  his  failings.  It  is  to  hin)^ 
a.«5  well  as  to  Cyrus,  that  the  greatest  part  of  those  excellent  laws  are  asci'ibed, 
which  have  ever  since  subsisted  in  that  country,  and  have  been  the  foundation 
and  standard  of  their  government.  Now,  this  prince,  notwithstanding^  his  tx- 
traordinary  penetration  and  ability,  thought  he  stood  in  need  of  council  j  ^oi  d*i 
he  apprehend,  that  the  joining  of  a  number  of  assistants  to  himself,  for  the  detc- 
mination  of  affairs,  would  be  any  discredit  to  his  own  understanding:  by  whir* 
proceeding,  he  really  showed  a  superiority  of  genius  which  is  very  uncommo!* 
and  supposes  a  great  fund  of  merit.  For  a  prince  of  slender  talents,  and  nar 
row  capacity,  is  generally  full  of  himself ;  and  the  less  understanding  he  hasj 
the  more  obstinate  and  untractable  is  he  generally.  He  thinks  it  want  of  re* 
spect,  to  offer  to  discover  any  thing  to  him  which  he  does  not  perceive  ;  and 
is  affronted,  if  you  seem  to  doubt  that  he,  who  is  supreme  in  power,  is  not  i!>e 
same  in  penetration  and  understanding.  But  Darius  had  a  different  way  of 
thinking,  and  did  nothing  without  counsel  and  advice  :  Morumfaciehat  cumta 
consilio. 

Secondly,  Darius,  however  absolute  he  was,  and  however  jealous  he  might 
be  of  his  prerogative,  did  not  think  he  derogated  from  either,  when  he  instituted 
that  council ;  for  the  council  did  not  at  all  interfere  with  the  king's  authority 
of  ruling  and  commanding,  which  always  resides  in  the  person  of  the  prince, 
but  was  confined  entirely  to  that  of  reason,  which  consisted  in  communicating 
and  imparting  their  knowledge  and  experience  to  the  king.  He  was  persuaded 
that  the  noblest  character  of  sovereign  power,  when  it  is  pure,  and  has  neither 
degenerated  from  its  origin,  nor  deviate-d  from  its  end,  is  to  govern  by  the  laws : 
to  make  them  the  rule  of  his  will  and  desire  ;  and  to  think  nothing  allowable 
for  him,  which  they  prohibit.* 

In  the  third  place,  this  council,  which  every  where  accompanied  the  king, 
was  a  perpetual  standing  council,  consisting  of  the  greatest  men,  and  the  best 
heads  in  the  kingdom;  who,  under  the  direction  of  the  sovereign,  and  always 
with  a  dependency  upon  him,  were  in  a  manner  the  source  of  public  order,  and 
the  principle  of  all  the  wise  regulations  and  transactions  at  home  and  abroad. 
By  this  council  the  king  discharged  himself  of  several  weighty  cares,  which 
must  otherwise  have  overburdened  him  ;  and  by  them  he  likewise  executed 
whatever  had  been  resolved  on.  It  w^as  by  means  of  this  standing  council, 
that  the  great  maxims  of  the  state  w^ere  preserved ;  the  knowledge  of  its  ti  ue 
mterest  perpetuated;  affairs  carried  on  with  harmony  and  order;  and  innova- 
tions, errors,  and  oversights,  prevented.  For  in  a  public  and  general  Cf'uncil, 
things  are  discussed  by  unsuspected  persons ;  all  the  ministers  are  mutual  in- 
spectors of  one  another;  all  their  knowledge  and  experience  in  public  matters 
are  united  together  ;  and  they  all  become  equally  capable  of  every  part  of  the 
administration ;  because,  though,  as  to  the  executive  part,  they  move  only  in  one 
paiticular  sphere  of  business,  yet  they  are  obliged  to  inform  themselves  in  all 
affairs  relating  to  the  public,  that  they  may  be  able  to  deliver  their  opinions  in 
a  judicious  manner.. 

The  fourth  and  last  reflection  I  have  to  make  on  this  head  is,  that  we  find  it 
mentioned  in  Scripture,  that  the  persons  of  which  this  council  consisted,  wei-e 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  customs,  laws,  maxims,  and  rights  of  ths* 
kingdom- 
Two  things,  which,  ias  the  Scripture  informs  us,  were  practised  by  the  Per- 
sians, might  very  much  contribute  to  instruct  the  king  and  his  council  in  the 
methods  of  governing  with  wisdom  and  prudence.    The  first  was,  their  having 

{mblic  registers,  wherein  all  the  prince's  edicts  and  ordinances,  all  the  privi- 
eges  granted  to  the  public,  and  all  the  favours  conferred  upon  particular  per- 
sons, were  entered  and  recorded.!    The  second  was,  the  annals  of  the  kingaom, 


•  j^ej^QUU-ft  te,  ct  lubjecti  tibi,  sed  queniadmodiim  1p  rif^i's,  sn 
t  1  i>4.  T  17.  «wf!  vi  2. 


ASJiYRIANS. 


31) 


Mi  which  all  the  events  offonner  reigns,  all  resolutions  taken,  regulations  estab- 
lished, and  services  done  by  particular  persons,  were  exactly  entered.*  Thesf 
annals  were  carefully  preserved,  and  frequently  perused  both  by  the  kings  anO 
the  ministers,  that  they  might  acquaint  themselves  with  times  Dast :  might  have 
a  clear  and  true  idea  of  the  state  of  the  kingdom  ;  avoid  an  aroiirary,  unequal, 
uncertain  conduct ;  maintain  a  uniformity  in  the  course  of  affairs  ;  and  in  short, 
acquire  such  light  from  the  perusal  of  these  books,  as  should  qualify  them  to 
govern  the  state  with  wisdom. 

SECTION  III. — THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE. 

To  be  king,  and  to  be  judge,  is  but  one  and  the  same  thing.  The  throne  h 
but  a  tribunal,  and  the  sovereign  power  is  the  highest  authority  for  adminis- 
tering justice.  "God  hath  made  you  king  over  his  people,"  said  the  queen 
of  Sheba  to  Solomon,  *' to  the  end  that  you  should  judge  them,  and  rendei 
justice  and  judgment  unto  them."  God  hath  made  every  thing  subject  to 
princes,  to  put  them  in  a  condition  of  fearing  none  but  him.  His  design,  in 
making  them  independent,  was  to  give  them  the  more  inviolable  attachment 
to  justice.  That  they  might  not  excuse  themselves  on  pretence  of  inability,  or 
want  of  power,  he  has  delegated  his  whole  power  unto  them  ;  he  has  made 
them  masters  of  all  the  means  requisite  for  restraining  injustice  and  oppres- 
sion, that  iniquity  should  tremble  in  their  presence,  and  be  incapable  of  hurting 
any  person  whatever. 

But  what  is  that  justice  which  God  hath  put  into  the  hands  of  kings,  and 
of  which  he  hath  made  them  depositaries  ?  Surely  it  is  nothing  else  than  order , 
and  order  consists  in  observing  a  universal  equity,  and  that  force  msij  not  usurj) 
the  place  of  law  ;  that  one  man's  property  be  not  exposed  to  the  violence  of 
another ;  that  the  common  band  of  society  be  not  broken :  that  artifice  and 
fraud  may  not  prevail  over  innocence  and  simplicity ;  that  all  things  may  rest 
in  peace  under  the  protection  of  the  laws,  and  the  weakest  among  the  people 
may  find  his  sanctuary  in  the  public  authority. 

We  learn  from  Josephus,  that  the  kings  of  Persia  used  to  administer  justice 
in  their  own  persons.!  And  it  was  to  qualify  them  for  the  due  discharge  of  this 
duty,  that  care  was  taken  to  have  them  instructed,  from  their  tenderest  youth, 
in  the  knowledge  of  the  law^s  of  their  country  ;  and  that  in  their  public  schools, 
as  we  have  already  mentioned  in  the  history  of  Cyrus,  they  were  taught  equity 
and  justice,  in  the  same  manner  as  rhetoric  and  philosophy  are  taught  in 
other  places. 

These  are  the  great  and  essential  duties  of  the  regal  dignity.  Ihdeed  it  is 
roasonable,  and  absolutely  necessary,  that  the  prince  be  assisted  in  the  execu- 
tion of  that  august  function,  as  he  is  in  others  :  but  to  be  assisted  \s  not  to  be 
deprived,  or  dispossessed.  He  continues  judge,  as  long  as  he  continues  king 
Though  be  communicates  his  authority,  yet  does  he  not  resign  or  divide  it.  It 
is  therefore  absolutely  neces'nrj  for  him  to  bestow  some  time  upon  the  study 
of  equity  and  justice  ;  not  that  he  need  enter  into  the  whole  detail  of  particular 
laws,  but  only  acquaint  hims<  If  with  the  principal  rules  and  maxnns  of  the  law 
of  his  country,  that  he  may  be  capable  of  doing  justice,  and  of  sp\iaking  wisely 
upon  important  points.  For  this  reason,  the  £ings  of  Persia  nt^ver  ascendeiS 
the  throne,  till  they  had  been  for  some  time  under  the  care  and  instruction  of 
the  Magi,  w^ho  were  to  teach  them  that  science  of  which  they  were  the  only 
masters  and  professors,  as  well  as  of  theology. 

Now-,  since  to  the  sovereign  alone  is  committed  the  right  of  administering 
justice;  and  since,  within  his  dominions,  there  is  no  other  power  of  adminis- 
tering it,  than  what  is  delegated  by  him  ;  how  greatly  does  it  behoove  him  to 
take  care  into  what  hands  he  commits  a  part  of  so  great  a  trust ;  to  know 
whether  those  he  places  so  near  the  throne  are  worthy  to  partake  of  such  a  pre- 
rogative ;  and  strictly  to  keep  all  such  at  a  distance  Vrom  it,  as  he  judges  tia- 


*  F.n<]        )o  and  F.sth.  vi.  1 


f  .A  ntifl.  Tu«la.i€.  1  vi.  c.  3. 


374 


MANxNKKS  OF  THE 


worthy !  We  find  that  in  Persia,  their  kings  were  extremely  careful  to  have 
^'i^ice  rendered  with  integrity  and  impartiality.  One  of  their  royal  judges, 
for  so  they  called  them,  having  suffered  himself  to  be  corrupted  by  bribery, 
was  condemned  by  Cambyses  to  be  put  to  death  without  mercy,  and  to  have 
his  skin  put  upon  the  seat  where  he  used  to\it  and  gPve  judgment,  and  where 
his  son,  who  succeeded  him  in  his  office,  was  to  sit,  that  the  very  place  whence 
he  ffave  judgment  should  remind  him  of  his  duty.* 

Tlieir  ordinary  judges  were  taken  out  of  the  class  of  old  men,  mto  which 
none  were  admitted  til'i  the  age  of  fifty  years  ;  so  that  a  man  could  not  exercise 
the  office  of  a  judge  before  that  age,  the  Persians  being  of  opinion,  that  too 
much  maturity  could  not  be  required  in  an  employment  which  disposed  of  the 
fortunes,  reputations,  and  lives  of  their  fellow-citizens,  j 

Among  them,  it  wa&  not  lawful  either  for  a  private  person  to  put  any  of  hii 
slaves  to  death,  or  for  the  prince  to  inflict  capital  punishment  upon  any  of  his 
subjects  for  the  first  offence  ;  because  it  might  rather  be  considered  as  an  effect 
of  human  weakness  and  frailty,  than  of  a  confirmed  malignity  of  mind.  J 

The  Persians  thought  it  reasonable  to  put  the  good  as  well  as  the  evil,  the 
merits  of  the  offender  as  well  as  his  demerits,  into  the  scales  of  justice  :  nor 
was  it  just,  in  their  opinion,  that  one  single  crime  should  obliterate  all  the  good 
actions  a  man  had  done  during  his  life.  Upon  this  principle  it  was  that  Darius, 
having  condemned  a  judge  to  death  for  some  prevarication  in  his  office,  and 
afterwards  calling  to  mind  the  important  services  he  had  rendered  both  the 
state  and  the  royal  famil}^  revoked  the  sentence  at  the  very  moment  in  which  ^ 
it  was  to  be  executed, §  and  acknowledged  that  he  had  pronounced  it  with 
more  precipitation  than  wisdom. || 

But  one  important  and  essential  rule  which  they  observed  in  their  judgments, 
was,  in  the  first  place,  never  to  condemn  any  person  without  confronting  him 
with  his  accuser,  and  without  giving  him  time,  ^nd  all  other  means  necessary, 
for  defending  himself  against  the  articles  laid  to  his  charge  :  and,  in  the  second 
place,  if  the  person  accused  was  found  innocent,  to  inflict  the  very  same  pun- 
ishment upon  the  accuser,  as  the  other  was  to  have  suffered,  had  he  been  found 
guilty.  Artaxerxes  gave  a  fine  example  of  the  just  rigour  which  ought  to  be 
exercised  on  such  occasions.  One  of  the  king's  favourites,  ambitious  of  getting 
a  place  possessed  by  one  of  his  best  officers,  endeavoured  to  make  the  king 
suspect  the  fidelity  of  that  officer;  and  to  that  end,  sent  informations  to  court 
fiill  of  calumnies  against  him,  persuading  himself  that  the  king,  from  the  great 
credit  he  had  with  his  majesty,  would  believe  the  thing  upon  his  bare  word,- 
without  farther  examination.  For,  such  is  the  general  character  of  calumnia- 
tors. They  are  afraid  of  evidence  and  light ;  they  make  it  their  business  to 
shut  out  the  innocent  from  all  access  to  the  prince,  and  thereby  put  it  out  of 
their  power  to  vindicate  themselves.  The  officer  was  imprisoned  ;  but  he  de- 
sired the  king  before  he  was  condemned,  that  his  cause  might  be  heard,  and 
his  accusers  ordered  to  produce  their  evidence  against  him.  The  king  com- 
plied with  his  request :  and  as  there  was  no  proof  but  the  letters  which  his 
enemy  had  written  against  him,  he  was  cleared,  and  his  innocence  fully  justi- 
fied by  the  three  commissioners  that  sat  upon  his  trial.  All  the  king's  indig- 
nation fell  upon  the  perfidious  accuser,  who  had  thus  attempted  to  abuse  the 
favour  and  confidence  of  his  royal  master. IT  This  prince,  was  very  wise,  and 
knew  that  one  of  the  true  signs  of  a  prudent  government,  was  to  have  the  sub- 
jects stand  more  in  fear  of  the  laws  than  of  informers.*"^  He  thought,  that  to 
act  otherwise,  would  be  a  violation  of  the  common  rules  of  natural  equity  and 
humanity;  itwould  be  opening  a  door  to  envy,  hatred,  calumny,  and  revenge  ; 
it  would  be  exposing  the  honest  simplicity  of  faithful  subjects  to  the  malice  of 
detestable  informers,  and  arming  these  with  the  sword  of  public  authority  :t"^ 

*  Herod.  1.  T.  c.  25.  f  Xenoph.  Cyrop.  1.  i.  p.  7.  t  Herod.  1.  i.  c.  137. 

i  Herod.  1.  vii.  c.  194.  11  Fvii  cos  raxiJTffa  auTOJ  -n  cro(pc6Tfja  l^jaa^ihos  fT-n,  t\vri. 

11  Diod.  1.  XV.  p.  333 — S36.  **  Non  jam  delatores,  sed  leges  liTnentur. — Piia  in  Paneg.  Tr^ 

tf  P-lneep«,  qui  del»tor«i  non  cajligat,  irrilat. — Suelon. 'a  V'it  Domit  a.  ix. 


ASBYRIANS,  &«. 


375 


in  a  word,  it  would  divest  the  throne  of  the  most  nobje  privilege  belonging  to 
It,  namely,  of  being  a  sanctuary  for  innocence  and  justice,  against  violence  and 
calumny. 

There  is  upon  record  a  still  more  memorable  example  of  firmness  and  love 
of  justice,  in  another  king  of  Persia,  before  Artaxerxes ;  in  him,  I  mean,  whom 
the  Scripture  calls  Ahasuerus,  and  who  is  thought  to  be  the  same  as  Darius  the 
son  of  Hystaspes,  from  whom  Haman  had,  by  his  earnest  solicitations,  e)ttorted 
that  fatal  edict,  which  was  calculated  to  exterminate  the  whole  race  of  the  Jews 
throughout  the  Persian  empire  in  one  day.  When  God  had,  by  the  means  of 
Esther,  opened  his  eyes,  he  made  haste  to  make  amends  for  his  fault,  not  only 
by  revoking  his  edict,  and  inflicting  an  exemplary  punishment  upon  the  im. 
postor  who  had  deceived  him  ;  but,  which  is  more,  by  a  public  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  error ;  which  should  be  a  pattern  to  all  ages,  and  to  all  princes,  and 
teach  them,  that  far  from  debasing  their  dignity,  or  weakening  their  a'lthority 
thereby  they  procure  them  both  the  more  respect.  After  declaring,  that  it  is 
but  too  common  for  calumniators  to  impose,  by  their  misrepresentations  and 
craftiness,  on  the  goodness  of  their  princes,  whom  their  natural  sincerity  induces 
to  judge  favourably  of  others  ;  he  is  not  ashamed  to  acknowledge,  that  he  had 
been  so  unhappy  as  to  suffer  himself  to  be  prejudiced  by  such  means  against 
the  Jews,  who  were  his  faithful  subjects,  and  the  children  of  the  Most  High 
God,  through  whose  goodness  he  and  his  ancestors  had  attained  to  the  throne.* 

The  Persians  were  not  only  enemies  of  injustice,  as  we  have  now  shown,  but 
also  abhbrred  lying,  which  always  was  deemed  among  them  as  a  mean  and  in- 
famous vice.  What  they  esteemed  most  pitiful,  next  to  lying,  was  to  live  upon 
trust,  cr  by  borrowing.  Such  a  kind  of  life  seemed  to  them  idle,  ignominious, 
servile,  and  the  more  despicable,  because  it  makes  people  liars.t 

SECTION  IV. — THE  CARE  OF  THE  PROVINCES. 

It  seems  to  be  no  difficult  matter  to  maintain  good  order  in  the  metropolis  of  a 
kin^^-dom,  where  the  conduct  of  the  magistrates  and  judges  is  nearly  inspected, 
and  the  very  sight  of  the  throne  is  capable  of  keeping  the  subjects  in  awe.  The 
case  is  otherwise  with  respect  to  the  provinces,  where  the  distance  from  the  so- 
vereign, and  the  hopes  of  impunity,  may  occasion  many  misdemeanours  on  the 
part  of  the  magistrates  and  officers,  as  well  as  great  licentiousness  and  disorder 
on  that  of  the  people.  In  this  the  Persian  policy  exerted  itself  with  the  great- 
est care;  and  we  may  also  say,  with  the  greatest  success. 

The  Persian  empire  was  divided  into  a  hundred  and  twenty-seven  govern- 
mentu.Jthe  governors  of  which  were  called  satraps.  Over  them  were  appointed 
three  principal  ministers,  who  inspected  their  conduct,  to  whom  they  gave  an 
account  of  all  the  afl*airs  of  their  several  provinces,  and  who  were  afterwards 
to  make  their  report  of  the  same  to  the  king.  It  was  Darius  the  Mede,  that  is, 
Cyaxares,  or  rather  Cyrus  in  the  name  of  his  uncle,  who  put  the  government  of 
the  empire  into  this  excellent  method.  These  satraps  were,  by  the  very  de 
sign  of  their  office,  each  in  his  respective  district,  to  have  the  same  care  and 
regard  for  the  interests  of  the  people,  as  for  those  of  the  prince  :  for  it  was  a 
maxim  with  Cyrus,  that  no  difference  ought  to  be  admitted  between  these  two 
interests,  which  are  necessarily  linked  together ;  since  neither  the  people  can 
be  happy,  unless  the  prince  is  powerful,  and  in  a  condition  to  defend  them; 
nor  the  prince  truly  powerful,  unless  his  people  be  happy. 

These  satraps  being  the  most  considerable  persons  in  the  kingdom,  Cyrus 
assigned  them  certain  funds  and  revenues  proportionable  to  their  station,  and 
the  importance  of  their  employments.  He  was  willing  they  should  live  nobly 
in  their  respective  provinces,  that  they  might  gain  the  respect  of  the  nobility 
and  common  people  within  their  jurisdiction ;  and  for  that  reason  their  retinue, 
their  equipage,  and  their  table,  should  be  answerable  to  their  dignity, yet  with* 


*  Esth.  c.  iii.  &c.  t  Hecod.  1.  i.  c.  1S8. 

t  Aolben  iiitec  about  th*  auaib«r  gf  jovernmenU  or  j  rovinces.— Xe  ooph.  Cyrop.  1.  riii  p.  939,99B 


376 


MANNERS  OF  THE 


out  exceeding  the  bounds  of  prudence  and  naode ration.  He,  himself,  was  their 
model  in  this  respect,  as  he  desired  they  should  be  to  all  persons  of  distin- 
g'uished  rank  within  the  extent  of  their  authority :  so  that  the  same  order  which 
reigned  in  the  prince's  court,  might  likewise  proportionably  be  observed  in  the 
courts  of  the  satraps,  and  in  the  noblemen's  families.  And  to  prevent,  as  far 
as  possible,  all  abuses  which  might  be  made  of  so  extensive  an  authority  as  that 
of  the  satrapsy  the  king  reserved  to  himself  alone  the  nomination  of  them,  and 
caused  the  govcnors  of  places,  the  commanders  of  the  troops,  and  other  such 
'ike  officers,  to  depend  immediately  upon  the  p  *  ce  himself ;  from  whom  alone 
they  were  to  receive  their  orders  and  instructions,  that  if  the  satraps  were  in- 
clined to  abuse  their  power,  they  might  be  sensible  those  officers  wei  e  so  many 
overseers  and  censors  of  their  conduct.  And,  to  make  this  correspondence  by 
letters  the  more  sure  and  expeditious,  the  king  caused  post-houses  to  be  erected 
throughout  all  the  empire,  and  appointed  couriers,  who  travelled  night  and  day, 
and  made  wonderful  despatch.  I  shall  speak  more  particularly  on  ihis  article 
at  the  end  of  this  section,  that  I  may  not  break  in  upon  the  matter  in  hand. 

The  care  of  the  provinces,  however,  was  not  entirely  left  to  the  satraps  and 
governors  ;  the  king  himself  took  cognizance  of  them  in  his  own  person,  being 
persuaded,  that  the  governing  only  by  others  is  but  to  govern  by  halves.  An 
officer  of  the  household  was  ordered  to  repeat  these  words  to  the  king  every 
morning  when  he  waked,"  Rise,  Sir,  and  think  of  discharging  the  duties  for 
which  Oromasdes  has  placed  you  upon  the  throne."*  Oromasdes  was  the  prin- 
cipal god  anciently  worshipped  by  the  Persians.  A  good  prince,  says  Plutarch, 
in  the  account  he  gives  of  this  custom,  has  no  occasion  for  an  officer  to  give  him 
this  daily  admonition;  his  own  heart,  and  the  love  he  has  for  his  people,  are 
sufficient  monitors. 

The  kingol  Persia  thought  himself  obliged,  according  to  the  ancient  custom 
established  in  that  country,  from  time  to  time,  personally  to  visit  all  the  pro- 
vinces of  his  empire  ;t  being  persuaded,  as  Pliny  says  of  Trajan,  that  the  most 
solid  giory,  and  the  most  exquisite  pleasure,  a  good  prince  can  enjoy,  is  from 
time  to  time  to  let  the  people  see  their  common  father ;  "  to  reconcile  the  dis- 
sensions and  mutual  animosities  of  rival  cities  ;  to  calm  commotions  or  seditions 
among  the  people,  and  that  not  so  much  by  the  dint  of  power  and  severity,  as 
by  reason  and  temper  ;  to  prevent  injustice  and  oppression  in  magistrates ;  and 
cancel  and  reverse  whatever  has  been  decreed  against  law  and  equity  :  in  a 
word,  like  a  beneficent  planet,  to  shed  his  salutary  influence  universally ;  or 
rather  like  a  divinity  to  be  present  every  where,  to  see,  to  hear,  and  know  every  - 
thing,  without  rejecting  any  man's  petitions  or  complaint. "J 

When  the  king  was  not  able  to  visit  the  provinces  himself,  he  sent,  in  his 
stead,  some  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  kingdom,  such  as  were  the  most  eminenf 
for  wisdom  and  virtue.  These  persons  were  generally  called  the  eyes  and  the 
ears  of  the  prince,  because  b}^  their  means  he  saw  and  was  informed  of  every 
.  thing.  When  these  or  any  other  of  his  great  ministers,  or  the  members  of  his 
council,  were  said  to  be  the  eyes  and  ears  of  the  prince,  it  was  at  once  an  ad- 
monition to  the  king,  that  he  had  his  ministers,  as  we  have  the  organs  of  cm 
senses,  not  that  he  .should  lie  still  and  be  idle,  but  act  by  their  means  ;  ancf  to 
the  ministers,  that  they  ought  not  to  act  for  themselves,  but  for  the  king  their 
head,  and  for  the  advantage  of  the  whole  body  politic. 

The  particular  detail  of  affairs, which  the  king,  or  the  commissioners  appointed 
by  him,  entered  into,  is  highly  worthy  of  admiration,  and  shows  how  well  they 
understood  in  those  days  wherein  the  w^isdom  and  abilit}^  of  governors  consist. 
The  attention  of  the  king  and  his  ministers  was  not  only  employed  upon  great 
objects,  as  war,  the  revenue,  justice, and  commerce;  but  matters  ol  Jess  im 


*  Plut.  ad  Princ.  indoct.  p.  780.  \  Xenoph.  in  CEconom.  p.  228. 

X  RecoBciliure  arnula«  civitates,  tumentesque  populos  non  imperio  ma«^is  quam  ratione  compescere,  in' 
lercedere  iniquitatibus  majistratuum,  infectiimque  reddere  quicquid  fieri  non  oportuerit :  postremo,  vela 
cissimi  sideris  more,  omnia  invitere,  vmnia  audire,  «t  uad«eumqu«  invocatum,  itatim,  vclut  num«B»  adesa* 
et  adiittro. — Plin  in  PancgTf'  Traj. 


ASSYRlAiNS.  Ac. 


377 


portance,as  the  security  and  beauty  of  towns  and  cities,  the  convenient  dwell- 
ing of  the  inhabitants,  the  preparations  of  high  roads,  bridges,  causeways,  the 
keeping  of  woods  and  forests  from  being  laid  waste  and  destroyed,  and,  above 
all,  the  improvement  of  agriculture,  and  the  encouraging  and  promoting  of  ah 
sorts  of  trades,  even  to  the  lowest  and  meanest  of  handicraft  employments  ; 
every  thing,  in  short,  came  within  the  sphere  of  their  policy,  and  was  thought 
to  deserve  their  care  and  inspection.  And  indeed,  whatever  belongs  to  the  sub- 
jects, as  well  as  the  subjects  themselves,  is  a  part  of  the  trust  committed  to  the 
lead  of  the  commonwealth,  and  is  entitled  to  his  care,  concern,  and  activity. 
His  love  for  the  commonwealth  is  universal.  It  extends  itself  to  all  matters^ 
and  takes  in  every  thing  ;  it  is  the  support  of  private  persons,  as  well  as  of  the 
public*  Every  province,  every  city,  every  family,  has  a  place  in  his  heart 
and  affections.  Every  thing  in  the  kingdom  has  a  relation  to,  and  concerns  him  \ 
every  thing  challenges  his  attention  and  regard. 

I  nave  already  said,  that  agriculture  was  one  of  the  main  things  on  which  the 
Persians  bestowed  their  care  and  attention.  Indeed,  one  of  the  prince's  first 
cares  was  to  make  husbandry  flourish ;  and  those  satraps,  whose  provinces  were 
the  best  cultivated,  enjoyed  the  most  of  his  favour.  And  as  there  were  offices 
erected  for  the  regulation  of  the  military  part  of  the  government,  so  were  there 
likewise  for  the  inspecting  their  rural  labours  and  economy.  Indeed  these  two 
employments  had  a  near  relation,  the  business  of  the  one  being  to  guard  the 
country,  and  of  the  other  to  cultivate  it.  The  prince  protected  both  with  almost 
the  same  degree  of  affection,  because  both  concurred,  and  were  equally  neces- 
sary for  the  public  good.  Because  it  the  lands  cannot  be  cultivated  without  the 
aid  and  protection  of  armies  for  their  defence  and  security ;  so  neither  can  the 
soldiers,  on  the  other  hand,  be  fed  and  maintained  without  the  labour  of  the 
husbandmen,  who  cultivate  the  ground.  It  was  with  good  reason,  therefore, 
that  the  prince,  since  it  was  impossible  for  himself  to  see  into  every  thing, 
caused  an  exact  account  to  be  given  him,  how  every  province  and  canton  w^as 
cultivated ;  that  he  might  know  whether  each  country  brought  forth  abundantly 
such  fruits  as  it  was  capable  of  producing ;  that  he  descended  so  far  into  those 
particulars,  as  Xenophon  remarks  of  Cyrus  the  younger,  as  to  inform  himself, 
whether  the  private  gardens  of  his  subjects  were  well  kept,  and  yielded  plenty 
of  fruit;  that  he  rewarded  the  superintendents  and  overseers,  whose  provinces 
or  cantons  were  the  best  cultivated,  and  punished  the  laziness  and  negligence 
of  those  idle  persons  who  did  not  labour  and  improve  their  grounds.  Such  a 
care  as  this  is  by  no  means  unworthy  of  a  king,  as  it  naturally  tends  to  propa- 
e:ate  riches  and  plenty  throughout  his  kingdom,  and  to  beget  a  spirit  of  indus 
tiy  among  his  subjects,  which  is  the  surest  means  of  preventing  that  increase  of 
drones  and  idlers,  that  are  such  a  burd'^n  upon  the  public,  and  a  dishonour  to 
the  state. t 

Xenophon,  in  the  next  passage  to  this  I  have  now  cited,  puts  into  the  mouth 
of  Socrates,  who  is  introduced  as  a  speaker,  a  very  noble  encomium  upon 
agriculture,  which  he  represents  as  an  employment  the  most  worthy  of  man, 
the  most  ancient,  and  the  most  suitable  to  his  nature ;  as  the  common  nurse  of 
persons  of  all  ages  and  conditions  of  life  ;  as  the  source  of  health,  strength, 
plenty,  riches,  and  a  thousand  sober  delights  and  honest  pleasures  ;  as  the  mis- 
tress and  school  of  sobriety,  temperance,  justice,  religion  ;  and  in  a  word,  of 
all  kinds  of  virtues,  both  civil  and  military.  After  which  he  relates  the  line 
sayirgof  Lysander,  the  Lacecteemonian,  who,  as  he  was  walking  at  Sardis  with 
the  younger  Cyrus,  hearing  from  that  prince's  own  mouth  that  he  himself  had 
planted  several  of  the  trees  he  was  looking  at,  made  the  following  answer* : 
that  the  word  had  reason  to  extol  the  happiness  of  Cyrus,  whose  virtue  was 
fes  eminent  a  5  his  fortune,  and  who  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  affluence,  splen- 
dour, and  magnificence,  had  yet  preserved  a  taste  so  pure,  and  so  conformable 


^^  f.Vi  purai  sunt  universae,  nuUam  pon  reip,  partem  tanquam  sni  nutrit. — Scnec.  lib.  de  Clem.  c«  sia 

t  Xenoph.  'Keoa.  p.  32T- 5^^0, 


378 


MANNEfiS  OF  THE 


to  right  reason.*  "  C^m  Cyrus  respondisset,  Ego  ista  sum  dimensus,  met 
sunt  ordities,  mea  descriptio,  multee  etiam  istarum  arborum  mea  manu  sunt 
satae  ;  turn  Lysandrum,  intuentem  ejus  purpuram,  et  nitorem  corporis,  orna- 
tumque  Persicum  multo  auro  multisque  gemmis,  dixisse  :  t^^ECTE  vero  tk. 
CyRE,  BEATUM  FERUNT,  QUONI-AM  virtuti  tuje  fortuna  conjuncta  est."i 
How  much  is  it  to  be  wished,  that  our  young  nobility,  who,  in  the  time  of 
peace,  do  not  know  how  to  employ  themselves,  had  the  like  taste  lor  planting 
and  agriculture,  which  surely,  after  such  an  example  as  that  of  Cyrus,  should 
be  thought  no  dishonour  to  their  quality,  especially  if  they  would  consider 
that  for  several  ages,  it  was  the  constant  employment  of  the  bravest  and  most 
warlike  people  in  the  world  1  The  reader  may  easily  perceive  that  I  mean  the 
ancient  Romans, 

'i 

THE  INVENTION  OF  POSTS  AND  COURIERS. 

I  PROMISED  to  give  some  account,  in  this  place,  of  the  invention  of  posts  and 
couriers.    This  invention  is  ascribed  to  Cyrus  ;  nor,  indeed,  can  I  find  any 
mention  of  such  an  establishment  before  his  time.    As  the  Persian  empire  af- 
ter its  last  conquests,  was  of  a  vast  extent,  and  Cyrus  required  that  all  nis 
governors  of  provinces,  and  the  chief  commanders  of  his  troops,  should  write 
to  him,  and  give  an  exact  account  of  every  thing  that  passed  in  their  several 
districts  and  armies ;  in  order  to  render  that  correspondence  the  more  sure  ' 
and  expeditious,  and  to  put  himself  in  a  condition  of  receiving  speedy  intelli-  j 
gence  of  all  occurrences  and  affairs,  and  of  sending  his  orders  thereupon  with  ' 
expedition,  he  caused  post-houses  to  be  built,  and  messengers  to  be  appointed 
in  every  province.    Having  computed  how  far  a  good  horse  with  a  brisk  rider,  ! 
could  go  in  a  day,  without  being  spoiled,  he  had  stables  built  in  proportion,  at  | 
equal  distances  from  each  other,  and  had  them  furnished  with  horses,  and  ■ 
grooms  to  take  care  of  them.    At  each  of  these  places  he  likewise  appointed  . 
a  postmaster,  to  receive  the  packets  from  the  couriers  as  they  arrived,  and  ' 
give  them  to  others  ;  and  to  take  the  horses  that  had  performed  their  stage,  - 
and  to  find  fresh  ones.    Thus  the  post  went  continually  night  and  day,  with  1 
extraordinary  speed  ;  nor  did  either  rain  or  snow,  heat  or  cold,  or  any  incle-  j 
mency  of  the  weather,  interrupt  its  progress.§   Herodotus  speaks  of  the  same  ] 
sort  of  couriers  in  the  reign  of  Xerxes.il  | 

These  couriers  were  called,  in  the  Persian  language,  "A77ajoj.ir    The  super-  5 
mtendency  of  the  posts  became  a  considerable  employment.    Darius,  the  last  J 
king  of  the  ancient  Persians,  had  it  before  he  came  to  the  crown.**  Xenophon  | 
takes  notice^,  that  this  establishment  subsisted  in  his  time  ;  which  perfectly  * 
agrees  with  what  is  related  in  the  book  of  Esther,  concerning  the  edict  pub- 
lished by  Ahasuerus  in  favour  of  the  Jews  ;  which  edict  was  carried  through 
that  vast  empire  with  a  rapidity  that  wouid  have  been  impossible,  without  these 
posts  established  by  Cyrus. 

People  are  justly  surprised  to  find,  that  this  establishment  of  posts  anvl  cou- 
riers, first  invented  in  the  east  by  Cyrus,  and  continued  for  many  ages  after- 
wards by  his  successors,  especiall}^  conside)ring  the  usefulness  of  it  to  a  go- 
vernment, should  never  have  been  imitaterf^in  the  west,  particularly  by  peopla 
•o  expert  in  politics  as  the  Greeks  and  Romans. 

It  is  more  astonishing,  that  where  this  invention  was  put  in  execution,  it  waf 
uot  farther  improved,  and  that  the  use  of  it  was  confined  only  to  aflfairs  of  sts^e. 


*  Xenoph.  CEcon.  p.  830—833. 
t  In  the  original  Greek  there  is  still  a  greater  energy;  Aixaitoj  jxoi  5oxe\5,  w  Ku^ft  fO^ai'/iCOvcTvar  dyaOil 
«y6,f  i)v  dvT)f  evdaiiioveTS'    Thou  art  worthy,  Cyrus,  of  that  happiness  thou  art  possessed  of :  because,  MritA 
all  thy  affluence  and  prosperity,  thou  art  also  virtf'ous. 

X  Cic.  de  Senect.  num.  59.  J  Xen.  Cyrup.  1.  viii.  p.  232.  ||  Herod.  1.  viii.  c  98. 

V  "A77ajo»  IS  derived  from  a  word  which,  in  mat  language,  signifies  a  service  rendered  by  compulsion, 
his  from  thence  the  Greeks  borrowed  their  vern  tt';'y«f fuf iv,  compellere,  cogere  ;  and  the  Latins,  aa^ 
riare.    According  to  Suidas,  they  were  likewise  CHll-^d  ustaodfe. 

Plut.  I  Fortun.  Alex.  p.  326.  el  in  vii  Aiei  p.  674.  ubi.  pro  ' A cr'/avitH.  legendum  'A^rdv^nl 


ASSYRIANS.  &6. 


»\'ithout  considering  the  many  advantages  trie  public  might  have  reaped  from 
it,  by  facib'tating  a  mu'^uai  correspondence,  as  well  as  the  business  of  me^chan^8 
and  tradesmen  of  all  kinas  :  oy  ihe  expedition  it  would  have  procured  to  the 
affairs  of  private  persons;  the  despatchof  journeys  which  required  haste;  the 
i-rasy  communication  between  families,  cities,  and  provinces;  and  by  the  safety 
and  conveniency  of  remitting  money  from  one  country  to  another.  It  is  well 
known  what  difficulty  people  at  a  distance  had  then,  and  for  many  ages  after- 
wards, to  communicate  any  news,  or  to  treat  of  affairs  together  ;  being  ooliged 
either  to  send  a  servant  on  purpose,  which  could  not  be  done  without  great 
charge  and  loss  of  time  ;  or  to  wait  for  the  departure  of  some  other  person,  that 
was  going  into  the  province  or  country  whither  they  had  letters  to  send; 
which  method  was  liable  to  numberless  disappointments,  accidents  and  delay?. 

At  present  we  enjoy  this  general  conveniency  at  a  small  expence  ;  but  we  do 
net  thoroughly  consider  the  advantage  of  it ;  the  want  thereof  would  niake  us 
fully  sensible  of  our  happiness  in  this  respect.  France  is  indebted  for  it  to  the 
university  of  Paris,  which  I  cannot  forbear  observing  here  :  I  hope  the  reader 
will  excuse  the  digression.  The  university  of  Paris,  being  formerly  the  only 
one  in  the  kingdom,  and  having  great  numbers  of  scholars  resorting  to  her  from 
all  parts  of  the  country,  did,  for  their  sakes  and  conveniency,  establish  mes- 
sengers, whose  business  was,  not  only  to  bring  clothes,  silver,  and  gold,  for  the 
students,  but  likewise  to  carry  bags  of  law  proceedings,  informations,  and  in- 
quests ;  to  conduct  all  sorts  of  persons,  indifferently,  to  or  from  Paris,  finding 
ihem  both  horses  and  diet;  as  also  to  carry  letters,  parcels,  and  packets,  for 
the  public  as  well  as  the  university.  In  the  university-registers  of  the  four 
nations,  as  they  are  called,  of  the  faculty  of  arts,  these  messengers  are  often 
styled  JVuntii  volanteSy  to  signify  the  great  speed  and  despatch  they  were 
obliged  to  make. 

The  state,  then,  is  indebted  to  the  university  of  P^ris  for  the  invention  and 
establishment  of  these  messengers  and  letter-carriers.  And  it  was  at  her  own 
charge  and  expense  that  she  erected  these  offices,  to  the  satisfaction  both  of 
our  kings  and  the  public.  She  has,  moreover,  maintained  and  supported  Ihem 
since  the  3''ear  1576,  against  all  the  various  attempts  of  the  farmers,  which  has 
cost  her  immense  sums.  For  there  never  was  any  ordinary  royal  messengers, 
till  Henry  III.  first  established  them  in  the  year  1576,  by  his  edict  of  Novem- 
ber, appointing  them  in  the  same  cities  as  the  university  had  theirs  in,  and 
granting  them  the  same  rights  and  privileges  as  the  kings,  his  predecessors,  had 
granted  the  messengers  of  the  university. 

The  university  never  had  any  other  fund  or  support,  than  the  profits  arising 
from  the  post-office.  And  it  is  upon  the  foundation  of  the  same  revenue,  that 
King  Louis  XV.  by  his  decree  of  the  council  of  state,  of  the  14th  of  April  1719, 
and  by  his  letters-patent,  bearing  the  same  date,  registered  in  parliament,  and 
in  the  chamber  of  accounts,  has  ordained,  that  in  all  the  colleges  of  the  said 
university  the  stud^^nts  shall  be  tsiu^hi  gratis ;  and  has  to  that  end,  for  the  time 
to  come,  appropriated  to  the  university  an  eight-and  twentieth  part  of  the  reve 
Hue  arising  from  the  general  lease  or  farm  of  the  posts  and  messengers  of  France  : 
which  eight  and-twentieth  part  amounted  that  year  to  the  sum  of  one  hundrea 
»nd  eighty-four  thousand  livres,  or  thereabouts.* 

M  is  not,  therefore,  without  reason,  that  the  university,  to  whom  this  regi^Ia- 
tion  has  restored  a  part  of  her  ancient  lustre,  regards  Louis  XV.  as  a  kind  of 
«ew  founder,  whose  bounty  has  at  length  delivered  her  from  the  unhappy  and 
shamefiil  necessity  of  receiving  wages  for  her  labours  ;  which  in  some  measure 
dishonoured  the  dignity  of  her  profession,  as  it  was  contrary  to  that  noble, 
disinterested  spirit,  which  becomes  it.  And,  indeed,  the  labour  of  masters  and 
professors,  who  instruct  others,  ought  not  to  be  given  for  nothing;  but  neither 
ought  it  to  be  sold.    Aec  venire  hoc  bei^efidum  oportet,  nec  perire,] 


•  About  $37,740.  f  Q^uintil.  1.  xii.  c.  T 


3«0 


MAI^NERS  OF  THE 


SECTION  V. — ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  REVENUES. 

The  princ^  is  the  sword  and  buckler  of  the  state  ;  by  him  are  the  p^ac^e 
and  tranquillity  thereof  secured.  But,  to  enable  him  to  defend  it,  he  has  oc- 
casion for  arms,  soldiers,  arsenals,  fortified  towns,  and  ships ;  and  all  these 
things  require  great  expenses.  It  is,  moreover,  just  and  reasonable,  that  the 
king  have  wherewithal  to  support  the  dignity  of  the  crown,  and  the  majesty 
of  empire  ;  as  also  to  procure  reverence  and  respect  to  his  person  and  ?u* 
thority.  These  are  the  two  principal  reasons  that  have  given  occasion  for  the 
exacting  of  tribute  and  the  imposition  of  taxes.  As  the  public  advantage,  and 
the  necessity  of  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  state,  have  been  the  first  cause 
of  these  burdens,  so  ought  they  likewise  to  be  the  constant  standard  of  their 
use.  Nor  is  there  any  thing  in  the  world  more  just  and  reasonable  than  such 
impositions,  since  every  private  person  ought  to  think  himself  veiy  happy, 
that  he  can  purchase  his  peace  and  security  at  the  expense  of  so  slender  a 
contribution. 

The  revenues  of  the  Persian  kings  consisted  partly  in  moneys  imposed  upon 
the  people,  and  partly  in  their  being  furnished  with  several  of  the  products  of 
the  earth  in  kind,  as  corn  and  other  provisions,  forage,  horses,  camels,  or 
whatever  rarities  each  particular  province  afforded.*  Strabo  relates,  linat  the 
satrap  of  Armenia  sent  regularly  every  year  to  the  king  of  Persia,  his  master, 
twenty  thousand  young  colts.f  By  this  we  may  form  an  estimate  of  the  other 
levies  in  the  several  provinces.  But  we  are  to  consider,  that  the  tributes  were 
only  exacted  from  the  conquered  nations ;  for  the  natural  subjects,  that  is, 
the  Persians,  were  exempt  from  all  impositions.  Nor  was  the  custom  of  im- 
posing taxes,  and  determining  the  sums  each  province  was  yearly  to  pay,  in« 
troduced  till  the  reign  of  Darius  ;  at  which  time  the  pecuniaiy  impositions, 
as  nearly  as  we  can  judge  from  the  computation  made  by  Herodotus,  which  is 
attended  with  great  difficulties,  amounted  to  nearly  forty-four  millions,  French 
money  .J 

The  place  in  which  the  public  treasure  was  kept  was  called,  in  the  Persian 
language,  Gaza.§  There  were  treasures  of  this  kind  at  Susa,  at  Persepolis, 
at  Pasagarda,  at  Damascus,  and  other  cities.  The  gold  and  silver  were  there 
kept  in  ingots,  and  coined  into  money,  according  as  the  king  had  occasion. 
The  money  chiefly  used  by  the  Persians  was  of  gold>  and  called  Dane,  from 
the  name  of  Darius, ||  who  first  caused  them  to  be  coined,  with  his  image  on 
one  side,  and  an  archer  on  the  reverse.  The  Daric  is  sometimes  also  called 
Stater  Aureus,  because  the  weight  of  it,  like  that  of  the  Attic  Stater,  was 
two  drachms  of  gold,  which  were  equivalent  to  twenty  drachms  of  silver,  and 
consequently  were  wwth  ten  livres  of  French  money. 

Besides  these  tributes,  which  were  paid  in  money,  there  was  another  con- 
tribution made  in  kind,  by  furnishing  victuals  and  provision  for  the  king's  ta- 
ble and  household,  grain,  forage,  and  other  necessaries  for  the  subsistence  of 
his  armies,  and  horses  for  his  cavalry.  This  contribution  was  imposed  upon 
(he  one  hundred  and  twenty  satrapies,  or  provinces,  each  of  them  furnishing 
such  a  part  as  they  were  severally  taxed  at.  Herodotus  observes,  that  the  pro- 
vince of  Babylon,  the  largest  and  wealthiest  of  them  all,  alone  furnished  the 
whole  contribution  for  the  space  of  four  months,  and  consequently  bore  a  third 
part  of  the  burden  of  the  whole  imposition,  while  the  rest  of  Asia  together  con- 
tributed the  other  two  thirds. IF 

By  what  has  been  already  said  on  this  subject,  we  see  that  the  kings  of  Per- 
sia did  nol  exact  all  their  taxes  and  impositions  in  money,  but  were  content  to 
levy  only  a  part  of  them  in  money,  and  take  the  rest  in  such  products  and  com- 


♦  Herod.  1.  Hi.  c.  89—97.  t  Herod  1.  xi.  p.  530.  J  About  $8»880,000. 

{  Curt.  1.  iii.  c.  12. 

I  Darius  tlie  Mede,  otherwise  called  Cyaxares,  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  first  who  ca'Jted  thii  momf 
Im      coined.    Value,  one  dollar,  ei<^hly-seven  and  a  half  cents. 

IT  Herod.  I  ill.  c.  91—97.  et  1.  i.  c.  193. 


ASSYRIANS,  Slc. 


38) 


Olodilies  as  the  severe  provinces  afforded ;  which  is  a  proot  of  the  great  wis- 
dom, moderation,  and  humanity  of  the  Persian  government.  Without  doubt, 
it  had  been  observed  how  difficult  it  often  is  for  the  people,  especially  in  coun- 
tries at  a  distance  from  commerce,  to  convert  their  goods  into  money,  without 
euffering  great  losses ;  whereas  nothing  can  tend  so  much  to  the  rendering 
of  taxes  easy,  and  to  shelter  the  people  from  vexation,  trouble,  and  expense,  as 
taking  in  payment  from  each  country,  such  fruits  and  commodities  as  that  coun- 
try produces;  by  which  means  the  contribution  becomes  easy,  natural,  and 
equitable. 

There  were  likewise  certain  cantons  assigned  and  set  apart  for  maintaining 
the  queen's  toilet  and  wardrobe  ;  one  for  her  girdle,  another  for  her  veil,  and 
so  on  for  the  rest  of  her  vestments  :  and  these  districts,  which  w^ere  of  a  great 
extent,  since  one  of  them  contained  as  much  ground  as  a  man  could  walk  over 
in  a  day  ;  took  their  names  from  their  particular  use,  or  part  of  the  garments 
to  which  they  were  appropriated  ;  and  were  accordingly  called,  one  the  Queen's 
Girdle,  another  the  Queen's  Veil,  and  so  on.  In  Plato's  time,  the  same  custom 
continued  among  the  Persians.* 

The  way  in  which  kings  gave  pensions  in  those  days  to  such  persons  as  they 
had  a  mind  to  gratify,  was  exactly  like  w^hat  I  have  observed  concerning  the 
queens.  We  read,  that  the  king  of  Persia  assigned  the  revenue  of  four  cities 
to  Themistocles ;  one  of  which  was  to  supply  him  with  wine,  another  with 
bread,  the  third  with  meats  for  his  table,  and  the  fourth  with  his  clothes  and 
furniture.t  Before  that  time,  Cyrus  had  acted  in  the  same  manner  with  Py- 
tharchus  of  Cyzicus,  for  whom  he  had  a  particular  consideration,  and  to  whom 
he  gave  the  revenues  of  seven  cities.  J  In  following  times,  we  find  many  instances 
of  a  like  nature. 

ARTICLE  II. 

OF  THEIR  V^^AR. 

The  people  of  Asia*in  general  were  naturally  of  a  w^arlike  disposition,  and 
did  not  w^ant  courage  ;  but  in  time  they  all  grew  effeminate  through  luxury  and 
pleasure.  When  I  say  all,  I  must  be  understood  to  except  the  Persians,  who, 
even  before  Cyrus,  as  well  as  in  hfs  reign,  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  people 
of  a  very  military  genius.  The  situation  of  their  country,  which  is  rugged  and 
mountainous,  might  be  one  reason  of  their  hard  and  frugal  manner  of  living; 
which  is  a  thing  of  no  little  importance  for  the  forming  of  good  soldiers.  Bui 
the  good  education  which  the  Persians  gave  their  youth,  was  the  chief  cause 
of  the  courage  and  martial  spirit  of  that  people. 

With  respect,  therefore  to  the  manners,  and  pauxularly  to  the  article  which 
I  am  now  treating  of,  we  must  make  some  distinction  between  the  different  na- 
tions of  Asia.  So  that  in  the  following  account  of  military  affairs,  what  perfec- 
tion and  excellence  appear  in  the  rules  and  principles  of  w^ar,  is  to  be  applied 
only  to  the  Persians,  as  they  were  in  the  reign  of  Cyrus ;  the  rest  belongs  tc 
the  other  nations  of  Asia,  the  Assyrians,  Babylonians,  Medes,  Lydians,  and  to 
the  Pereians  likewise,  after  they  had  degenerated  from  their  ancient  valour, 
«hich  happened  not  long  after  Cyrus,  as  will  be  shown  in  the  sequel. 

I.  THEIR  ENTERING  INTO  THE  SERVICE,  OR  INTO  MILITARY  DISCIPLINE. 

The  Persians  were  trained  up  to  the  service  from  their  tender  years,  by  passiu^ 
thicugh  different  exercises. §  Generally  speaking,  they  served  in  the  armies', 
from  the  age  of  twenty  to  'fifty  years.  And  whether  they  were  in  peace  or 
war,  they  always  wore  swords  as  our  gentlemen  do,  which  was  never  practised 
among  the  Greeks  or  the  Romans.  They  were  obliged  to  enlist  themselves  at 
(he  time  appointed ;  and  it  was  esteemed  a  crime  to  desire  to  be  dispensed  with 


•  Ffcrt.  it  Alcib.  c.  i.  p.  123.  t  Plut.  in  Them.  p.  127.  ^  Athen.  Li  p.  30 

^  Stxab.  1.  XV-.  p.  734.  Ain.  Mar.  1  xxiii.  sub.  finem 


MANNERS  OF  TBE 

m  that  respect,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter,  by  the  cruel  treatment  given  by  Dariu* 
and  Xerxes  to  two  young  noblemen,  whose  fathers  had  desired,  as  a  favour^ 
that  their  sons  might  bo  permitted  to  stay  at  home,  for  a  comfort  to  them  in 
their  old  age.* 

Herodotus  speaks  of  a  body  of  troops  appointed  to  be  the  king's  guard,  which 
were  called  Immortal,  because  this  body,  which  consisted  of  ten  thousand, 
perpetually  subsisted,  and  was  always  complete  ;  for  as  soon  as  any  of  the  men 
died,  another  was  immediately  put  into  his  place. t  The  establishment  of  this 
body  probably  began  with  the  ten  thousand  men  sent  for  by  Cyrus  out  of  Per- 
sia to  be  his  guard.  They  were  distinguished  from  all  the  other  troops  hj  the 
nchness  of  their  armour,  and  still  more  by  their  singular  courage.  Qiiint  js 
Curtius  also  mentions  this  body  of  men,  and  likewise  another  body  consisting 
ot  fifteen  thousand,  designed  in  like  manner  to  be  a  guard  to  the  king's  person  • 
the  latter  were  called  doryphori,  or  lancers.J 

II.  THEIR  ARMOUR. 

The  oidinary  arms  of  the  Persians  were  a  sabre,  or  scimitar,  acinaces^  as  it 
it  called  in  Latin  ;  a  kind  of  a  dagger,  which  hung  in  their  belt  on  the  right 
s)tie  ;  a  javelin,  or  half-pike,  having  a  sharp  pointed  iron  at  the  end. 

It  seems  that  they  carried  two  javelins,  or  lances,  one  to  throw,  and  the  other 
tr»  fight  with.  They  made  great  use  of  the  bow,  and  of  the  quiver  in  which 
tliey  carried  their  arrows.  The  sling  was  not  unknown  among  them ;  but  they 
dfd  not  set  much  value  upon  it. 

It  appears  trom  several  passages  in  ancient  authors,  that  the  Persians  wore 
Tifj  helmets,  but  only  their  common  caps,  which  they  called  tiaras ;  this  is  par- 
ticularly said  of  Cyrus  the  younger,  and  his  army.§  And  yet  the  same  authors, 
ih  other  places,  make  menticn  of  their  helmets  ;  from  whence  we  must  con- 
clude, that  their  custom  had  cnanged  according  to  the  times. 

The  foot  for  the  most  part  wore  cuirasses  made  of  brass,  which  were  so  art- 
[uliy  fitted  to  their  bodies,  that  they  were  no  impediment  to  the  motion  and 
agility  of  their  limbs  ;  no  more  than  the  vambraces,  or  other  pieces  of  armour, 
whicft  covered  the  arms,  thighs,  and  legs  of  the  horsemen.  Their  horses  them- 
selves for  the  most  part  had  their  faces,  breasts,  and  flanks,  covered  with  brass. 
These  are  what  are  called  egui  cataphracii,  barbed  horses. 

Authors  differ  very  much  about  the  form  and  fashion  of  their  shields.  At  first 
they  used  very  small  and  light  ones  ;  made  only  of  twigs  of  osier,  ^crra.  But 
it  appear?  from  several  passages,  that  they  had  also  shields  of  brass,  which  were 
of  a  great  length. 

We  have  already  observed,  that  in  the  first  ages  the  light-armed  soldiers^ 
that  is,  the  archers,  slingers,  &;c.  composed  the  bulk  of  the  armies  among  the 
Persians  and  Medes.  Cyrus,  who  had  found  by  experience,  that  such  troops 
were  only  fit  for  skirmishing,  or  fighting  at  a  distance,  and  who  thought  it  most 
advantageous  to  come  directly  to  close  fight,  made  a  change  in  his  army,  and 
reduced  those  light-armed  troops  to  a  very  few,  arming  the  far  greater  number 
at  all  points,  like  the  rest  of  the  army. 

III.  CHARIOTS  ARMED  WITH  SCYTHES. 

Cyrus  introduced  a  considerable  change  likewise  with  respect  to  the  chariots 
of  war.ll  These  had  been  in  use  a  long  while  before  his  time,  as  appears  both 
from  Homer  and  the  sacred  writings.  These  chariots  had  only  two  wheels, 
and  were  generally  drawn  by  four  horses  abreast,  with  two  men  in  each  ;  one 
of  distinguished  birth  and  valour,  who  fought,  and  the  other  only  for  driving 
the  chariot.  Cyrus  thought  this  method,  which  was  very  expensive,  was  hut 
of  little  servic3:  since,  for  the  equipping  of  thiee  hundred  chariots,  w^ere  re- 
quired twelve  hundred  horses  and  six  hundred  men,  of  which  there  were  Dut 


•  Herod.  1.  iv*  ct  vi.    Sen.  de  Ira,  I.  iii.  c.  16,  17.  \  H«rod.  1.  vii.  c.  83.  J  Herod.  1.      c.  3 

5  Dc  Exped.  Cyr.  1.  i.  p.  262.  I|  Xenoph.  Cyrop.  1.  vi.  p.  152. 


ASSYRIANS,  &e. 


383 


Chree  hundred  who  really  fought,  the  other  three  hundred,  though  alJ  men  of 

merit  and  distinction,  and  capable  of  doing  great  service  if  otherwise  employed, 
serving  only  as  charioteers  or  drivers.  To  remedy  this  inconvenience,  he  al- 
tered the  form  of  the  chariots  and  doubled  the  number  of  the  fighting  men  that 
rode  in  them,  by  putting  the  drivers  in  a  condition  to  fight,  as  well  as  the 
others. 

He  caused  the  wheels  of  the  chariots  to  be  made  stronger,  that  they  should 
not  be  so  easily  broken  ;  and  their  axle-trees  to  be  made  longer,  to  make  them 
the  more  firm  and  steady.  At  each  end  of  the  axle-tree  he  caused  scythes  to 
be  fastened  that  were  three  feet  long,  and  placed  horizontally ;  and  caused 
other  scythes  to  be  fixed  under  the  same  axle-tree  with  their  edges  turned  to 
the  ground,  that  they  might  cut  in  pieces  men  or  horses,  or  whatever  the  im- 
petuous violence  of  Ine  chariots  should  overturn.  It  appears  from  several  pas- 
sages in  authors,  that  in  after-times,  besides  all  this,  they  added  two  long  iroa 
spikes  at  the  end  of  the  pole,  in  order  to  pierce  whatever  came  in  the  way  : 
and  tiiat  they  armed  the  hinder  part  of  the  chariot  with  several  rows  of  sharp 
knives,  to  hinder  any  one  from  mounting  behind.* 

These  chariots  were  in  use  for  many  ages  in  all  the  eastern  countries.  They 
were  looked  upon  as  the  principal  strength  of  the  armies,  as  the  most  certain 
causes  of  victory,  and  as  an  apparatus  the  most  capable  of  all  others  to  striKe 
the  enemy  with  consternation  and  terror. 

But  in  proportion  as  the  military  art  improved,  the  inconveniences  of  them 
were  discovered,  and  at  length  they  were  laid  aside.  For,  to  reap  any  advan- 
tage from  them,  it  was  necessary  to  fight  in  large  plains,  where  the  soil  was 
very  even,  and  where  there  were  no  rivulets,  gullies,  woods,  nor  vineyards. 

In  after-times  several  methods  were  invented  to  render  these  charic 's  abso- 
lutely useless.  It  was  enough  to  cut  a  ditch  in  their  way,  which  immediately 
stopped  their  course.  Sometimes  an  able  and  experienced  general,  as  Eume- 
nes  in  the  battle  which  Scipio  fought  with  Antiochus,  would  attack  the  chariots 
with  a  detachment  of  slingers,  archers,  and  spearmen,  who,  spreading  them 
selves  on  all  sides,  would  pour  such  a  storm  of  stones,  arrows,  and  lances,  upon 
them,  and  at  the  same  time  begin  shouting  so  loud  with  the  whole  army,  that 
they  terrified  the  horses,  and  occasioned  such  disorder  and  confusion,  as  often 
made  them  turn  upon  their  own  forces.!  At  other  times  they  would  render 
the  chariots  ineffectual  and  inactive,  only  by  marching  over  the  space  which 
separated  the  two  armies,  with  an  extraordinary  swiftness,  and  advancing  sud- 
denly upon  the  enemy.  For  the  strength  and  execution  of  the  chariots  pro 
ceeded  from  the  length  of  their  course,  which  was  what  gave  that  impetuosity 
and  rapidity  to  their  motion,  without  which  they  were  but  very  feeble  and  in- 
significant. It  was  after  this  manner  that  the  Romans  under  Sylla,  at  the  battle 
of  Chaeronea,  defeated  and  put  lo  flight  the  enemy's  chariots,  by  raising  loud 
peals  of  laughter,  as  if  they  had  been  at  the  games  of  the  circus,  and  by  ciy 
ing  out  to  them  to  send  more.J 

IV.  THEIR  DISCIPLINE  IN  PEACE  AS  WELL  AS  IN  WAR. 

NorHiNG  can  be  imagined  more  perfect,  than  the  discipline  and  good  order 
^f  the  troops  in  Cyrus's  reign,  whether  in  peace  or  war. 

The  methods  used  by  that  great  prince,  as  is  fully  related  in  Xenophon's 
Cyropcfidia,  in  order  to  form  his  troops  by  frequent  exercises,  to  inure  them 
to  fatigue,  by  keeping  them  continually  active  and  employed  in  laborious  works, 
lo  prepare  them  for  real  battle  by  mock  engagements,  to  fire  them  with  courage 
and  resolution  by  exhortations,  praises,  and  rewards,  all  present  a  perfect  model 
for  those  who  have  the  command  of  troops,  to  whom,  generally  speaking,  peace 
and  tranquillity  become  extremely  pernicious ;  for  a  relaxation  of  discipline, 
which  usually  ensues,  enervates  the  vigour  of  the  soldiers ;  and  their  inaction 
blunts  that  edge  of  courage,  whirb  the  motion  of  armies,  and  the  approach  of 


*  Lit.  1.  >\xvil  n.  41.  t  Ibid-  t  Plut.  »n  SylU  p.  463. 


384 


MAiNNERS  OF  THE 


enemies,  greatly  sharpen  and  excite.   A  prjdent  foresight  ought  to  make  ua 

^prepare  in  tinae  of  peace  whatever  will  be  needful  in  time  of  war.* 

Whenever  the  Persian  armies  marched,  every  thing  was  ordered  and  carried 
on  with  as  much  regularity  and  exactness  as  on  a  day  of  battle  ;  not  a  soldier 
or  officer  daring  to  quit  his  rank,  or  remove  from  the  colours.  It  was  the  cus- 
tom among  all  Asiatics,  whenever  the^^, encamped,  though  but  for  a  day  or  a 
night,  to  have  their  camp  surrounded  with  pretty  deep  ditches.  This  they  did 
to  prevent  being  surprised  by  the  enemy,  and  that  they  might  not  be  forced 
to  engage  against  their  inclinations.  They  usually  contented  themselves  with 
covering  their  camp  with  a  bank  of  earth  dug  out  of  these  ditches ;  though 
sometimes  they  fortified  them  with  strong  palisadoes,  and  long  stakes  drivet 
into  the  ground.! 

By  what  has  been  said  of  their  discipline  in  time  of  peace,  and  of  their  man- 
ner of  marching  and  encamping  their  armies,  we  may  judge  of  their  exactness 
on  a  day  of  battle.  Nothing  can  be  more  wonderful  than  the  accounts  we  have 
of  it  in  several  parts  of  the  Cyropaedia.  No  single  family  could  be  better  regu- 
lated, or  pay  a  more  ready  and  exact  obedience  to  the  first  signal,  than  the 
whole  army  of  Cyrus.  He  had  long  accustomed  them  to  that  prompt  obe- 
dience, on  which  the  success  of  all  enterprises  depends,  l  or  what  avails  the 
best  head  in  the  world,  if  the  arms  do  not  act  conformably,  and  follow  its  di- 
rections? At  first  he  had  used  some  severity,  which  is  necessary  in  the  begin- 
ning, in  order  to  establish  a  good  discipline  ;  but  this  severity  was  always  ac- 
companied with  reason,  and  tempered  with  kindness.  The  example  oi  their 
leader,  who  was  the  first  upon  all  duty,  gave  weight  and  authority  to  his  dis- 
course, and  softened  the  rigour  of  his  commands.J  The  unalterable  rule  he 
laid  down  to  himself,  of  granting  nothing  but  to  merit  only,  and  of  refusing  every 
thing  to  favour,  was  a  sure  means  of  keeping  all  the  officers  attached  to  their 
duty,  and  of  making  them  perpetually  vigilant  and  careful.  For  there  is 
nothing  more  discouraging  to  persons  of  that  profession,  even  to  those  who 
love  their  prince  and  their  country,  than  to  see  the  rewards  to  which  the  dan- 
gers they  have  undergone,  and  the  blood  they  have  spilt,  entitle  them,  confer- 
red upon  others. §  Cyrus  had  the  art  of  inspiring  even  his  common  soldiers  with 
a  zeal  for  discipline  and  order,  by  first  inspiring  them  with  a  love  of  their  coun- 
try, for  their  honour,  and  iheir  fellow-citizens ;  and  above  all,  by  endearing 
nimself  to  them  by  his  bounty  and  liberality.  These  are  the  true  methods  of 
establishing  and  supporting  military  discipline  in  full  force  and  vigour. 

V.  THEIR  ORDER  OF  BATTLE. 

As  there  were  but  very  few  fortified  places  in  Cyrus's  time,  all  their  wars 
were  little  else  than  field  expeditions  ;  for  which  reason  that  wise  prince  found 
out,  by  his  own  reflection  and  experience,  that  nothing  contributed  more  to 
victoiy  than  a  numerous  and  good  cavalry ;  and  that  the  gaining  of  a  single 
pitched  battle  was  often  attended  with  the  conquest  of  a  whole  kingdom.  Ac 
cordingly  we  see,  that  having  found  the  Persian  army  entirely  destitute  of  that 
important  and  necessary  succour,  he  turned  all  his  thoughts  towards  remedying 
the  defect,  and  so  far  succeeded,  by  his  great  application  and  activity,  as  to 
form  a  body  of  Persian  cavalry,  which  became  superior  to  that  of  his  enemies, 
in  goodness  at*  least,  if  not  in  number.  There  were  several  breeds  of  horses 
h  Persia  and  Media :  but  in  the  latter  province,  those  of  a  place  called  Nisea 
were  the  most  esteemed ;  and  it  was  from  thence  the  king's  stable  was  furnished  -U 
We  shall  now  examine  what  use  they  made  of  their  cavalry  and  infantij. 


♦   Metuensque  futuri. 

In  pace,  ut  sapiens,  aptarjt  idonea  bello. — Hor.  Satyr,  ii.  1,  2. 
t  Diod.  1.  i.  p.  24,  25. 

X  DnK,  cultu  levi,  c^pite  intecto,  in  aepiine,  in  laboribus  frequens  adeue :  laudem  strenuii,  solatimn  la 
ralidi<<,  exemplum  omnibus  ostendere. — Tacit.  Annal.  1.  xiii.  c.  35. 

S  Cccidisse  in  irritum  laborer,  si  prasmia  periculorum  soli  assequantur,  qui  pcrisiilis  non  affuerunt— Tacif 
Vnt  M*».  lu.  aap.  M.  U  Herod.  1.  rr.  c.  40   Simh.  I.  xi.  f .  MO. 


AJi*SYUIAN!5. 


The  celebrated  battle  of  Thymbra  may  Perve  to  give  us  a  just  notion  of  the 
teictics  of  the  ancients  in  the  days  of  Cyrus,  and  to  show  how  fur  their  ability 
extended,  either  in  the  use  of  arms  or  dispositimi  of  armies. 

They  knew,  that  the  most  advantageous  order  of  battle  was  to  place  the  in- 
(antiy  in  the  centre,  and  the  cavalry,  which  consisted  chiefly  of  the  cuirassiers, 
on  the  two  wings  of  the  army.    By  this  disposition  the  flanKs  of  the  foot  were 
covered,  and  the  horse  were  at  liberty  to  act  and  extend  themselves,  as  occa 
•ion  should  require. 

They  likewise  understood  the  necessity  of  drawing  out  an  army  into  several 
lines,  iu  order  to  support  one  another ;  because  otherwise,  as  one  sii-eie  line 
might  easily  be  pierced  through  and  broken,  it  would  not  be  able  to  rally,  and 
consequently  the  army  would  be  left  without  resource.  For  which  reason,  they 
formed  the  first  line  of  toot,  heavily  armed,  twelve  men  deep,*  who,  on  the  first 
onspit,  made  use  ol  the  half-pike  ;  and  afterwards,  when  the  fronts  of  the  two 
armies  ci  me  close  together,  engaged  the  enemy  hand  to  hand  with  their  swords, 
or  scimitars. 

The  second  line  consisted  of  such  men  as  were  lightly  armed,  whose  manner 
of  fighting  was  to  throw  their  javelins  over  the  heads  of  the  first.  These  ja- 
velins were  made  of  a  heavy  wood,  pointed  with  iron,  and  were  thrown  with 
great  vio  ence.  The  design  of  them  was  to  put  the  enemy  into  disorder,  before 
they  carr.e  to  close  fight. 

The  third  line  consisted  of  archers,  whose  bows  being  bent  with  die  utmost 
force,  carried  their  arrows  over  the  heads  of  the  two  preceding  lines,  and  ex- 
tremely annoyed  the  enemy.  These  archers  were  sometimes  mixed  with 
slingers,  who  slung  great  stones  with  a  terrible  force;  but,  in  aftertimes,  the 
Khodians,  instead  of  stones,  made  use  of  leaden  bullets,  which  the  slings  car- 
ried a  great  deal  farther. 

A  fourth  line,  formed  of  men  in  the  same  manner  as  those  of  the  first,  formed 
the  rear  of  the  main  body.  This  line  w^as  intended  for  the  support  of  the  others, 
and  to  keep  them  to  their  duty,  in  case  they  gave  w^ay.  It  served  likewise  for 
a  rear-guard,  and  a  body  of  reserve  to  repulse  the  enemy,  if  they  should  hap- 
pen to  penetrate  so  far. 

They  had,  besides,  moving  towers,  carried  upon  huge  wagons,  drawn  by 
sixteen  oxen  each,  in  which  were  twenty  men,  whose  business  was  to  discharge 
stones  and  javelins.  These  were  placed  in  the  rear  of  the  whole  army,  be- 
hind the  body  of  reserve,  and  were  used  to  support  their  troops  when  they 
were  driven  back  by  the  enemy,  and  to  favour  their  rallying  when  in  disorder. 

They  made  great  use,  too,  of  their  chariots  armed  with  scythes,  as  we  have 
already  observed.  These  they  generally  placed  in  the  front  of  the  battle, 
and  some  of  them  at  certain  times  upon  the  flanks  of  the  army,  or  when  they 
had  an  7  reason  to  fear  their  being  surrounded. 

Thu  ^  far,  and  not  much  farther,  did  the  ancients  carry  their  knowledge  in 
the  mil  tary  art,  with  respect  to  their  baldes  and  engagements.  But  we  do 
not  find  that  they  had  any  skill  in  choosing  advantageous  posts,  in  seasonably 
possesshig  themselves  of  a  favourable  spot,  or  bringing  the  war  into  a  close 
country;  of  making  use  of  defiles  and  narrow  passes,  either  to  molest  the  en- 
emy in  their  march,  or  to  cover  themselves  from  their  attacks  ;  of  laying  art- 
ful ambuscades  ;  of  protracting  a  campaign  to  a  great  length  by  wise  delays  ; 
of  not  suffering  a  superior  enemy  to  force  them  to  a  decisive  action,  and  of  re- 
ducing him  to  the  Necessity  of  preying  upon  himself  through  the  want  of  forage 
and  provisions.  Neither  do  w^e  see  that  they  had  much  regard  to  the  defend- 
ing of  their  right  and  left  with  rivers,  marshes,  or  mountains,  and  by  that  means 
to  make  the  front  of  a  smaller  army  equal  to  that  of  another  much  more  nu- 
merous, and  to  put  it  out  of  the  enemy's  power  to  surround  or  flank  them. 

Yet,  in  Cyus  s  first  campaign  against  the  Armenians,  and  afterwards  against 
the  Babylonians,  they  seemed  to  have  made  their  first  advances  and  essays 


Vol.  1. 


<  B.  f  Pf  Cyrus's  fim»     wa?  t\e*?nly -four  men 

17 


S86 


MA?^^ERS  OF  THE 


in  this  art ;  but  they  were  not  improved,  or  carried  A)  any  degree  ot  per 

fection  in  those  days.  Time,  reflection,  and  experience,  made  the  great 
aommanders  in  after  ages  acquainted  with  these  precautions  and  subtleties  of 
war ;  and  we  have  already  shown,  in  the  wars  of  the  Carthaginians,  what  use 
Hannibal,  Fabius,  Scipio,  and  other  generals  of  both  nations,  made  of  them 

Vf.  THEIR  MANNER  OF  ATTACKING  AND  DEFENDING  STRONG  PLACES. 

The  ancients  both  devised  and  executed  all  that  could  be  expected  from  th- 
nature  of  the  arms  known  in  their  days,  as  also  from  the  force  and  variety  of 
engines  then  in  use,  either  for  attacking  or  defending  fortified  places. 

1.  THEIR  WAY  OF  ATTACKING  PLACES. 

The  first  method  of  attacking  a  place  was  by  blockade.  They  invested  the 
town  with  a  wall  built  quite  round  it,  and  in  which,  at  proper  distances,  were 
made  redoubts  and  magazines  ;  and  between  the  wall  and  the  town  they  dug 
a  deep  trench,  which  they  strongly  fenced  with  pallisadoes,  to  hinder  the  be- 
sieged from  going  out,  as  w^ell  as  to  prevent  succours  or  provisions  from  being 
brought  in.  In  this  manner  they  waited  till  famine  did  what  they  could  not  ef- 
fect by  force  or  art.  From  hence  proceeded  the  length  of  the  sieges  related 
by  the  ancients  ;  as  that  of  Troy,*  which  lasted  ten  years  ;  that  of  Azoth  by 
Psammeticus,  which  lasted  twenty  ;  that  of  Nineveh,  where  we  find  Sardana- 
palus  defended  himself  for  the  space  of  seven.  And  Cyrus  might  have  lain  p 
long  time  before  Babylon,  where  a  stock  of  provisions  for  twenty  years  had 
been  laid  in,  if  he  had  not  devised  a  different  method  of  taking  it. 

As  they  found  blockades  extremely  tedious  from  their  duration,  they  invented 
the  method  of  scaling,  which  was  done  by  raising  a  great  number  of  ladders 
against  the  walls,  by  means  of  which  a  great  many  files  of  soldiers  might  climb 
up  together,  and  force  their  way  in. 

To  render  this  method  of  scaling  impracticable,  or  at  least  ineffectual,  they 
made  the  walls  of  their  cities  extremely  high,  and  the  towers,  wherewith  they 
were  flanked,  still  considerably  higher,  that  the  ladders  of  the  besiegers  might 
not  be  able  to  reach  the  top  of  them.  This  obliged  them  to  find  out  some  other 
way  of  getting  to  the  top  of  the  ramparts  ;  and  this  was,  building  moveable  tow 
ersof  wood,  still  higher  than  the  walls,  and  by  approaching  them  with  these 
wooden  towers.  On  the  top  of  these  towers,  which  formed  a  kind  of  platform, 
was  placed  a  competent  number  of  soldiers,  who  with  darts  and  arrows,  and  the 
assistance  of  their  balistae  and  catapultae,  scoured  the  ramparts^  and  cleared 
them  of  the  defenders  ;  and  then,  from  a  lower  stage  of  the  tower,  they  let 
down  a  kind  of  draw-bridge,  which  rested  upon  the  wall,  and  gave  the  solaiers 
admittaiice. 

A  third  method,  which  extremely  shortened  the  length  of  their  sieges,  was 
that  of  the  battering-ram,  by  which  they  made  breaches  in  the  walls,  and  opened 
themselves  a  passage  into  the  places  besieged.  This  battering-ram  was  a  vast 
thick  beam  of  timber,  with  a  strong  head  of  iron  or  brass  at  the  end  of  it,  which 
was  pushed  with  the  utmost  force  against  the  walls.  There  were  several  kinds 
erf"  them ;  but  I  shall  give  a  more  ample  and  particular  account  of  these,  as 
weA  as  other  war-like  engines,  in  another  place. 

They  had  still  a  fourth  method  of  attacking  places,  which  was,  that  of  sap- 
ping and  undermining ;  and  this  was  done  two  different  ways,  that  is,  either  to 
cany  a  subterranean  path  quite  under  the  walls,  into  the  heart  of  the  city, 
and  so  open  themselves  a  passage  and  entrance  into  it ;  or  else,  after  they  had 
gapped  the  foundation  of  the  wall,  and  put  supporters  under  it,  to  fill  the  space 
witn  all  sorts  of  combustible  matter,  and  then  to  set  that  matter  on  fire,  in  ordei 
to  bum  down  the  supporters,  calcine  the  materials  of  the  wall,  and  throw  down 
part  of  it. 


♦  ' '( I.      H  i  ll  5  r?'«  inri)tion  of  the  battering  ram,  or  aoy  warlike  eng^iM. 


ASSYRIANS.  &r. 


J.  THE.A  MANNER  OF  DEFENDING  PLACES. 

With  respect  to  the  forlifying  and  defending  of  towns,  the  ancients  .naJe  use 
'^f  all  the  fundamental  principles  and  essential  rule3  now  practised  in  the  art 
of  fortification.  They  had  the  method  of  overflowing  the  country  round  about, 
to  hinder  the  enemy's  approaching  the  town ;  they  made  their  ditches  deep, 
and  of  a  steep  ascent,  and  fenced  them  round  with  pallisadoes,  to  make  the 
enemy's  ascent  or  descent  the  more  difficult ;  they  made  their  ramparts  very 
thicK,  and  fenced  them  with  stone  or  brick-work,  that  the  battering-ram  should 
Rot  be  able  to  demolish  them  ;  and  very  high,  that  th^  scaling  of  them  should 
be  e^qually  impracticable  ;  they  had  their  projecting  towers,  from  whence  our 
modern  liiastions  derive  their  origin,  for  the  flanking  of  the  curtains  ;  they  in- 
geniously invented  different  machines  for  shooting  arrows,  throwing  darts  and 
lances,  and  hurling  gieat  stones  with  vast  force  and  violence  ;  they  bad  para- 
pets and  battlements  in  the  walls  for  the  security  of  the  soldiers,  and  covered 
g^alleries,  which,  going  quite  round  the  walls,  served  as  subterraneous  passages  ; 
they  had  intrenchments  behind  the  breaches  and  necks  of  the  towers  ;  they 
made  their  sallies,  too,  in  order  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  besiegers,  and  to 
set  their  engines  on  fire  ;  as  also  counter-mines  to  defeat  the  mines  of  the 
enemy ;  and  lastly,  they  built  citadels,  as  places  of  retreat  in  case  of  extremit}^ 
to  serve  as  the  last  recourse  to  a  garrison  upofl  the  point  of  being  forced,  -^.nd 
to  make  the  taking  of  the  town  of  no  effect,  or  at  least  to  obtain  a  more  ad- 
vantageous capitulation.  All  these  methods  of  defending  places  against  those 
that  besieged  them,  were  known  in  the  art  of  fortification,  as  it  was  practised 
among  the  ancients ;  and  they  are  the  very  same  as  are  now  in  use  among  the 
moderns,  allowing  for  such  alteration  as  the  difference  of  arms  has  occasi|)ned. 

I  thought  it  necessary  to  enter  into  this  detail,  in  order  to  give  the  reader  an 
idea  of  the  ancient  manner  of  defending  fortified  towns,  as  also  to  remove  a  pre- 
judice which  prevails  among  many  of  the  moderns,  who  imagine,  that,  because 
new  names  are  now  given  to  the  same  things,  the  things  themselves  are  there- 
fore different  in  nature  and  principle.  Since  the  invention  of  gun-powder,  can- 
non indeed  have  been  substituted  in  the  place  of  the  battering-ram,  and  musket- 
shot  instead  of  balistae,  catapultae,  scorpions,  javelins,  slings,  and  arrows. 
But  does  it  therefore  follow,  that  any  of  the  fundamental  rules  of  fortification 
are  changed  ?  By  no  means.  The  ancients  made  as  much  use  of  the  solidity  of 
bodies,  and  the  mechanic  powers  of  motion,  as  art  and  ingenuity  would  admit. 

VII.  THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  PERSIAN  FORCES  AFTER  THE  TIME  OF  Ci^RUS. 

I  HAVE  already  observed,  more  than  once,  that  we  must  not  judge  of  the 
merit  and  courage  of  the  Persian  troops  at  all  times,  by  what  we  see  of  them 
in  Cyrus's  reign.  I  shall  conclude  this  article. of  war  with  a  judicious  reflection 
made  by  Monsieur  Bossuet,  bishop  of  Meaux,  on  that  subject.  He  observes, 
that  after  the  death  of  that  prince,  the  Persians,  generally  speaking,  were  igno- 
rant of  the  great  advantages  which  result  from  severity,  order,  and  discipline  ; 
from  skill  in  drawing  up  an  army,  order  in  marching  and  encamping,  and  that 
happiness  of  conduct  which  moves  those  great  bodies  without  disorder  or  confu- 
sion. Full  of  a  vain  ostentation  of  their  power  and  greatness,  and  relying  more 
upon  strength  than  prudence,  upon  the  number  rather  than  the  choice  of  their 
troops,  they  thought  they  had  done  all  that  was  necessary,  when  they  had 
drawn  together  immense  numbers  of  people,  who  fought  indeed  with  resolution 
but  without  order,  and  who  found  themselves  encumbered  with  the  vast  malti 
tudesof  useless  persons  in  the  retinue  of  the  king  and  his  chief  officers.  For  to 
luch  a  height  was  their  luxury  grown,  that  they  would  have  the  same  mag- 
nificence, and  enjoy  the  same  pleasures  and  delights,  in  the  army,  as  in  t&» 
king's  court ;  so  that  in  their  wars,  the  kings  marched  accompanied  with  tVieir 
wives,  their  concubines,  and  all  their  eunuchs.  Their  silver  and  gold  plate, 
and  all  their  rich  furniture,  were  carried  after  them  in  prodigious  quantities  ; 
and  in  short,  all  the  equipage  and  utensils  required  in  so  voluptuous  a  life.  A« 


MAiNiNERS  OF  THE 


army  composed  in  this  manner,  and  already  clogged  with  the  excessjre  numbet 
of  troops,  had  the  additional  load  of  vast  multitudes  of  such  as  did  not  fight.  In 
this  confusion,  the  troops  could  not  act  in  concert ;  their  orders  never  reached 
them  in  time  ;  and  in  action,  every  thing  went  on  at  random,  as  it  were,  without 
the  possibility  of  any  commander's  preventing  disorder.  Add  to  this,  the  ne 
cessity  they  were  under  of  finishing  an  expedition  quickly,  and  of  passing  into 
an  enemy's  country  with  great  rapidity :  because  such  a  vast  body  of  peopie, 
gre'Bdy  not  only  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  but  of  such  things  also  as  were  requisite 
for  luxury  and  pleasure,  consumed  all  that  could  be  met  with  in  a  very  short 
time ;  nor  indeed  is  it  easy  to  comprehend  from  whence  they  could  procure 
subsistence. 

With  all  this  vast  train,  however,  the  Persians  astonished  those  nations  that 
were  not  more  expert  in  military  affairs  than  themselves ;  and  many  of  those 
that  even  excelled  them,  were  yet  overcome,  being  either  weakened  or  dis- 
tressed by  their  own  divisions,  or  overpowered  by  the  enemy's  numbers.  By 
this  means  Egypt,  as  proud  as  she  was  of  her  antiquity,  her  wise  institutions, 
and  the  conquests  of  her  Sesostris,  became  subject  to  the  Persians.  Nor  was 
it  difficult  for  them  to  conquer  Lesser  Asia,  and  such  Greek  colonies  as  tlie 
luxury  of  Egypt  had  corrupted.  But  when  they  came  to  engage  with  Greece 
itself,  they  xbund  what  they  had  never  met  with  before,  regular  and  well-dis- 
cjplined  troops,  skilful  and  experienced  commanders,  soldiers  accustomed  to 
temperance,  whose  bodies  were  inured  to  toil  and  labour,  and  rendered  both 
robust  and  active  by  wrestling  and  other  exercises  practised  in  that  country. 
The  Grecian  armies,  indeed,  were  but  small ;  but  they  were  like  those  strong, 
vigorous  bodies,  that  seem  to  be  all  nerves  and  sinews,  and  full  of  spirits  in 
every  part ;  at  the  same  time  they  were  so  well  commanded,  and  so  prompt 
m  obeying  the  orders  of  their  generals,  that  it  seemed  as  if  all  the  soldiers  had 
been  actuated  by  one  soul,  so  perfect  a  harmony  was  there  in  all  their  motions. 

ARTICLE  III. 

ARTS  AND  SCIENCES. 

I  DO  not  pretend  to  give  an  account  of  the  eastern  poetry,  of  which  we  know 
little  more  than  what  we  find  in  the  books  of  the  old  Testament.  Those  pre- 
cious fragments  are  sufficient  to  let  us  know  the  origin  of  poesy,  its  true  design, 
the  use  that  was  made  of  it  by  those  inspired  writers,  namely,  to  celebrate  the 
perfection,  and  sing  the  wonderful  works  of  God,  as  also  the  dignity  and  sub-  ^ 
limity  of  style  which  ought  to  accompany  it,  adapted  to  the  majesty  of  the 
subject  it  treats.  The  discourses  of  Job's  friends,  who  lived  in  the  east,  as  he 
himself  did,  and  who  were  distinguished  among  the  Gentiles  as  much  by  their 
learning  as  their  birth,  may  likewise  give  us  some  notion  of  eastern  eloquence  in 
those  early  ages. 

What  the  Egyptian  priests  said  of  the  Greeks  in  general,  and  of  the  Athenians 
m  particular,  according  to  Plato,*  that  they  were  but  children  in  antiquity,  is 
very  true  with  respect  to  arts  and  sciences,  of  which  they  have  falsely  ascribed 
the  invention  to  chimerical  persons,  long  posterior  to  the  deluge.  The  holy 
Scriptures  inform  us,  that  before  that  epoch,  God  had  discovered  to  mankind 
the  art  of  tilling  and  cultivating  the  ground  ;  of  feeding  their  flocks  and  cattle, 
when  their  habitation  was  in  tents ;  of  spinning  wool  and  flax,  and  weaving  it 
fito  stuffs  and  linen  ;  of  forging  and  polishing  iron  and  brass,  and  putting  them 
o  numberless  uses,  that  are  necessary  and  convenient  for  life  and  society.! 

We  learn  from  the  same  Scriptures;  that,  very  soon  after  the  deluge,  human 
fidustiy  had  made  several  discoveries  very  worthy  of  admiration ;  as,  1.  The 
irt  of  spinning  gold  thread,  and  of  interweaving  it  with  stuffs.  2.  That  of  beat- 
gold,  and  with  light  thin  leaves  of  it,  to  gfld  wood  and  other  materials.  3. 
The  secret  of  casting  metals,  as  brass,  silver,  or  gold,  and  of  making  all  sortf 


•  In  TimsKO,  p.  22.  \  Gen.  ti. 


ASSYRIANS.  &c 


383 


uf  ngures  with  ihem  in  imitation  of  nature ;  of  representing  different  kinda  of  ob- 
jects, and  of  making  an  infinite  variety  of  vessels  of  those  metals,  for  use  an  J 
ornament.  4.  The  art  of  painting,  or  carving  upon  wood,  stone,  or  marble  :  arid 
5.  To  name  no  more,  that  of  dying  their  silks  and  stuffs,  and  giving  them  the 
most  exquisite  and  beautiful  colours. 

As  it  was  in  Asia  that  men  first  settled  after  the  deluge,  it  is  easy  to  con 
ceive  that  Asia  must  have  been  the  nurse,  as  it  were,  of  arts  and  sciences,  the 
remembrance  of  which  had  been  preserved  by  tradition,  and  which  were  af- 
terwards revived  and  restored,  by  means  of  men's  v/ants  a*nd  necessities,  which 
put  them  upon  all  methods  of  industry  and  application. 

SECTION  I. — ARCHITECTURE, 

The  building  of  the  tower  of  Babel,  and  shortly  after,  cf  those  famous  cities. 
Babylon  and  Nineveh,  which  have  been  looked  upon  as  prodigies  ;  the  gt  an- 
deur  and  magnificence  of  royal  and  other  palaces,  divided  into  numerous  liaiis 
and  apartments,  and  adorned  with  every  thing  that  either  decency  or  convc- 
niency  could  require  ;  the  regularity  and  symmetry  of  the  pillars  and  vaul  ted 
roofs,  raised  and  multiplied  one  upon  another  ;  the  noble  gates  of  their  cities  . 
the  breadth  and  thickness  of  their  ramparts  ;  the  height  and  strength  of  their 
towers,  their  large  and  commodious  quays  on  the  banks  of  their  great  rivers  , 
and  their  curious  bold  bridges  built  over  them  ;  all  these  things,  I  say,  with 
many  other  works  of  the  like  nature,  show  to  what  a  degree  of  perfection  ai  chi- 
tecture  was  carried  in  those  ancient  times. 

Yet  I  cannot  say,  whether,  in  those  ages,  this  art  arose  to  that  degree  of  pe]  - 
fection  which  it  afterwards  attained  in  Greece  and  Italy  ;  or  whether  thost 
vast  structures  in  Asia  and  Egypt,  so  much  boasted  of  by  the  ancients,  v^ere 
as  remarkable  for  their  beauty  and  regularity,  as  they  were  for  their  magni- 
tude and  spaciousness.  We  hear  of  five  orders  in  architecture,  the  Tuscan, 
Doric,  Ionic,  Corinthian,  and  Composite  :  but  we  never  hear  gf  an  Asiatic  or 
Egyptian  order,  which  gives  us  reason  to  doubt  whether  symmetry,  measures, 
and  proportion  of  pillars,  pilasters,  and  other  ornaments  in  architecture,  were 
exactly  observed  in  those  ancient  structures. 

SECTION  II. — MUSIC. 

It  is  no  wonder,  if  in  a  country  like  Asia,  addicted  to  voluptuous  and  luxu 
rious  living,  music,  w^hich  is  in  a  manner  the  soul  of  such  enjoyments,  w^as  in 
high  esteem,  and  cultivated  with  great  application.  The  very  names  of  the 
principal  styles  of  ancient  music,  which  the  modern  has  still  preserved,  name- 
ly, the  Doric,  Phrygian,  Lydian,  Ionian,  and  ^olian,  sufficiently  indicate  the 
place  \^'tlere  it  had  its  origin,  or  at  least,  where  it  was  improved  and  broijo  ht 
to  perfection.  We  learn  from  holy  Scripture,  that  in  Laban's  time,  instru- 
mental music  was  much  in  use  in  the  country  where  he  dwelt,  that  is,  in  Meso- 
potamia ;  since,  among  the  other  reproaches  he  makes  to  his  son-in-law  Jacob, 
he  complains,  that  by  his  precipitate  flight,  he  had  put  it  out  of  his  power  to 
conduct  him  and  his  family,  "  with  mirth  and  with  song,  with  tabret  and  with 
harp."*  Among  the  booty  that  Cyrus  had  ordered  to  be  set  apart  for  his  uncie 
Cyaxares,  mention  is  made  of  two  famous  female  musicians,!  very  skilful  in 
their  profession,  who  accompanied  a  lady  of  Susa.  and  were  taken  prisoners 
with  her.J 

To  determine  what  degree  of  perfection  music  w^as  carried  to  by  the  an- 
cients, is  a  question  which  very  much  puzzles  the  learned.  It  is  the  more 
difficult  to  be  decided,  because,  to  determine  justly  upon  it,  it  seems  necessa- 
ry we  should  have  several  pieces  of  music  composed  by  the  ancients,  with 
Hieir  notes,  that  we  might  examine  both  with  our  eyes  and  our  ears.  But  unhap- 
pily, it  is  not  with  music,  in  this  respect,  as  with  ancient  sculpture  and  poetry. 
o(  vrhich  we  liave  so  many  noble  monuments  remaining  ;  wliereas,  on  the  con- 


•  Gf.a.  vxxi. 


X  Cyrop.l.  IV  p.  I? 


390 


MANNERS  OF  THK 


irary^  we  have  not  any  one  piece  of  their  composition  h  the  other  science,  by 

which  we  can  form  a  certain  judgment  of  it,  and  determine  whether  the  mu 
sic  of  the  ancients  was  as  perfect  as  ours. 

It  is  generally  allowed,  that  the  ancients  were  acquainted  with  the  triple 
symphony,  that  is,  the  harmony  of  voices,  that  of  instruments,  and  that  of 
voices  and  instruments  in  concert. 

It  is  also  agreed,  that  they  excelled  in  what  relates  to  rhythmus.  What  is 
meant  by  rhythmus,  is  the  assemblage  or  union  of  various  times  in  music,  which 
are  joined  together  with  a  certain  order,  and  in  certain  proportions.  To  un- 
derstand this  definition,  it  is  to  he  observed,  that  the  music  we  are  speaking 
of,  was  always  set  and  sung  to  the  words  of  certain  verses,  in  which  every  syl- 
lable was  distinguished  into  long  and  short ;  that  the  short  syllable  was  pro- 
nounced as  quick  again  as  the  long ;  that  therefore  the  former  was  reckoned 
to  make  up  but  one  time,  whil^  the  latter  made  up  two  ;  and  consequently 
the  sound  which  answered  t6  tliis  was  to  continue  twice  as  long  as  the  sound 
which  answered  to  the  other ;  or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  it  was  to  consist  of 
two  times  or  measures,  while  the  other  comprehended  but  one  ;  that  the  verses 
which  were  sung  consisted  of  a  certain  number  of  feet,  formed  by  the  differ- 
ent combinations  of  these  long  and  short  syllables  ;  and  that  the  rhythmus  of 
the  song  regularly  followed  the  march  of  these  feet.  As  these  feet,  of  what* 
ever  nature  or  extent,  w^ere  always  divided  into  two  equal  or  unequal  parts, 
of  which  the  former  was  called  (5?jis-.  elevation  or  rising,  and  the  latter  ^icn^', 
depressing  or  falling  ;  so  the  rhythmus  of  the  song,  w^hich  answered  to  every 
one  of  these  feet,  was  divided  "into  two  parts  equally  or  unequally,  by  what 
we  now  call  a  beat,  and  rest  or  intermission.  The  scrupulous  regard  the  an- 
cients had  to  the  quantity  of  their  syllables  in  their  vocal  music,  made  their 
rhythm.us  much  more  perfect  and  regular  than  ours :  for  our  poetry  is  not 
formed  upon  the  measure  of  long  and  short  syllables  ;  but,  nevertheless,  a 
skilful  musician  among  us  may  in  some  manner  express,  by  the  length  of  the 
rounds,  the  quantity  of  every  syllable.  This  account  of  the  rhythmus  of  the 
aicients  I  have  copied  from  one  of  the  dissertations  of  Monsieur  Burette; 
which  I  have  done  out  of  regard  for  young  students,  to  whom  thi«  little  ex- 
planation may  be  of  great  use  for  the  understanding  of  several  passages  in 
ancient  authors.    I  now  return  to  my  subject. 

The  principal  point  in  dispute  among  the  learned,  concerning  the  music  of 
the  ancients,  is,  to  know  whether  they  understood  music  in  several  parts ;  that 
is,  a  composition  consi-sting  of  several  parts,  and  in  which  all  those  different 
parts  form  each  by  itself  a  complete  piece,  and  at  the  same  time  have  a  har- 
monious connexion,  as  it  is  in  our  counterpoint  or  concert,  whether  simple 
or  compounded. 

If  the  reader  be  curious  to  know  more  concerning  this  matter,  and  whatever 
else  relates  to  the  music  of  the  ancients,  I  refer  him  to  the  learned  disserta- 
tions of  the  above-mentioned  M.  Burette,  inserted  in  the  3d,  4th,  and  5th  vo- 
lumes of  the  memoirs  of  the  Royal  Academy  des  Belles  LettreSy  which  show 
the  profound  erudition  and  exquisite  taste  of  that  writer, 

SECTION  III. — PHYSIC. 

We  likewise  discover,  in  those  early  times,  the  origin  of  physic,  the  begin- 
nings of  which,  as  of  all  other  arts  and  sciences,  were  veiy  rude  and  imper- 
fect. Herodotus,  and  after  him  Strabo,  observe,  that  it  was  a  general  custom 
amonff  the  Babylonians,  to  expose  their  sick  persons  to  the  view  of  passengers, 
in  order  to  learn  from  them  whether  they  had  been  afflicted  with  the  like  dis- 
temper, and  by  what  remedies  they  had  been  cured.*^  From  hence  several 
people  have  pretended,  that  physic  is  nothing  else  than  a  conjectural  and  ex- 
perimental science,  entirely  resulting  from  observations  made  upon  the  nature 
Df  different  diseases,  and  upon  such  things  as  are  conducive  or  prejudicial  to 


•  Herod.  1.  i.  c.  197.    Strab   I.  Ifi.  p. 


ASS\  WANS,  Jcc 


3^1 


ft^atth.  It  must  be  confessed,  that  experience  will  go  a  great  way  ;  but  that 
alone  is  not  sufficient.  The  famous  Hippocrates  made  great  use  of  it  in  hiB 
practice  ;  but  he  did  not  entirel}'-  rely  upon  it.  The  custom  was,  in  those  days, 
for  ak  persons  that  had  been  sick,  and  were  cured,  1o  put  up  a  tablet  dedi- 
cated to  ^sculapius,  wherein  they  gave  an  account  of  the  remedies  that  had 
restored  them  to  health.*  That  celebrated  physician  caused  all  these  inscrip 
tions  and  memorials  to  be  copied  out,  which  were  of  great  advantage  to  him. 

Physic  was,  even  in  the  time  of  the  Trojan  war,  in  great  use  and  esteem. t 
^iEsculapius,  who  flourished  at  that  time,  is  looked  upon  as  the  inventor  of  that 
art,  and  had  even  then  brought  it  to  great  perfection  by  his  profound  know- 
ledge  in  botany,  by  his  great  skill  in  medicinal  preparations  and  chirurgical 
Iterations  ;  for  in  those  days  these  several  branches  were  not  separated  from 
one  another,  but  were  all  included  under  the  denomination  of  Physic. 

The  two  sons  of  ^sculapius,  Podalirius  and  Machaon,  who  commanded  a 
certain  number  of  troops  at  the  siege  of  Troy,  were  both  most  excellent  phy- 
sicians and  brave  officers,  and  rendered  as  much  service  to  the  Grecian  army 
by  their  skill  in  their  medical,  as  they  did  by  their  courage  and  conduct  in 
their  military  capacity.];  Nor  did  Achilles  himself,  or  even  Alexander  the 
Great,  in  after-times,  tnink  the  knowledge  of  this  science  improper  for  a  gene- 
ral, or  beneath  his  dignity. §  On  the  contrary,  he  learned  it  himself  of  Chiron, 
the  centaur,  and  afterwards  instructed  his  friend  Patroclus  in  it,  who  did  not 
dis.dain  to  exercise  the  art,  m  healing  the  wound  of  Eurypilus.  This  w^ound 
he  healed  by  the  application  of  a  certain  root,  which  immediately  assuaged 
the  pain,  and  stopped  the  bleeding.  Botany,  or  that  part  of  physic  which 
treats  of  herbs  and  plants,  w^as  very  much  known,  and  almost  the  only  branch 
of  the  science  used  in  those  early  times.  Virgil,  speaking  of  a  celebrated  phy- 
sician, who  was  instructed  in  his  art  by  Apollo  himself,  seems  to  confine  thai 
profession  to  the  knowledge  of  simples  :  Scire  potestotes  herhariim^  usumque 
medcndi  maluitJ^  It  was  nature  itself  that  offered  those  innocent  and  salutary 
remedies,  and  seemed  to  invite  mankind  to  make  use  of  them.  Their  gar- 
dens, fields,  and  woods  supplied  them  with  an  infinite  plenty  and  variety.^ 
As  yet  no  use  was  mcde  of  minerals,  treacles,  and  other  compositions,  since 
discovered  by  closer  and  more  inquisitive  researches  into  nature.** 

Pliny  saj'-s,  that  physic,  brought  by  ^sculapius  into  great  reputation  about 
the  time  of  the  Trojan  war,  was  soon  after  neglected  and  lost,  and  lay  in  a  man- 
ner buried  in  darkness  till  the  time  of  the  Peloponnesian  war,  when  it  w^as  re- 
vived by  Hippocrates,  and  restored  to  its  ancient  honour  and  credit. tt  This 
may  be  true  with  respect  to  Greece  ;  but  in  Persia  w^e  find  it  always  cultivated, 
and  constantly  held  in  great  reputation.  The  great  Cyrus,  as  is  observed  by 
Xenophon,  never  failed  to  take  a  certain  number  of  excellent  physicians  along 
with  him  in  the  army,  rewarding  them  very  liberally,  and  treating  them  with 
particular  regard.JJ  He  farther  remarks,  that  in  this,  Cyrus  only  followed  a  cus- 
tom that  had  been  anciently  established  among  their  generals  ;  and  that  the 
younger  Cyrus  acted  in  the  same  manner.§§ 

It  must  nevertheless  be  acknon^l edged,  that  it  was  Hippocrates  who  carried 
this  science  to  its  highest  perfection :  and  though  it  is  certain,  that  several 
improvements  and  new  discoveries  have  been  made  in  that  art  since  his  time, 
yet  he  is  stilMooked  upon,  by  the  ablest  physicians,  as  the  first  and  chief  master 
of  the  faculty,  and  as  the  person  whose  writings  ought  to  be  the  chief  -tudy  of 
those  who  w^ould  distinguish  themselves  in  that  profession. 

Men  thus  qualified,  who,  besides  their  having  studied  the  most  celebrated 
physicians,  as  well  ancient  as  modern,  besides  the  knowledge  they  have  ac- 
quired of  tne  virtues  of  simples,  the  principles  of  natural  philosophy,  and  the 
constitution  and  contexture  of  human  bodies,  have  had  a  long  practice  and  ex 


•  T*!in.l.  xxix.  c.  1     Strr.h.  !.  viii.  p.  ,'^74.  t  Dioc  1.  T.  p.  341. 

'  }  Horn.  Iliad.  1.  X.  V.  S  >1— 8-17.  ?  Pint,  in  Alex.  p.  f;63.  i!  .*:n.  1.  xii.  v.  3'<<* 

1[  Filn.  1 -xxvi.  c.  1.  ♦*  Plin.  I.  xsiv.  <•.  7.  Li')- xxix.  c.  9 

\\  Cyrop.  1.  i.  p.  -29.  el  1.  vni.  p.  512.  ;j  P'r  F.Kpfd.  i  yr.  \.  u  p.  sn 


^2  MANNERS  OF  THK 

perience,  and  ( ^  that  have  added  their  own  serious  reflections ;  :tich  meri  n 
lliese,  in  a  wdl  ordered  state,  deserve  to  be  highJy  rewarded  and  distinguish^ 
as  the  Holy  Spirit  itself  signifies  to  us  in  the  sacred  writings :  "  The  skill  ot 
the  physician  shall  lift  up  his  head ;  and  in  the  sight  of  great  men  he  shall  be 
in  admiration  since  all  their  labours,  lucubrations,  and  watchings,  are  de- 
voted to  the  people's  health,  which  of  all  human  blessings  is  the  dearest  and 
most  valuable.  And  yet  this  blessing  is  what  mankind  are  the  least  careful  to 
\  resoj  ve.  They  do  not  only  destroy  it  by  riot  and  excess,  but,  through  a  blind 
cieduiity,  they  foolishly  intrust  it  with  persons  of  no  skill  or  experience,  nho 
iiiipose  upon  them  by  their  imprudence  and  presumption,  or  seduce  them  by 
thtii  flattering  assurances  of  infallible  recoveiy.t 

SECTION  IV. — ASTRONOMY. 

As  much  as  the  Grecians  desired  to  be  esteemed  the  authors  and  inventors 
of  all  arts  and  sciences,  they  could  never  absolutely  deny  the  Babylonians  the 
honour  of  having  laid  the  foundations  of  astronomy.  The  advantageous  situa- 
tion of  Babylon,  which  was  built  upon  a  wide  extended  flat  country,  where  no 
mountains  bounded  the  prospect ;  the  constant  clearness  and  serenity  of  die 
air  in  that  country,  so  favourable  to  the  free  contemplation  of  the  hSavens  ;  per- 
haps also  the  extraordinary  height  of  the  tower  of  Babel,  which  seemed  to  be 
intended  for  an  observatory  ;  all  these  circumstances  were  -strong  motives  to 
engage  this  people  in  a  more  nice  observation  of  the  various  motions  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  and  the  regular  course  of  the  stars.J  The  abb^  Renaudot,  in 
his  Dissertation  upon  the  Spheie,  observes,  that  the  plain  whicn  in  Scripture 
is  called  Shinar,  and  in  which  Babylon  stood,  is  the  same  that  is  called  by  the 
Arabians  Sinjar,  where  the  caliph  Almamon,  the  seventh  of  the  Habbassides, 
in  whose  reign  the  sciences  began  to  flourish  among  the  Arabians,  caused  the 
astronomical  observations  to  be  made,  which  for  several  ages  directed  all  the 
astronomers  of  Europe  ;  and  that  the  sultan  Gelaleddin  Melikschah,  the  third 
of  the  Seljukides,  caused  a  course  of  the  like  observations  to  be  made,  near 
inree  bundled  years  afterwards,  in  the  same  place  :  from  whence  it  appears, 
that  this  place  was  always  reckoned  one  of  the  most  suitable  in  the  world  lor 
astronomical  observations. § 

The  ancient  Babylonians  could  not  have  carried  theirs  to  any  great  perfec- 
tion, for  want  of  the  help  of  telescopes,  which  are  of  modern  invention,  and  have 
greatly  contiibuted  of  late  years  to  render  our  astronomical  inquiries  more 
perfect  and  exact.  Whatever  they  were,  they  have  not  come  down  to  us. 
Epigenes,  a  great  and  credible  author,  according  to  Pliny,  speaks  of  observa- 
tions made  for  the  space  of  seven  hundred  and  twenty  years,  and  imprinted 
upon  squares  of  brick :  which  if  it  be  true,  must  reach  back  to  a  very  early 
antiquity.!!  I'hose  of  which  Calisthenes,  a  philosopher  in  Alexander's  court, 
makes  mention,  and  of  which  he  gave  Aristotle  an  account,  include  1903  years, 
and  consequently  must  commence  very  near  the  deluge,  and  the  time  of  Nim- 
rod's  building  tiie  city  of  Babylon.  IF 

We  are  certainly  under  great  obligations,  for  which  our  acknowledgments 
are  due,  to  the  labours  and  curious  inquiries  of  those  who  have  contributed  to 
tlje  discovery  or  improvement  of  so  useful  a  science  ;  a  science  not  only  of  great 
service  to  agriculture  and  navigation,  by  the  knowledge  it  gives  us  of  the  regu- 
lar course  of  the  stars,  and  of  the  wonderful,  constant,  and  uniform  proportion 
of  days,  months,  seasons,  and  years,  but  even  to  religion  itself;  with  which,  as 
Plato  shows,  the  study  of  that  science  has  a  very  close  and  necessary  ccmex* 
ion  ;  as  it  directly  tends  to  inspire  us  with  great  reverence  for  the  Deity,  who, 


*  Eccles.  xxxviii.  3. 

t  Palam  csl,  u*.  quisque  inter  istos  locuendo  polleat,  imperatorem  illico  vitas  nostrce  neci&que  fieri.-— A  i 
BO  Mandii  e»t  speranui  prose  cuiqne  duicedo. — Plin.  1.  xxix.  c.  1. 

J  A  principio  Assyrii  propter  pJaniticm  m»g-i)jtuilineirique  rc^ionum  quas  incolebant,  cum  cesium  ei  OKif 
fertf!  p«».tcnt  et  ;iperliuii  intuerentur,  trnjcctiones  motusque  stt;llervim  observaverunt. — Cic.  lib.  i.  de  l'>ivjj 
%  ?  I  P.fc.nioir.^  (if  ihr  Ar.-.idcniy  des  Belles  Lettres,  Vol.  I.  Part.  ii.  p.  2. 

!1  J'lir:.  Hijk  1  'rVi  r  M"^  Si  Porphyr.  apiid.  Siniplic.  in  1.  ii.  d«  rretio. 


ASSYRIANS,  kc. 


393 


frith  an  infinite  wisdom,  presides  over  the  Government  of  the  universe,  and  la 
present  and  attentive  to  all  our  actions.*  But,  at  the  same  time,  we  cannot  suf* 
nciently  deplore  the  misfortune  of  tliose  very  philosophers,  who,  by  their  suc- 
cessful application  and  astronomical  inquiries,  came  very  near  the  Creator, 
and  were  yet  so  unhappy  as  not  to  find  him,  because  they  did  not  serve  and 
adore  him  as  they  ought  to  do,  nor  govern  their  actions  by  the  rules  and  direc 
tions  of  that  divine  model. t 

SECTION  V. — JUDICIAL  ASTROLOGY. 

As  to  the  Babylonian  and  other  eastern  philosophers,  the  study  of  the  hea- 
renly  bodies  was  so  far  from  leading  them,  as  it  ought  to  have  done,  to  the 
knowledge  of  Him  who  is  both  their  creator  and  governor,  that  for  the  most 
part  it  carried  them  into  impious  practices,  and  the  extravagances  of  judicia) 
astrology.  So  we  terra  that  deceitful  and  presumptuous  science,  which  pre- 
tends to  judge  of  things  to  come  by  the  knowledge  of  the  stars,  and  to  foretell 
events  by  the  situation  of  the  planets,  and  by  their  different  aspects.  A  science 
justly  looked  upon  as  ri  madness  and  folly  by  all  the  most  sensible  writers  among 
the  pagans  themselves.  O  delirationem  incredibilem !  cries  Cicero,  in  re 
futing  the  extravagant  opinions  of  those  astrologers,  frequently  called  Chal 
deans,  from  the  country  that  first  produced  them;  who,  in  consequence  of  the 
observations  made,  as  they  affirmed,  by  their  predecessors  upon  all  past  events 
for  the  space  only  of  four  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  years,  pretend  to  know 
assuredly,  by  the  aspect  and  combination  of  the  stars  and  planets,  at  the  in- 
stant of  a  child's  birth,  what  would  be  his  genius,  temper,  manners,  the  con- 
stitution of  his  body,  his  actions,  and,  in  a  word,  ail  the  events,  with  the  dura- 
ion  of  his  life.  He  details  a  thousand  absurdities  of  this  opinion,  which  are 
jufficient  to  expose  it  to  ridicule  and  contempt ;  and  asks,  why  of  all  that  vast 
number  of  children  that  are  born  in  the  same  moment,  and  without  doubt  ex- 
actly under  the  aspect  of  the  same  stars,  there  are  not  two  of  them  whose  lives 
and  fortunes  resemble  each  other  ?  He  puts  this  farther  question,  whether 
that  great  number  of  men  that  perished  at  the  battle  of  Cannae,  and  died  of  one 
and  the  same  death,  were  all  born  under  the  same  constellations ']% 

It  is  hardly  credible,  that  so  absurd  an  art,  founded  entirely  upon  fraud  and 
imposture,  fraudulentissima  artium,  as  Pliny  calls  it,  should  ever  acquire  so 
much  credit  as  this  has  done,  throughout  the  whole  world  and  in  all  ages. 
What  has  supported  and  brought  it  into  such  repute,  continues  that  author^ 
is  the  natural  curiosity  men  have  to  penetrate  into  futurity,  and  to  know  be- 
f3rehand  the  things  that  are  to  befall  them  :  Nullo  non  avido  fuUira  de  se  set- 
endi ;  attended  with  a  superstitious  credulity,  which  is  agreeably  flattered  with 
the  grateful  and  magnificent  promises  of  which  those  fortune-tellers  are  never 
gparinsc.  ltd  hlandissimis  desideratissimisque  promissis  addidit  vires  religio- 
nism ad  quas  rnaxime  etiamnum  caligat  humanum  genus.^ 

Modern  writers,  and  among  others,  two  of  our  greatest  philosophers,  Gassendi 
and  Rohault,  have  inveighed  against  the  folly  of  that  pretended  science,  with 
the  same  energy,  and  have  demonstrated  it  to  be  equally  void  of  principle  and 
experience.il  ^ 

As  for  its  principles.  The  heavens,  according  to  the  system  of  the  astrologers, 
are  divided  into  twelve  equal  parts ;  which  parts  are  taken,  not  according  to  the 
poles  of  the  world,  but  according  to  those  of  the  zodiac  :  these  twelve  parts  or 
proportions  of  heaven,  have  each  of  them  its  attribute,  as  riches,  knowledge, 
parentage,  &c.  The  most  important  and  decisive  portion  is  that  which  is  nex* 
under  the  horizon,  and  which  is  called  the  ascendant,  because  it  is  ready  to 
ascend  and  appear  above  the  horizon  when  a  man  comes  into  the  world.  Thr, 


*  In  Epinom.  p.  989—992. 
f  Magaa  induslria,  magna  solertia:  sed  ibi  Creatorem  scrutati  sunt  positum  non  lonpe  a  se,  et  noa  iu.« 
Mrunt— quia  quaerere  neglexerunt. — August,  de  Verb.  Evang.  Matth.  Serra.  Ixviii.  c.  1. 

t  Lib.  ii.  de  Div.  n.  87,  99.  §  Fli".  Prooem.  1.  xxw 

y  /Gassendi  Phvf  «eft  ?i.  1.  6.    Rohault*!  Phvs.  part  ii.  ch.27. 


394 


MANNERS  or  THK 


planets  are  divided  into  the  propitious,  the  malignant,  and  the  mixed :  the  aspecta 

of  these  planets,  which  are  only  certain  distances  from  one  another,  are  likewise 
either  happy  or  unhappy.  I  say  nothing  of  several  other  hypotheses,  which  are 
all  equally  arbitrar}^ ;  and  I  ask,  whether  any  man  of  common  ^ense  can  believe 
them  upon  the'b^re  words  of  these  impostors,  without  any  proofs,  or  even  without 
the  least  shadow  of  probability  ?  The  critical  moment,  and  that  on  which  all 
their  predictions  depend,  is  that  of  the  birth.  And  why  not  as  well  the  moment 
of  conception  ?  Why  have  the  stars  no  influence  during  the  nine  months  of  pree*. 
nancy?  Or  is  it  possible,  considering  the  incredible  rapidity  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  always  to  be  sure  of  hitting  the  precise  determinate  moment,Mvithout 
the  least  variation,  more  or  less,  which  is  sufficient  to  overthrow  all  ?  A  thou- 
sand other  objections  of  the  same  kind  might  be  made,  which  are  altogether 
unanswerable. 

As  for  experience,  they  have  still  less  reason  to  flatter  themselves  on  that  side. 
Whatever  they  have  of  that,  must  consist  in  observations  founded  upon  events 
that  have  always  come  to  pass  in  the  same  manner,  whenever  the  planets  were 
found  in  the  same  situation.  Now,  it  is  unanimously  agreed  by  astronomers, 
that  several  thousand  years  must  pass  before  any  such  situation  of  the  stars 
as  they  would  imagine,  can  twice  happen  ;  and  it  is  very  certain,  that  the  state 
in  which  the  heavens  will  be  to-morrow,  has  never  yet  been  since  the  creation 
of  the  world.  The  reader  may  consult  the  two  philosophers  above  mentioned, 
particularly  Gassendi,  who  has  more  copiously  treated  this  subject.  But  such, 
and  no  better,  are  the  foundations  upon  which  the  whole  structure  of  judicial 
astrology  is  built. 

But  what  is  astonishing,  and  argues  an  absolute  want  of  all  r-eason.  is,  that 
certain  pretended  wits,  who  obstinately  harden  themselves  against  the  most 
convicting  proofs  of  religion,  and  who  refuse  to  believe  even  the  clearest  and 
most  certain  prophecies  upon  the  word  of  God,  do  sometimes  give  entire  credit 
to  the  vain  predictions  of  those  astrologers  and  impostors. 

St.  Austin,  in  several  passages  of  his  writings,  informs  us,  that  this  stupid  and 
sacrilegious  credulity  is  a  just  chastisement  from  God,  w^io  frequently  punishes 
the  voluntary  blindness  of  men,  by  inflicting  a  still  greater  blindness  ;  and  who 
suffers  evil  spirits,  that  they  may  keep  their  servants  still  more  in  their  nets, 
sometimes  to  foretell  things  which  do  really  come  to  pass,  and  of  which  the 
expectation  very  often  serves  only  to  torment  them.* 

Godjwho  alone  foresees  future  contingencies  and  events,  because  he  alone  is  the 
sovereign  disposer  and  director  of  then^,  does  often  in  Scripture  revile  the  igno- 
rance of  the  Babylonian  astrologers,  so  much  boasted  of,  calling  them  forgers 
of  lies  and  falsehood :  he  moreover  Oefies  all  the  false  gods  to  foretell  any  thing 
whatever  ;  consents,  if  they  do,  that  they  should  be  worshipped  as  gods.  Then 
addressing  himself  to  the  city  of  Babylon,  he  particularly  declares  all  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  miseries  with  which  she  shall  be  overwhelmed,  above  two 
hundred  years  after  that  prediction  ;  and  that  none  ui  her  prognosticators,who 
had  flattered  her  with  the  assurances  of  a  perpetual  grandeur  they  pretended 
to  have  read  in  the  stars,  should  l^e  able  to  avert  the  judgment,  or  even  to  fore 
see  the.  time  of  its  accomplishment.!  Indeed,  how  should  they  ?  since  at  the 
very  time  of  its  execution,  wdien  Belshazzar,  the  last  king  of  Babylon,  saw  a 
hand  come  out  of  the  wall,  and  write  unknown  characters  t!n>*'eon,  the  Magi, 


*  His  omnibus  consideratis,  non  immerito  creditur,  cum  astrolog-i  mirabiliter  multa  vera  respondeut,  oc- 
culto  instinctu  fieri  spiritnum  nonbonorum,  quorum  cura  est  has  falsas  etnoxias  opinions^s  de  astralibus  fatit 
inserere  humanis  mentibus  atque  firmare,  non  horoscopi  notati  et  inspecti  aliqua  arte,  quae  nulla  est. — Dc, 
C'iv.  Dei,  !.  V.  c.  7. 

t  "  Therefore  shall  evil  come  upon  thee,  thou  shalt  not  know  from  whence  H  riseth  :  and  mischief  shaJl 
fall  upon  thee,  thou  shalt  not  be  able  to  put  it  off:  and  desolation  shall  come  upon  thee  suddenly,  which 
thou  shalt  not  know.  Stand  now  with  thine  enchantmenti,  and  with  the  multitude  of  thy  sorcerie.s.  whereia 
thou  hast  laboured  from  thy  youth ;  if  so  be,  thou  shalt  be  able  to  profit,  if  so  be,  thou  mayest  prevail. 
Thow  art  wearied  in  the  multitude  of  thy  counsels  :  let  now  the  aitrolog:*>rs,  the  star-garers,  the  pfoe^nosti- 
Cators,  stand  up,  and  save  thee  from  these  thing-s  that  shall  come  upon  thee.  Behold,  thejy^  shall  b*;  ei 
•tubble  :  thxi  fira  ihall  burn  them  :  they  ahall  not  deliver  Uiemaelrea  from  th«  power  of  the  flame."— Ian. 
tlTii.  11—14.  * 


A  S  \  K  J  A  .\  S.    c . 

Chaldeans,  and,  in  a  word,  all  the  pretended  sages  of  the  country,  were  not  able 
8o  much  as  to  read  the  writing.*    Here,  then,  we  see  astrology  antl  ina^iccon 
victed  of  ignorance  and  impotence,  in  the  very  place  where  they  were  most  in 
practice,  and  on  an  occasion  when  it  was  certainly  their  interest  lo  displaj 
their  science  and  whole  power. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

RELIGION. 

The  mos*  authentic  and  general  idolatry  in  the  world,  is  that  wherein  the  sun 
and  moon  were  the  objects  of  divine  worship.  This  idolatry  was  founded  upon 
A  mistaken  gratitude  ;  which,  instead  of  ascending  up  to  the  Deity,  stopped 
short  at  the  veil,which  both  covered  and  discovered  him.  With  the  least  reflec- 
tion or  penetration,  they  might  have  discerned  the  Sovereign  who  commanded, 
from  the  minister  who  did  but  obey.f 

In  all  ag^es,  mankind  have  been  sensibly  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  an  inter- 
course between  God  and  man  :  and  adoration  supposes  God  to  be  both  atten- 
tive to  man's  desires,  and  capable  of  fulfilling  them.  But  the  distance  of  the 
sun  and  of  the  moon  is  an  obstacle  to  this  intercourse.  Therefore,  foolish  men 
endeavoured  to  remedy  this  inconvenience,  by  laying  their  hands  upon  their 
mouths,  and  then  lifting  them  up  in  order  to  testify  that  they  would  be  glad  to 
unite  themselves  to  those  false  gods,  but  that  they  could  not.J  This  was  that 
impious  custom  so  prevalent  throughout  all  the  East,  from  which  Job  esteemed 
liimself  happy  to  have  been  preserved:  "If  I  beheld  the  sun  when  it  shined, 
or  the  moon  walking  in  brightness,  and  my  heart  hath  been  secretly  enticed,  or 
my  mouth  hath  kissed  my  hand."§ 

The  Persians  adored  the  sun,  and  particularly  the  rising  sun,  with  the  most 
profound  veneration,  to  whom  they  dedicated  a  magnificent  chariot,  with  horses 
of  the  greatest  beauty  and  value,  as  we  have  seen  in  Cyrus's  stately  cavalcade.il 
'^This  same  ceremony  was  practised  by  the  Babylonians;  of  whom  some  im 
pious  kings  of  Judah  borrowed  it,  and  brought  it  into  Palestine.)  Sometimes 
they  likewise  sacrificed  oxen  to  this  god,  who  was  very  much  known  among 
them  by  the  name  of  Mithra.lT 

By  a  natural  consequence  of  the  worship  they  paid  to  the  sun,  they  likewise 
paid,  a  particular  veneration  to  fire,  always  invoked  it  first  in  the  sacrifices,** 
carried  it  with  great  respect  before  the  king  in  all  his  marches ;  intrusted  the 
keeping  of  their  sacred  fire,  which  came  down  from  heaven,  as  they  pretended, 
to  none  but  the  Magi ;  and  would  have  looked  upon  it  as  the  greatest  of  misfor- 
tunes, if  it  had  been  suffered  to  go  out.jf  History  informs  us,  that  the  emperor 
Heraclius,  when  he  was  at  war  with  the  Persians,  demolished  several  of  their 
temples,  and  particularly  the  chapel  in  which  the  sacred  fire  had  been  pre 
served  till  that  time,  which  occasioned  great  mourning  and  lamentation  through- 
out the  whole  country. The  Persians  likewise  honoured  water,  the  earth, 
and  the  winds,  as  so  many  deities.§6 

The  cruel  ceremony  of  causing  children  to  pass  through  the  fire,  was  undoubt- 
edly a  consequence  of  the  worship  paid  to  that  element;  for thi&nre-worship 
was  common  to  the  Babylonians  and  Persians.  The  Scripture  positively  says 
of  the  people  of  Mesopotamia,  who  were  sent  as  a  colony  into  the  countiy  of 
the  Samaritans,  that  *'  they  caused  their  children  to  pass  through  the  fire.  It 
is  well  known  how  common  this  barbarous  custom  became,  in  many  province! 
of  Asia. 

Besides  these,  the  Persians  had  two  gods  of  a  more  extraordinary  nature, 
aamcly,  Oromasdes  and  Arimanius.|l||    The  former  they  looked  upon  as  the  au- 


*  Van.  y.  2.  |  Amon^  tke  Hebrews,  the  ordinary  name  for  the  sun  signifies  a  minisler. 

I  Superstit'jjsus  vulguj  manum  Q?i  firlriiovens,  ospulum  ^abiis  pressit.-— Minuc.  p.  2.   From  thence  eom«« 
^Z'fd  adorxre ;  that  i;  tP  say,  ad  ot  manuin  ddmovere. 

j  The  te»l  is  a  kiqd  of  oalh,  Job  xxxi.  26,  27.  11  Her.  1.  i.  c.  131. 

f  9  Kinft,  axlii.  11.    Strab.l.  xv.  p.  732.     **  Ibid.      tt  X:cn.  Cyrop.  1.  viii.  p.  215.    Am.  Mar.  1.  ixiii 
4|  Zo»a».  Annal.  Vol.U:  {J  Hnr.  I  i.e.  131.  nji  Plut.  in  lib.de  Isld.  «t  Oiirid,  j?.  tdt 


396 


MANA'£K«  OF  THJB 


thor  of  all  the  blessings  and  good  things  that  happened  to  theyn ;  and  the  lattei 
as  the  author  of  all  the  evils  wherewith  they  were  afflicted.  I  shall  give  a  large 
account  of  these  deities  hereafter. 

The  Persians  erected  neither  statues  nor  temples,  nor  altars  to  their  gods, 
but  offered  their  sacrifices  in  the  open  air,  and  generally  on  the  tops  of  hills,  or 
on  high  places.*  It  was  in  the  open  fields  that  Cyrus  acquitted  himself  of  that 
religious  duty,  when  he  made  the  pompous  and  solemn  procession  already 
spoken  off  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  through  the  advice  and  instigation  of 
the  Magi,  that  Xerxes,  the  Persian  king,  burnt  all  the  Grecian  temples,  es- 
teeming it  injurious  to  the  majesty  of  God,  to  shut  him  up  within  walls,  to 
whom  all  things  are  open  and  to  whom  the  whole  world  should  be  reckoned 
as  a  house  or  a  temple.J 

Cicero  things,  that  in  this  the  Greeks  and  Romans  acted  more  wisely  than 
(he  Persians,  in  that  they  erected  temples  within  their  cities,  and  thereby  sup 
posed  their  gods  to  reside  among  them,  which  was  a  proper  way  to  inspire  the 
people  with  sentiments  of  religion  and  piety.§  Varro  was  not  of  the  same 
opinion  :  St.  Austin  has  preserved  that  passage  of  his  works. ||  After  having 
observed,  that  the  Romans  had  worshipped  their  gods  without  statues  or  ima- 
ges for  above  a  hundred  and  seventy  years,  he  adds,  that,  if  they  had  still 
preserved  that  ancient  custom,  their  religion  would  have  been  the  more  pure 
and  free  from  corruption  ;  Quod  si  adhuc  mansisset,  castius  dii  observarentur ; 
and  to  confirm  his  sentiment,  he  cites  the  example  of  the  Jewish  nation. 

The  laws  of  Persia  suffered  no  man  to  confine  the  motive  of  his  sacrifices  to 
any  private  or  domestic  interest.  This  was  a  fine  way  of  attaching  all  particu- 
lar persons  to  the  public  good,  by  teaching  them  that  they  ought  never  to  sa- 
crifice for  themselves  only,  but  for  the  king  and  the  whole  state,  wherein  every 
man  was  comprehended  with  the  rest  of  his  fellow-citizens. 

The  Magi  were  ihe  guardians  of  all  the  ceremonies  relating  to  their  wor- 
ship ;  and  it  was  to  them  the  people  had  recourse,  in  order  to  be  instructed 
therein,  and  to  know  on  what  days,  to  what  gods,  and  after  what  manner,  they 
were  to  offer  their  sacrifices.  As  these  Magi  w^ere  all  of  one  tribe,  and  as  none 
but  the  son  of  a  priest  could  pretend  to  the  honour  of  the  priesthood,  they 
kept  all  their  learning  and  knowledge,  whether  in  religious  or  political  con- 
cerns, to  themselves  and  their  families ;  nor  was  it  lawful  for  them  to  instruct 
any  strangers  in  these  matters,  without  the  king's  permission.  It  was  granted 
in  favour  of  Themistocles,  and  was,  according  to  Plutarch,  a  particular  effect 
of  the  prince's  great  consideration  for  that  distinguished  person. IF 

This  knowledge  and  skill  in  religious  matters,  which  made  Plato  define  ma- 
gic, or  the  learning  of  the  Magi,  the  art  of  worshipping  the  gods  in  a  becoming 
manner,  ^£,lv  ^s^aneiav,  gave  the  Magi  great  authority,  both  with  the  prince  and 
the  people,  who  could  cffer  no  sacrifice  without  their  presence  and  ministration. 

And  before  a  prince  in  Persia  could  come  to  the  crown,  he  was  obliged  to 
receive  instruction  for  a  certain  time  from  some  of  the  Magi,  and  to  learn  of 
them  both  the  art  of  reigning,  and  that  of  worshipping  the  gods  after  a  proper 
manner.*^  Nor  did  he  determine  any  important  affair  of  state,  when  he 
was  upon  the  throne,  without  first  taking  their  advice  and  opinion  ;  for  which 
reason  Pliny  says,  that  even  in  his  time  they  were  looked  upon,  in  all  the  eastern 
countries,  as  the  masters  and  directors  of  princes,  and  of  those  who  styled  them- 
seives  the  kings  of  kings.tt 


*  Hsrpd.  1.  i.  c.  131.  f  Cyro^).!.  viii.  p.  233. 

J  Aucti^ribus  Magii  Xerxes  inflammasse  templa  Graeclae  dicitur,  quod  parietibus  includerunt  deos,  quibui 
omnia  dcberent  ease  patentia  ac  libera,  quorumque  hie  mundus  omnis  templura  esset  et  domut. — Clc.  lib. 
\\.  de  Lesrib. 

§  Melius  Gr%ci  atquo  nostri,  qui.  ut  au^erent  pietatem  in  deos,  easdem  illos  urbes,  quas  nos  incolere 
luerunt.    Adfert  eninr  h»c  opinio  reli^ionem  utilem  civitatibus. — Cic.  lib.  ii.  de  Le^ib. 

il  Lib.  iv.  ae  Civ.  Dei,  n.  31.  IT  In  Them.  p.  126.  • 

**  Necquisquam  rex  Persanim  potest  esse,  qui  nonante  Magorum  disciplinam  scientiamquc  perceperit 
Cic.  de  Diyin.  1.  i.  n.  91. 

In  tantum  fastig-ii  adolevit  (auctoritas  Magorum  \  Jit  hrdieqne  etiam  in  magfn»  pnrte  g-entiuin  praviilcat 
01  IB  •rieate  regiio)  re^ibus  iinpet  «t. — P1>h  *.  xxx.  c.  I. 


ASSYRIANS.  &.C. 


They  were  the  sages,  the  philosophers,  and  men  of  leannng  in  Persia  ;  as 
the  Gymnosophists  and  Brachmans  were  among  the  Indians,  and  tfie  Di  lids 
among  the  Gauls.  Their  great  reputation  invited  people  from  tlie  most  dis- 
tant countries  to  he  instructed  by  them  in  philosophy  and  religion  ;  and  we 
are  assured  it  was  from  them  that  Pythagoras  borrowed  the  principles  of  that 
learning,  by  which  he  acquired  so  much  veneration  and  respect  among  the 
Greeks,  excepting  onW  his  doctrine  of  transmigration,  which  he  learned  of  the 
CiCyptians,  and  by  which  he  corrupted  and  debased  the  ancient  doctrine  of  th»? 
iVfagi  concerning  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 

It  is  generally  agreed  that  Zoroaster  was  the  original  author  and  founder  of 
this  sect;  but  authors  are  considerably  divided  in  their  opinions  about  the  time 
in  which  he  lived.  What  Pliny  says  upon  this  head,  may  reasonably  serve  to 
reconcile  that  variety  of  opinions,  as  is  very  judiciously  observed  by  Dr  Pri- 
deaux.*  We  read  in  that  author,  that  there  were  two  persons  named  Zoroas- 
ter, between  whose  lives  there  might  be  the  distance  of  600  years.  The  first 
of  them  was  the  founder  of  the  Magian  sect  about  the  year  of  the  world  2900  , 
and  the  latter,  who  certainly  flourished  between  the  beginning  of  Cyrus's  reign 
in  the  East,  and  the  end  of  Darius's,  son  of  Hytaspes,  was  the  restorer  and  re- 
former of  it. 

Throughout  all  the  eastern  countries,  idolatry  was  divided  into  two  principal 
sects ;  that  of  the  Sabeans,  who  adored  images ;  and  that  of  the  Magi,  who 
worshipped  fire.  The  former  of  these  sects  had  its  rise  among  the  Chaldeans, 
who,  from  their  knowledge  of  astronomy,  and  their  particular  application  to 
the  study  of  the  several  planets,  which  they  believed  to  be  inhabited  by  so  many 
intelligences,  who  were  to  those  orbs  what  the  soul  of  man  is  to  his  body,  were 
induced  to  represent  Saturn,  Jupiter,  Mars,  Apollo,  Mercuiy,  Venus,  and  Di- 
ana, or  the  Moon,  by  so  many  images  or  statues,  in  which  they  imagined  those 
pretended  intelligences  or  deities,  were  as  really  present  as  in  the  planets  them- 
selves. In  time,  the  number  of  their  gods  increased ;  this  image-worship,  from 
Chaldea,  spread  itself  throughout  all  the  East;  from  thence  passed  to  Egypt ; 
and  at  length  came  among  the  Greeks,  who  propagated  it  through  all  the  west 
ern  nations. 

To  this  sect  of  the  Sabeans,  that  of  the  Magi,  which  also  took  its  rise  in  the 
game  eastern  countries,  was  diametrically  opposite.  The  Magi  utterly  abhorred 
images,  and  worshipped  God  only  uncler  the  form  of  fire ;  looking  upon  that, 
on  account  of  its  purity,  brightness,  activity,  subtlety,  fecundity,  and  incorrupti- 
bility, as  the  most  perfect  symbol  or  representation  of  the  Deity.  They  be- 
gan first  in  Persia,  and  there  and  in  India  were  the  only  places  where  this  seel 
was  propagated,  where  they  remain  even  to  this  day.  The  chief  doctrine  was. 
thai  there  were  two  principals ;  one  the  cause  of  all  good,  and  the  other  the 
cause  of  all  evil.  The  former  is  represented  by  light,  and  the  other  by 
darkness,  as  their  truest  symbols.  The  good  god  they  named  Yazdan  and 
Ormuzd,  and  the  evil  god  Ahraman.  The  former  is  by  the  Greeks  called  Or- 
omasdes,  and  the  latter  Arimanius.  And  therefore,  when  Xerxes  prayed  that 
his  enemies  might  always  resolve  to  banish  their  best  and  bravest  citizens  as 
Ihe  Athenians  had  Themistocles,  he  addressed  his  prayer  to  Arimanius,  the  evij 
god  of  the  Persians,  and  not  to  Oromasdes,  their  good  god.j 

Concerning  these  two  gods, they  had  this  diflferenceof  opinion,  that  whereas 
some  held  both  of  them  to  have  been  from  all  eternity,  others  contended  that 
the  good  god  only  was  eternal,  and  the  other  was  created.  But  they  both 
agreed  in  this,  that  there  will  be  a  continual  opposition  between  these  two,  till 
the  end  of  the  world  :  that  then  the  good  god  shall  overcome  the  evil  god,  and 
that  from  thenceforward  each  of  them  shall  have  a  world  to  himself ;  that  is, 
the  good  god,  his  world  with  all  the  good ;  and  the  evil  god,  his  world  with  the 
nicked. 

The  second  Zoroaster,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Darius,  undertook  to  reform 
9ome  articles  in  the  religion  of  the  Magian  sect,  which  for  several  ages  had  been 


•  Hi«t  NikX.  l.ixx.  a.  1.  t  Plut.  in  Th*rrai6ti».  1  in. 


398 


MA.NNE11S  OF  THE 


tfee  predominant  rel«igion  of  the  Medes  and  Persians ;  but,  since  the  death  ol 

Smerdis  and  his  chief  confederates,  and  the  massacre  of  their  adherents  and 
followers,  was  fallen  into  great  contempt.  It  is  thought  this  reforme  made 
his  first  appearance  in  Ecbatana.  , 

The  chief  reformation  he  made  in  the  Magian  religion,  was  in  the  first  prin- 
ciple of  it.  For  whereas  before,  they  had  held  as  a  fundamental  principle  the 
being  of  the  two  supreme  first  causes  ;  the  first  light,  which  was  the  author  of 
all  good,  and  the  other  darkness,  the  author  of  all  evil :  and  that  of  the  mix 
rure  of  these  two,  as  they  were  in  a  continual  struggle  with  each  other,  all  things 
were  made  ;  he  introduced  a  principal,  superior  to  them  both,  one  supreme 
God,  who  created  both  light  and  darkness  ;  and  who,  out  of  these  two  princi- 
ples, made  all  other  things  according  to  his  own  will  and  pleasure. 

But,  to  avoid  making  God  the  author  of  evil,  his  doctrine  was,  that  there 
was  one  Supreme  Being,  independent  and  self-existing  from  all  eternity  :  that 
under  him  there  were  tw^o  angels  ;  one  the  angel  of  light,  who  is  the  author  of 
all  good ;  and  the  other  the  angel  of  darkness,  who  is  the  author  of  all  evil ; 
^hat  these  two,  out  of  the  mixture  of  light  and  darkness,  made  all  things  that 
exist ;  that  they  are  in  a  perpetual  struggle  with  each  other ;  thai  where  the 
angel  of  light  prevails,  there  good  reigns  ;  and  that  where  the  angel  of  dark- 
ness prevails,  there  evil  takes  place  ;  that  this  struggle  shall  continue  to  the 
end  of  the  world  ;  that  then  there  shall  be  a  general  resurrection  and  a  day  of 
judgment,  wherein  all  shall  receive  a  just  retribution  according  to  their  w^orks. 
After  which  the  angel  of  darkness  and  his  disciples  shall  go  into  a  world  of 
their  own,  where  they  shall  suffer,  in  everlasting  darkness,  the  punishment  of 
their  evil  deeds  ;  and  the  angel  of  light  and  his  disciples  shall  also  go  into  a 
world  of  their  own,  where  they  shall  receive,  in  everlasting  light,  the  reward 
due  to  their  good  deeds  ;  that  after  this,  they  shall  remain  separated  for  ever, 
and  light  and  darkness  be  no  more  mixed  together  to  all  eternity.  All  this  the 
remainder  of  that  sect,  which  is  now  in  Persia  and  India,  do,  without  any  va- 
riation, after  so  many  ages,  still  hold  even  to  this  day. 

It  is  needless  to  inform  the  reader,  that  almost  all  these  tenets,  though  altereU 
m  many  circumstances,  do  in  general  agree  with  the  doctrine  of  the  holy 
.Scriptures  ;  with  which  it  plainly  appears  the  two  Zoroasters  were  well  ac- 
quainted, it  being  easy  for  both  of  them  to  have  had  an  intercourse  or  personal 
acquaintance  with  the  people  of  God ;  the  first  of  them  in  Syria,  where  the 
/sraelites  had  been  long  settled  ;  the  latter  at  Babylon,  to  which  place  the  same 
people  were  carried  captive,  and  where  Zoroaster  might  confer  with  Danie^ 
\iimself,  who  was  in  very  great  power  and  credit  in  the  Persian  court. 

Another  reformation  made  by  Zoroaster  in  the  ancient  Magian  religion,  was, 
tjhat  he  caused  temples  to  be  built,  wherein  their  sacred  fires  were  carefully 
find  constantly  preserved  ;  and  especially  that  which  he  pretended  himself  to 
have  brought  down  from  heaven.  Over  this  the  priest  kept  a  perpetual  waich 
niffht  and  day,  to  prevent  its  being  extinguished. 

Whatever  relates  to  the  sect  or  religion  of  the  Magians,  the  reader  will  fino 
v€ry  largely  and  learnedly  treated  in  dean  Prideaux's  Connexions  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testament,  &c.  from  whence  I  have  taken  this  short  extract. 

THEIR  MARRIAGES,  AND  MANNER  OF  BURYING  THE  DEAD. 

Having  said  so  much  of  the  religion  of  the  eastern  nations,  which  is  an  article 
I  thought  myself  obliged  to  enlarge  upon,  because  I  look  upon  it  as  an  essential 
part  of  their  history,  I  shall  be  forced  to  treat  of  their  other  customs  with  th« 
renter  brevity  :  among  which  their  marriages  and  burials  are  too  material  to 
e  omitted. 

There  is  nothing  more  horrible,  or  that  gives  us  a  greater  idea  of  the  pro- 
found darkness  into  which  idolatry  had  plunged  mankind,  than  the  public 
prostitution  of  women  at  Babylon,  which  was  not  only  authorized  by  law,  but 
even  commanded  by  the  religion  of  their  countr}^  upon  a  certain  festival  of 
the  year,  celebrated  in  honour  of  the  goddess  Venus,  under  the  name  of  My- 
litla,  whcwe  temple,  by  means  of  this  iniamous  ceremony,  became  a  brothelt 


ASSYRIANS.  Sec. 


399 


or  place  of  debauchery.*  This  wicked  custom  was  still  existing  when  the 
Israelites  were  carried  captive  to  that  criminal  city  ;  for  which  reason  the 
prophet  Jeremiah  thought  fit  to  caution  and  admonish  diem  against  so  abomi- 
nable a  scandal.! 

Nor  had  the  Persians  any  better  notion  of  the  dignity  and  sanctity  of  the 
matrimonial  institution,  than  the  Babylonians.  I  do  not  mean  only  with  re- 
gard to  that  incredible  multitude  of  wives  and  concubines,  with  which  their 
kings  filled  their  seraglios,  and  of  whom  they  were  as  jealous  as  if  they  had 
but  one  wife,  keeping  them  shut  up  in  separate  apartments,  under  a  strict 
guard  of  eunuchs,  without  suffering  them  to  have  any  communication  with  one 
another,  much  less  with  persons  without  doors. J  It  strikes  one  with  horror  to 
read  how  far  they  neglected  the  most  common  laws  of  nature.  Even  incest 
with  a  sister  was  allowed  among  them  by  their  laws,  or  at  least  authorized  by 
their  Magi,  those  pretended  sages  of  Persia,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  history  of 
Cambyses.§  Nor  did  even  a  father  respect  his  own  daughter,  or  a  mother 
the  son  of  her  own  body.  We  read  in  Plutarch,  that  Parysatis,  the  mother  of 
Artaxerxes  Mnemon,  who  strove  in  all  things  to  please  the  king  her  son,  per 
ceiving  that  he  had  conceived  a  violent  passion  for  one  of  his  own  daughters, 
called  Atossa,  was  so  far  from  opposing  his  unlawful  desire,  that  she  herself 
advised  him  to  marry  her,  and  make  her  his  wife,  and  laughed  at  the  maxims 
and  laws  of  the  Grecians,  which  declared  such  marriage  to  be  unlawful. 'Tor" 
says  she  to  him,  carrying  her  flattery  to  a  monstrous  excess,  "  are  not  you 
yourself  set  by  God  over  the  Persians,  as  the  only  law  and  rule  of  what  is  be- 
coming or  unbecoming,  virtuous  or  vicious 

This  detestable  custom  continued  till  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great,  who, 
having  become  master  of  Persia  by  the  overthrow  and  death  of  Darius,  made 
an  express  law  to  suppress  it.  These  enormities  may  serve  to  teach  us  from 
what  an  abyss  the  gospel  has  delivered  us ;  and  how  weak  a  barrier  human 
wisdom  is  of  itself  against  the  most  extravagant  and  abominable  crimes. 

I  shall  finish  this  article  by  saying  a  word  or  two  upon  their  manner  of  burying 
the  dead.  It  was  not  the  custom  of  the  eastern  nations,  and  especially  of 
the  Persians,  to  erect  funeral  piles  for  the  dead,  and  to  consume  their  bodies 
in  the  flames. IF  Accordingljr  we  find  that  Cyrus,**  when  he  was  at  the  point  of 
death,  took  care  to  charge  his  children  to  inter  his  body,  and  to  restore  it  to 
the  earth ;  that  is  the  expression  he  makes  use  of ;  by  which  he  seems  to  declare, 
that  he  looked  upon  the  earth  as  the  original  parent  from  whence  he  sprung, 
and  to  which  he  ought  to  return. tt  And  when  Cambyses  had  offered  a  thousand 
indignities  to  the  dead  body  of  Amasis,king  of  Egypt,  he  thought  he  crowned 
ail  by  causing  it  to  be  burnt,  which  was  equally  contrary  to  the  Egyptian  and 
Pf  rsian  manner  of  treating  the  dead.  It  was  the  custom  of  the  latter  to  wrap 
up  their  dead  in  wax,J;{;  in  order  to  keep  them  the  longer  from  corruption. §§ 

I  thought  proper  to  give  a  full  account,  in  this  place,  of  the  manners  and  cus- 
toms of  the  Persians, because  the  history  of  that  people  will  take  up  a  great 
part  of  this  work,  and  because  I  shall  say  no  more  on  that  subject  in  the  sequel. 
The  treatise  of  Barnabas  Brisson,||||  president  of  the  parliament  of  Paris,  upon 
the  government  of  the  Persians,  has  been  of  great  use  to  me.  Such  collections 
as  these,  when  they  are  made  by  able  hands,  save  a  writer  a  great  deal  of  pain?, 
and  furnish  him  with  matter  of  erudition,  that  costs  him  little,  and  yet  often  doet 
him  great  honour. 


♦  Herod,  l.i.  c.  199.  t  Baruch,  vi.  42,  43.  +  Herod.  1.  i.  c.  135. 

}  Philo.  lib.  de  Special.  Lej.  p.  778.    Diog.  Laert.  in  Procem.  p.  6. 
||  In  Artax.  p.  1023.  IT  Herod.  1,  iii.  c.  19. 

Ac  BBihi  quidem  antiquissimum  sepulturie  genus  id  fuisse  videtur,  quo  apud  Xenophontem  CjrusuUtur. 
Reddituf  enim  terrae  corpus,  et  ita  locatum  ac  situm  quasi  operimento  matris  obducitur. — Cic.  lib.  U.  (L 
Leg,  n.  56. 

ft  Cyrop.  1.  viii.  p.  288. 

iX  Condiunt  Jt^gjpiu  mortuos,  «t  eos  domi  servant :  Persae  jam  cera  circum  litos  eondiunt,  ut  quam  masi 
■a  permaneant  diuturna  corporia. — Cic.  Tuscul,  Q,uae«t.  lib.  i.  n.  108. 

^{  Herod.  1.  iii.  c.  16. 
fl  Bamali.  Bri8K>Btu8  d«  Re^^io  Persarum  Pricc'wpatii  £cc.    Arj^saUrat^  aa.  1710. 


too 


MANNERS  OF  THE 


ARTICLE  V. 

THE  CAUSE  OF  THE  DECIENSION  OF  THE  PERSIAN  EMPIRE,  AND  OF  THE  CHAN6& 
THAT  HAPPENED  IN  THEIR  MANNERS. 

When  we  compare  the  Persians,  as  they  were  before  Cyrus,  and  (luring  his 
reign,  v'th  what  they  were  afterwards  in  the  reigns  of  his  successors,  we  can 
hardJy  believe  they  were  the  same  people  ;  and  we  see  a  sensible  illustration 
of  this  truth,  that  the  declension  of  manners,  in  any  state,  is  always  attended 
with  that  of  empire  and  dominion. 

Among  many  other  causes  that  brought  about  the  declension  of  the  Persian 
em.pire,  the  four  following  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  principal :  their  exces- 
sive magnificence  and  luxury  ;  the  abject  subjection  and  slavery  of  the  people  ; 
the  bad  education  of  their  princes,  which  was  the  source  of  all  their  irregula- 
rities ;  and  their  want  of  faith  in  the  execution  of  their  treaties,  oaths,  and  en- 
gagements. 

SECTION  I. — LUXURY  AND  MAGNIFICENCE. 

What  caused  the  Persian  troops,  in  Cyrus's  time,  to  be  looked  upon  as  in- 
vincible, was  the  temperate  and  hard  life  to  which  they  were  accustomed  from 
their  infancy,  having  nothing  but  water  for  their  ordinary  drink,  bread  and  roots 
for  their  ordinary  food, the  ground,  or  something  as  hard, to  lie  upon;  inuring 
themselves  to  the  most  painful  exercises  and  labours,  and  esteeming  the  greatest 
dangers  as  nothing. 

The  temperature  of  the  country  where  they  were  born,  which  was  rough, 
mountainous,  and  woody,  might  somewhat  contribute  to  their  hardiness ;  for 
which  reason  Cyrus  would  never  consent  to  the  project  of  transplanting  them 
into  a  more  mild  and  agreeable  climate.*  The  excellent  manner  of  educating 
the  ancient  Persians,  of  which  we  have  already  given  a  sufficient  account,  and 
which  was  not  left  to  the  humours  and  fancies  of  parents,  but  was  subject  to  the 
authority  and  direction  of  the  magistrates,  and  regulated  upon  principles  of 
the  public  good  :  this  excellent  education  prepared  them  for  observing,  in  all 
places  and  at  all  times,  a  most  exact  and  severe  discipline.  Add  to  this  the 
influence  of  the  prince's  example,  who  made  it  his  ambition  to  surpass  all  his 
subjects  in  regularity,  was  the  most  abstemious  and  sober  in  his  manner  of  life, 
the  plainest  in  his  dress,  the  most  inured  and  accustomed  to  hardships  and  fa- 
tigues, as  well  as  the  bravest  and  most  intrepid  in  the  time  of  action.  What 
inight  not  be  expected  from  soldiers  so  formed  and  so  trained  up?  By  them, 
therefore,  we  find  Cyrus  conquered  a  great  part  of  the  world. 

After  all  his  victories,  he  continued  to  exhort  his  army  and  people  not  tc 
degenerate  from  their  ancient  virtue,  that  they  might  not  eclipse  the  glory  they 
had  acquired,  but  carefully  preserve  that  simplicity,  sobriety,  temperance,  and 
love  of  labour,  which  were  the  means  by  which  they  had  obtained  it.  But  I 
do  not  know,  whether  Cyrus  himself  did  not,  at  that  very  time,  sow  the  first  seeds 
of  that  luxury,  which  soon  overspread  and  corrupted  the  whole  nation.  In  that 
august  ceremony,  which  we  have  already  described  at  large,  and  on  which  he 
first  showed  himself  in  public  to  his  new-conquered  subjects,  he  thought  proper, 
in  order  to  heighten  the  splendour  of  his  regal  dignity,  to  make  a  pompous  dis- 
play of  all  the  magnificence  and  show  that  could  be  contrived  to  dazzle  the 
eyes  of  the  people.  Among  other  things,  he  changed  his  own  apparel,  as  also 
that  of  his  officers,  giving  them  all  garments  made  after  the  fashion  of  the  Medes, 
richly  shining  with  gold  and  purple,  instead  of  their  Persian  clothes,  which  were 
vtry  plain  and  simple. 

This  prince  seemed  to  forget  how  much  the  contagious  example  of  a  court, 
increases  the  natural  inclination  all  men  have  to  value  and  esteem  what  pleases 
the  eye,  and  makes  a  fine  show,  how  glad  they  are  to  distinguish  themselves  above 
others  by  a  false  merit,  easily  attained  in  proportion  to  the  degrees  of  wealth  and 


♦  Plul.  in  Apophlh.p.ni. 


ASSYRIANS.  &c. 


401 


ranity  a  man  has  above  his  neighbours  ;  he  forgot  how  capable  z\\  this  togethei 
was  of  corrupting  the  purity  of  ancient  manners,  and  of  introducing  by  degrees 
a  general,  predominant  taste  for  extravagance  and  luxury. 

This  luxury  and  extravagance  rose  in  time  to  such  an  excess,  as  w^as  little  bet- 
ter than  downright  madness.  The  prince  carried  all  his  wives  along  with  him  to 
the  wars :  and  what  an  equipage  such  a  troop  must  be  attended  with  is  easy 
to  judge.  All  his  generals  and  officers  followed  his  example,  each  in  propor- 
tion to  his  rank  and  ability.  Their  pretext  for  so  doing  was,  that  the  sight  of 
what  they  held  most  dear  and  precious  in  the  world,  would  encourage  them  t  j 
fight  with  greater  resolution ;  but  the  true  reason  was  the  love  of  pleasure,  by 
which  they  were  overcome  and  enslaved,  before  they  came  to  engage  with  the 
enemy.* 

Another  instance  of  their  folly  was,  that  they  carried  their  luxuiy  and  ex- 
travagance in  the  army,  w^ith  respect  to  their  tents,  chariots,  and  tables,  to  a 
greater  excess,  if  possible,  than  they  did  in  their  cities.  The  most  exquisite 
meats,  the  rarest  birds,  and  the  most  costly  dainties,  must  needs  be  found  for 
the  prince,  in  whatever  part  of  the  world  he  was  encamped.  They  had  theij 
vessels  of  gold  and  silver  without  number  ;t  instruments  of  luxury,  says  a  cer- 
tain historian,  not  of  victory,  proper  to  allure  and  enrich  an  enemy,  but  not  t( 
repel  or  defeat  him.J 

I  do  not  see  what  reason  Cyrus  could  have  for  changing  his  conduct  in  the  lasf 
seven  years  of  his  life.  It  must  be  owned,  indeed,  that  the  station  of  kings  re 
quires  a  suitable  grandeur  and  magnificence,  which  may,  on  certain  occasions, 
be  carried  even  to  a  degree  of  pomp  and  splendour.  But  princes,  possessed  of 
a  real  and  solid  merit,  have  a  thousand  ways  of  making  up  what  they  may  seem 
to  lose  by  retrenching  some  part  of  their  outward  state  and  magnificence.  Cyrus 
himself  had  found,  by  experience,  that  a  king  is  more  sure  of  gaining  respect  from 
his  people  by  the  wisdom  of  his  conduct,  than  by  the  greatness  of  his  expenses ; 
,ind  that  affection  and  confidence  produce  a  closer  attachment  to  his  person,  than 
a  vain  admiration  of  unnecessary  pomp  and  grandeur.  Be  this  as  it  will,  Cy- 
rus's last  example  became  very  contagious.  A  taste  for  vanity  and  expense 
first  prevailed  at  court,  then  spread  itself  into  the  cities  and  provinces,  and  in 
a  little  time  infected  the  whole  nation,  and  was  one  of  the  principal  causes  ol 
the  ruin  of  that  empire,  which  he  himself  had  founded. 

What  is  here  said  of  the  fatal  effects  of  luxury'is  not  peculiar  to  the  Persian 
empire.  The  most  judicious  historians,  the  m-ost  learned  philosophers,  and  the 
profoundest  politicians,  all  lay  it  dov^^n  as  a  certain,  indisputable  maxim,  that 
wherever  luxury  prevails,  it  never  fails  to  destroy  the  most  flourishing  states 
and  kingdoms  ;  and  the  experience  of  all  ages,  and  all  nations,  does  but  too 
clearly  demonstrate  the  truth  of  this  maxim. 

What  is  this  subtle,  secret  poison,  then,  that  thus  lurks  under  the  pomp  of 
luxury  and  the  charms  of  pleasure,  and  is  capable  of  enervating,  at  the  same 
time,  both  the  whole  strength  of  the  body,  and  the  vigour  of  the  mind  ?  It  is 
not  very  difficult  to  comprehend  why  it  has  this  terrible  effect.  When  men  are 
accustomed  to  a  soft  and  voluptuous  life,  can  they  be  very  fit  for  undei^oir.g 
the  fatigues  and  hardships  of  war  ?  Are  they  qualified  for  suffering  the  rigour 
of  the  seasons  ;  for  enduring  hunger  and  thirst ;  for  passing  whole  nights 
without  sleep  upon  occasion  ;  for  going  through  continual  exercise  and  action  ; 
for  facing  danger  and  despising  death  ?  The  natural  effect  of  voluptuousness 
and  delicacy,  which  are  the  inseparable  companions  of  luxuiy,  is  to  render 
men  subject  to  a  multitude  of  false  wants  and  necessities,  to  make  their  hap- 
piness depend  upon  a  thousand  trifling  conveniences  and  superfluities,  which 
they  can  no  '.onger  be  without,  and  to  give  them  an  unreasonable  fondness  for 
life,  on  acco  jnt  of  a  thousand  secret  ties  and  engagements  tliat  endear  it  in 


*  XcDoph.  Cyrop.  1.  iv.  i^.  01—09.  |  Senec.  1.  iii.  ie  Ira,  c.  10. 

i  Non  belli  sf  (3  liix:in;?i  appp.ntiirn— Ac  i  -m  Persr  njnj  r.nro  purpuraqiia  '"uljeotera  intu-^ri  ju'-'-bal  Aiexnc 
hr,  prasdam,  non  firm;>  s"??''  nt'^'ii. — O^.  Curi, 

Vol,  I 


402 


MANNERS  OF  THE 


them,  and  which ,  by  stifling  in  them  the  great  motives  of  gloiy,  of  2eal  lor 
their  prince,  and  love  for  their  country,  render  them  fearful  and  cowardly,  and 
deter  them  from  exposing  themselves  to  dangers,  which  may  in  a  moment  de- 
prive them  of  all  those  things  wherein  they  place  their  felicity. 

SECTION  II. — THE  ABJECT  SUBMISSION  AND  SLAVERY  OF  THE  PERSIANS. 

We  are  told  by  Plato,  that  this  was  one  of  the  causes  of  the  declension  of  the 
Persian  empire.  And,  indeed,  what  contributes  most  to  the  preservation  of 
states,  and  renders  their  arms  victorious,  is  not  the  number,  but  the  vigour  and 
courage  of  their  armies  ;  and,  as  it  was  finely  said  by  one  of  the  ancients^ 
"  from  the  day  a  man  loseth  his  liberty,  he  loseth  one  half  of  his  ancient  vir» 
tue."*  He  is  no  longer  concerned  for  the  prosperity  of  the  state,  to  which  he 
looks  upon  himself  as  an  alien  ;  and  having  lost  the  principal  motives  of  his 
attachment  to  it,  he  becomes  indifferent  about  the  success  of  public  affairs, 
about  the  glory  or  welfare  of  his  countrj^  in  which  his  circumstances  allow  him 
to  claim  no  share,  and  by  which  nis  own  private  condition  is  not  altered  or  im 
proved.  It  may  truly  be  said,  that  the  reign  of  Cyrus  was  a  reign  of  liberty 
That  prince  never  acted  in  an  arbitrary  manner ;  he  did  not  think  that  des 
potic  power  was  worthy  of  a  king  ;  or  that  there  was  any  great  fflory  in  ruling 
an  empire  of  slaves.  His  tent  was  always  open,  and  free  access  allowed  to  every 
one  that  desired  to  speak  to  him.  He  did  not  live  retired,  but  was  visible, 
accessible,  and  affable  to  all ;  heard  their  complaints,  and  with  his  own  eyes 
observed  and  rewarded  merit ;  invited  to  his  table,  not  only  his  general  offi- 
cers, and  prime  ministers,  but  even  subalterns,  and  sometimes  whole  compa- 
nies of  soldiers.  The  simplicity  and  frugality  of  his  table  made  him  capable 
of  giving  such  entertainments  frequently.!  His  aim  therein  was  to  animate 
his  officers  and  soldiers,  to  inspire  them  with  courage  and  resolution,  to  attach 
them  to  his  person  rather  than  to  his  dignity,  and  make  them  warmly  espouse 
his  glory,  and  still  more  the  interest  and  prosperity  of  the  state.  This  is  what 
may  be  truly  called  the  art  of  reigning  and  commanding. 

In  reading  Xenophon,  with  what  pleasure  do  we  observe,  not  only  those 
fine  turns  of  wit,  that  justness  and  ingenuity  in  their  answers  and  repartees, 
that  delicacy  in  iesting  and  raillery,  but  at  the  same  time  that  amiable  cheer- 
fulness and  gayety,which  enlivened  their  entertainments,  from  which  all  vanity 
and  luxury  v^ere  banished,  and  in  which  the  principal  seasoning  was  a  decent 
and  becom.ing  freedom,  that  prevented  all  constraint,  and  a  kind  of  familiarity 
which  was  so  far  from  lessening  their  respect  for  the  prince,  that  it  gave  such 
life  and  spirit  to  it,  as  nothing  but  real  affection  and  tenderness  could  pro- 
duccw  I  may  venture  to  say,  t-hat  by  such  conduct  as  this,  a  prince  doubles 
?nd  trebles  his  army  at  a  small  expense.  Thirty  thousand  men  of  this  sort  are 
preferable  to  millions  of  such  slaves  as  the  Persians  became  afterwards.  In 
time  of  action,  on  a  decisive  day  of  battle,  this  truth  is  m^ost  evident ;  and  the 
prmce  is  more  sensible  of  it  than  any  body  else.  At  the  battle  of  Thymbriaj 
when  Cyrus's  horse  fell  under  him,  Xenophon  takes  notice  how  much  it  con- 
cerns a  commander  to  be  loved  by  his  soldiers.  The  danger  of  the  king's 
person  became  the  danger  of  the  army  ;  and  his  troops  on  that  occasion  gave 
incredible  proofs  of  their  courage  and  bravery. 

Things  were  not  carried  on  in  the  same  manner  under  the  greatest  part  of 
his  successors.  Their  only  care  was  to  support  the  pomp  of  sovereignty. 
I  must  confess,  their  outward  ornaments  and  ensigns  of  royalty  did  not  a  little 
contribute  to  that  end.  A  purple  robe  richly  embroidered,  and  hanging  down 
to  their  feet,  a  tiara,  worn  upright  on  their  heads,  with  an  imperial  dir^dem 
round  it,  a  golden  sceptre  in  their  hands,  a  magnificent  throne,  a  numerous  and 
shining  court,  a  multitude  of, officers  and  guards;  these  thir^gs  must  needs 
conduce  to  heighten  the  splendour  of  royalty  ;  but  all  this,  when  this  is  all,  is 


*  Horn.  Odyss.  v.  352. 

1  Tantaa  JrcB  hab«t  frut^^alilas  prlncipis,  ut  tot  impcndiis  tot  erocjaliocibisfc  5». 'a  5i;fliciat.-~Plin  ii.  Panfi|> 
Fruj. 


ASSVRlAAfi.  &.C 


40S 


of  little  or  no  value.    What  is  that  king  in  reality,  wl/O  loses  all  his  merit  and 

his  dignitjr,  when  he  puts  off  his  ornaments  ? 

Some  of  the  eastern  kings,  to  procure  the  great(ir /everence  to  their  persons, 
generally  kept  themselves  shut  up  in  their  palaces,  and  seldon*  showed  them- 
selves to  their  subjects.  We  have  already  seen  that  Dejoces,  the  first  king  of 
the  Medes,  at  his  accession  to  the  throne,  introduced  this  policy,  which  after- 
wards became  very  common  in  all  the  eastern  countries.  But  it  is  a  great  mis- 
take, that  a  prince  cannot  descend  from  his  grandeur,  by  a  sort  of  familiarity, 
without  debasing  or  lessening  his  greatness.  Artaxerxes  did  not  think  so :  and 
Plutarch  observes  that  that  "prince,  and  queen  Statira  his  wife,  took  a  plea- 
sure in  being  visible  and  easy  of  access  to  their  people,  a!id  by  so  doing  were 
but  the  more  respected.* 

Among  the  Persians,  no  subject  whatever  was  allowed  appear  in  the  kiag's 
presence  without  prostrating  himself  before  him  :  and  this  law,  which  Sene- 
ca, with  good  reason,  calls  a  Persian  slavery,  Persicam  serviiute/n,  ext<^'nded 
also  to  foreigners.!  We  shall  find  afterwards,  that  several  Grecians  refused 
to  comply  with  it,  looking  upon  such  a  ceremony  as  derogatory  to  men  l)orn 
and  bred  in  the  bosom  of  liberty.  Some  of  them,  less  scrupulous,  did  submit 
to  it,  but  not  without  great  reluctancy ;  and  we  are  told,  that  one  of  them,  in 
order  to  cover  the  shame  of  such  a  servile  prostration,  purposely  let  fall  his 
ring,  when  he  came  near  the  king,  that  he  might  have  occasion  to  bend  his 
body  on  another  account.^  But  it  would  have  been  criminal  for  any  of  the 
natives  of  the  country  to  hesitate  or  deliberate  about  a  homage  which  the  king 
exacted  from  them  with  the  utmost  rigour. 

What  the  Scripkire  relates  of  two  sovereigns,§  on  one  hand,  one  of  whom 
commanded  all  his  subjects,  on  pain  of  death,  to  prostrate  themselves  before 
his  image;  and  the  other,  on  the  same  penalty,  suspended  all  acts  of  religion, 
with  regard  to  the  gods  in  general,  except  to  himself  only  •  and  on  the  other 
hand,  of  the  ready  and  blind  obedience  of  the  whole  city  ol  Babylon,  who  ran 
altogether,  upon  the  first  signal,  to  bend  the  knee  before  the  idol,  and  to  invoke 
the  king,  exclusively  of  all  the  powers  of  heaven  :  all  this  shows  to  what  an 
extravagant  excess  the  eastern  kings  carried  their  pride,  and  the  people  their 
flattery  and  servitude. 

So  great  was  the  distance  between  the  Persian  king  and  his  subjects  that 
the  latter,  of  whatever  rank  or  quality,  whether  satraps,  governors,  near  rela- 
tions, or  even  brothers  to  the  king,  were  only  looked  upon  as  slaves  ;  Avhereas 
the  king  himself  w^as  always  considered,  not  only  as  their  sovereign  lord  and 
absolute  master,  but  as  a  kind  of  divinity.  In  a  w^ord,  the  peculiar  character 
of  the  Asiatics,  and  the  Persians  more  particularly  than  any  other,  was  servi- 
tude and  slavery ; II  which  made  Cicero  say,  that  the  despotic  power,  which 
some  were  endeavouring  to  establish  in  the  Roman  commonwealth,  would  be 
an  insupportable  yoke,  not  only  to  a  Roman,  but  even  to  a  Persian. IF 

It  was  therefore  this  arrogant  haughtiness  of  the  princes,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  this  abject  submission  of  the  people  on  the  other,  w4iich,  according  to 
Plato,  were  the  principal  causes  of  the  ruin  of  the  Persian  empire,  by  dissolv- 
ing all  the  ties  wherewith  a  king  is  united  to  his  subjects,  and  the  subjects  to 
(heir  king.**  Such  a  haughtiness  extinguishes  all  affection  and  humanity  in  the 
former  ;  and  such  an  abject  state  of  slavery,  leaves  the  people  neither  courage, 
zeal,  nor  gratitude.  The  Persian  kings  governed  and  commanded  only  by 
threats  and  menaces,  and  the  subjects  neither  obeyed  nor  marched,  but  with 
cinwillingness  and  reluctance.  This  is  the  idea  Xerxes  himself  gives  us  of 
them,  in  Herodotus,  where  that  prince  is  represented  as  wondeiing  how  the 
Grecians,  who  were  a  free  people,  could  go  to  battle  with  a  good  will  and  in- 
clination.   How  could  any  thing  great  or  noble  be  expected  from  men  so  dis- 


*  In  Artax.  p.  1013. 
\  yTdlian.  1.  i.  Var.  Hist,  c.xxi. 
I  Plut.  in  Apoptb.  p.  2I». 


t  Lib.  111.  de  Bencf.  c.  12.  et  lib.  iii.  de  Ira.  c.  17. 
^  Nebuchadnezzar,  Dan.  c.  iii.  and  Darius  the  Mede,  Dan.  c.  vl 
^  Lib.  X.  Epist.  ad  At^^  **  Lib.  iii.  de  Leu.  p.  6W 


404 


MANNERS  OF  THR 


pirited  and  depressed  by  slavery,  as  the  Persians  were,  and  reduced  tc  such 
an  abject  servitude  1  which,  to  use  the  words  of  Longinus,  is  a  kind  of  imprison- 
ment, wherein  a  man's  soul  may  be  said,  in  some  sort,  to  grow  little  and  con- 
tracted !* 

I  am  unwilling  to  say  it,  but  1  do  not  know,  whether  the  great  Cyrus  himself 
did  not  contribute  to  introduce  among  the  Persians,  both  that  extravagant  pride 
in  their  kings,  and  that  abject  submission  and  flattery  in  the  people.  It  was  in 
that  pompous  ceremony,  which  I  have  several  times  mentioned,  that  the  Per- 
sians, till  then  very  jealous  of  their  liberty,  and  very  far  from  being  inclined  to 
make  a  shameful  prostitution  of  it  by  any  mean  behaviour  or  servile  complian- 
ces, first  bent  the  knee  before  their  prince,  and  stooped  to  a  posture  of  adora- 
tfbn.  Nor  was  this  an  effect  of  chance  ;  for  Xenophon  intimates  cl  iarly  enough, 
tha?  Cyrus,  who  desii  ed  to  have  that  homage  paid  him,  had  appointed  persons 
on  purpose  to  begin  ^t ;  whose  example  was  accordingly  followed  by  the  mul 
titude,  and  by  the  Persians,  as  well  as  the  other  nations.)  In  these  little  tricks 
and  stratagems,  we  no  longer  discern  that  nobleness  and  greatness  of  soul, 
whiqh  had  ever  been  conspicuous  in  that  prince  till  this  occasion  ;  and  I  should 
be  apt  to  thmk,  that  being  arrived  at  the  utmost  pitch  of  glory  and  power,  he 
could  no  longer  resist  those  violent  attacks,  with  which  prosperity  is  always 
assaulting  even  the  best  of  princes,  Secundce  res  sapientum  animos  fatigaiit;\ 
and  that  at  last  pride  and  vanity,  which  are  almost  inseparable  from  sovereign 
power,  forced  him,  and  in  a  manner  tore  him  from  himself,  and  his  own  natural 
inclination  :  Vi  dominationis  convulsus  et  rnutatus.^ 

SECTION  III. — THE  WRONG  EDUCATION  OF  THEIR    PRINCES,  ANOTHER  CAUSE 
OF  THE  DECLENSION  OF  THE  PERSIAN  EMPIRE. 

It  is  Plato,  still  the  prince  of  philosophers,  who  makes  this  reflection  ;  and 
we  shall  find,  if  we  narrowly  examine  the  fact  in  question,  how  solid  andjudi 
cious  it  is,  andh(.  w  inexcusable  Cyrus's  conduct  was  in  this  respect.il 

Never  had  any  man  more  reason  than  Cyrus  to  be  sensible,  how  highly  ne- 
cessary a  good  education  is  to  a  young  prince.  He  knew  the  whole  value  of 
it  with  regard  to  himself,  and  had  found  all  the  advantages  of  it  b}^  his  owr 
experience.il 

What  he  most  earnestly  recommended  to  his  officers,  in  that  fine  discourse 
he  made  to  them  after  the  taking  of  Babylon,  in  order  to  exhort  them  to  main- 
tain the  glory  and  reputation  they  had  acquired,  was  to  educate  their  children  ^ 
in  the  same  manner  as  they  knew  they  were  educated  in  Persia,  and  to  pre 
serve  themselves  in  the  practice  of  the  same  manners  as  were  practised  there. 

Would  one  believe,  that  a  prince  who  spoke  and  thought  in  this  manner, 
could  ever  have  entirely  neglected  the  education  of  his  own  children  ?  Yet 
this  is  what  happened  to  Cyrus.  Forgetting  that  he  was  a  father,  and  employ- 
ing himself  wholly  about  his  conquests,  he  left  that  care  entirely  to  women, 
tliat  is,  to  princesses,  brought  up  in  a  country  where  vanity,  luxury,  and  vo- 
uptuousness,  reigned  in  the  highest  degree  ;  for  the  queen  his  wife  was  oi 
Media.  And  in  the  same  taste  and  manner  were  the  two  young  princes  Cam- 
byses  and  Smerdis  educated.  Nothing  they  asked  was  ever  refused  them ; 
nor  were  their  desires  only  granted,  but  prevented.  The  great  maxim  wa?, 
that  their  attendants  should  cross  them  in  nothing,  never  contradict  them,  noy 
ever  make  use  of  reproofs  or  remonstrances  with  them.  No  one  opened  his 
/nouth  in  their  presence,  but  to  praise  and  commend  what  they  said  and  did. 
Every  one  cringed  and  stooped,  and  bent  the  knee  before  them ;  and  it  was 
mought  essential  to  their  greatness,  to  place  an  infinite  distance  between  them 
and  the  rest  of  mankind,  as  if  they  had  been  of  a  different  species  from  them. 
It  is  Plato  that  informs  us  of  all  these  particulars;  for  Xenophon,  probably  to 
gpare  his  hero,  says  not  one  word  of  the  manner  m  which  these  princes  wci« 


•  Cap.  XXXV. 
\  Tacit.  Anp«.l.  1.  vi.  c.  46. 


t  Cyrop.  I.  ii.  p.  $15. 

11  Lib.  iii.  de  he^.  p.  694.  695. 


X  Fallust. 
IT  Cyrop  '..  vii.  p.  20^ 


ASSYRIANS.  &c. 


40A 


I-  'light  up,  though  he  gives  us  so  ample  an  account  of  the  education  their 
fo.  ,Aer. 

What  surprises  me  the  most  is,  that  Cyrus  did  not,  at  least,  take  them  alone 
w  ith  him  in  his  last  campaigns,  in  order  to  draw  them  out  of  that  soft  and  ef- 
feminate course  of  life,  and  tc  instruct  them  in  the  art  of  war,  for  they  must 
have  been  of  sufficient  years  ;  but  perhaps  the  women  opposed  his  design,  and 
overruled  him. 

Whatever  the  obstacle  was,  the  effect  of  the  education  of  these  princes  was 
such  as  ought  to  be  expe^^ed  from  it.  Cambyses  came  out  of  that  school,  what 
he  is  represented  in  history,  an  obstinate  and  self-conceited  prince,  full  of  ar- 
rogance and  vanity,  abandoned  tc  the  most  scandalous  excesses  of  drunkenness 
and  debauchery,  cruel  and  inhuman,  even  to  the  causing  of  his  own  brother  to 
be  murdered  in  conseauence  of  a  dream  ;  in  a  word,  a  furious,  frantic  madman, 
who,  by  his  ill  conduct,  brought  the  empire  to  the  brink  of  destruction. 

His  father,  says  Plato,  left  him  at  his  death  many  vast  provinces,  immense 
riches,  with  innumerable  forces  by  sea  and  land;  but  he  had  not  given  him  the 
means  of  preserving  them,  oy  teaching  him  the  right  use  of  such  power. 

This  philosopher  makes  the  same  reflection  with  regard  to  Darius  and  Xerxes. 
The  former,  not  being  rne  son  of  a  king,  had  not  been  brought  up  in  the  same 
effeminate  manner  as  princes  were,  but  ascended  the  throne  with  a  long  habit 
of  industry,  great  temper  and  moderation,  a  courage  little  inferior  to  that  of 
Cyrus,  and  by  which  he  added  to  the  empire  almost  as  many  provinces  as  the 
other  had  conquered.  But  he  was  no  better  a  father  than  him,  and  reaped  no 
benefit  from  the  fault  cf  his  predecessor,  in  neglecting  the  education  of  his 
children.  Accordingly,  his  son  Xerxes  was  little  better  than  a  second  Cambyses. 

From  all  this,  Plato,  ^.fter  having  shown  what  numberless  rocks  and  quick- 
sands, almost  unavoidable,  lie  in  the  way  of  persons  bred  in  the  a  ms  of  wealth 
and  greatness,  concludes,  that  one  principal  cause  of  the  declension  and  ruin  of 
the  Persian  empire,  was  the  bad  education  of  their  princes ;  because  those  first 
examples  had  an  influence  upon,  and  became  a  kind  of  rule  to,  a^l  their  succes- 
sors, under  whom  every  thing  still  degenerated  more  and  more,  till  at  last  their 
luxury  exceeded  all  bounds  and  restraints. 

sec:. '>N  IV.  THEifl  BREACH  OF  FAITH,  OR  WANT  OF  SINCERITY. 

We  are  informed  by  Xenophon,  that  one  of  the  causes,  both  of  the  great 
corruption  of  manners  among  the  Persians,  and  of  the  destruction  of  their  em- 
pire, was  their  want  of  public  faith.*  Formerly,  says  he,  the  king,  and  those 
that  governed  under  him,  thought  it  an  indispensable  duty  to  keep  their  word, 
and  inviolably  to  observe  all  treaties,  into  which  they  had  entered  with  the 
solemnity  of  an  oath,  and  that  even  with  respect  to  those  that  had  rendered 
themselves  most  unworthy  of  such  treatment,  through  their  perfidiousness  and 
insincerity ;  and  it  was  by  this  true  policy  and  prudent  conduct  that  they  gained 
the  absolute  confidence,  ^th  of  iheir  own  subjects,  and  of  their  neighlinurs  and 
allies.  This  is  a  very  gr<=^^t  encomium  given  by  the  historian  to  the  Persians, 
which  undoubtedly  belongs  to  the  reign  of  the  great  Cyrus  ;  though  Xenophon 
applies  it  likewise  to  tha:":  >f  the  younger  Cyrus,  whose  grand  maxim  was^  as 
he  tells  us,  never  to  violate  his  faith  upon  any  pretence  whatever,  with  regard 
either  to  any  word  he  b-?.d  given,  any  promise  made,  or  any  treaty  he  had 
concluded.  These  princes  had  a  just  idea  of  the  regal  dignity,  and  rightly 
judged,  that  if  probity  and  truth  were  renounced  by  ihe  rest  of  mankind,  they 
ought  to  find  a  sanctuary  in  the  heart  of  a  king,  who,  being  the  bond  and  centre, 
as  it  were,  of  society,  should  also  be  the  protector  and  avenger  of  plighted 
faitYi ;  which  is  the  very  foundation  whereon  the  other  depends.! 

Such  sentiments  as  these,  so  noble,  and  so  worthy  of  persons  born  for  govern- 
ment, did  not  last  long.  A  false  prudence,  and  a  spurious,  artificial  policy,  soon 
succeeded  in  their  place.    Instead  of  faith,  probity,  and  true  merit,  says  Xen- 


•  Cyrop.  1.  viii.  p.  239. 


t  De  Exped.  ^yu  l.i.p.  ?67 


f  ^  MANNERS  OF  THE  ASSYRIANS,  &e. 

ophoii,*  which  heretofore  the  prince  used  to  cherish  and  distin^ish,  all  ih^^ 
cnief  offices  of  the  court  began  to  be  filled  with  those  pretended  zealous  servants 
of  the  king,  who  sacrifice  every  thing  to  his  humour  and  supposed  interest  \ 
who  hold  it  as  a  maxim,  that  falsehood  and  deceit,  perfidiousness  and  perjury, 
\i  boldly  and  artfully  put  in  practice,  are  the  shortest  and  surest  expedients  for 
bringing  about  his  enterprises  and  designs ;  who  lool^d  upon  a  scrupulous  ad- 
herence in  a  prince  to  his  word,  and  to  the  engagements  into  which  he  has  en- 
tered, as  an  effect  of  pusillanimity,  incapacity,  and  want  of  understanding  ;  and 
whose  opinion,  in  short,  is,  that  a  man  is  unqualified  for  government,  if  he 
does  not  prefer  reasons  and  considerations  of  state  before  the  exact  observation 
of  treaties,  though  concluded  in  ever  so  solemn  and  sacred  a  manner.! 

The  Asiatic  nations,  continues  Xenophon,  soon  imitated  their  prince,  who 
became  their  example  and  instructer  in  double-dealing  and  treachery.  They 
soon  gave  themselves  up  to  violence,  injustice,  and  impiety  ;  and  from  thence 
proceeds  that  strange  alteration  and  difference  we  find  in  their  manners,  as  also 
the  contempt  they  conceived  for  their  sovereigns,  which  is  both  the  natural 
consequence  and  punishment  of  the  little  regard  princes  pay  to  the  most  sacred 
and  awful  solemnities  of  religion. 

Surely  the  oath  by  which  treaties  are  sealed  and  ratified,  and  the  Deity 
Drought  in,  not  only  as  present,  but  as  guarantee  of  the  conditions  stipulated,  is 
a  most  sacred  and  august  ceremony,  very  proper  for  the  subjecting  of  earthly 
princes  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  heaven  and  earth,  who  alone  is  qualified  to 
judge  them,  and  for  the  keeping  all  human  majesty  within  the  bounds  of  its 
duty,  by  making  it  appear  before  the  majesty  of  God,  in  respect  of  which  it  is 
as  nothing.  Now,  if  princes  will  teach  their  people  not  to  stand  in  fear  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  how  will  they  be  able  to  secure  their  respect  and  reverence 
to  themselves  ?  When  once  that  fear  comes  to  be  distinguished  in  the  subject 
as  well  as  in  the  prince,  what  will  become  of  fidelity  and  obedience,  and  on 
what  foundations  shall  the  throne  be  supported  ?  Cyrus  had  good  reason  to 
say,  that  he  looked  upon  none  as  good  servants  and  faithful  subjects,  but  such 
as  had  a  sense  of  religion,  and  a  reverence  for  the  Deity  :  nor  is  it  at  all  astonish- 
ing that  the  contempt  which  an  impious  prince,  who  has  no  regard  to  the  sanc- 
tity of  oaths,  shows  of  God  and  religion,  should  shake  the  very  foundations  of  the 
firmest  and  best-established  empires,  and  sooner  or  later  occasion  their  jtter 
destruction.J  Kings,  says  Plutarch,  when  any  revolution  happens  in  their  do- 
mii<Hons,are  apt  to  complain  bitterly  of  the  unfaithfulness  and  disloyalty  o^  their 
Bubjects ;  but  they  do  them  wrong,  and  forget  that  it  was  themselves  who  gave 
them  the  first  lessons  of  their  disloyalty,  by  showing  no  regard  to  justice  and 
fidelity,  which,  on  all  occasions,  they  had  sacrificed,  without  scruple,  to  their  own 
particular  interests.§ 


*  Cyrop.  1  viii.  p.  239. 

t  'Eri  TO xaTCf "VaJecrOai  fajv  iwi^vno'iry*  cruvrojuicoTctTTiv  l5ov  uno  iT»ai  dih  tS  liric^HsTv rct  mi ^sdSte^a^ 
i»i  tlajrcTaK  to  Oi  airkkv  re  xai  dXuSist  to        tw  ^Xi$tw  eTva».--De  Exped.Cyr.  1.  i.  p.  292. 

t  Cyrop.  1.  viii.  p.  204  5  Plut.  ii  Pyrrh.  p.  SM. 


BOOK  FIFTH. 

THE 

HISTORY 

or  THB 

ORIGIN  AND  SETTLEMENT 

OF  THE  SEVERAl. 

STATES  AND  GOVERNMENTS  OF 


Of  all  the  countries  of  antiquity,  none  have  been  so  highly  celebrated,  oi 
furnished  history  with  so  many  valuable  monuments  and  illustrious  examples 
as  Greece.  In  whatever  light  she  is  considered,  whether  for  the  glory  oi  he? 
arms,  the  wisdom  of  her  laws,  or  the  study  and  improvement  of  arts  and  sci- 
ences, we  must  allow  that  she  carried  them  to  the  utmost  degree  of  perfection  ; 
and  it  may  truly  be  said,  that  in  all  these  respects,  she  has,  in  some  measure 
been  the  school  of  mankind. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  be  very  much  affected  with  the  history  of  such  a  na- 
tion ;  especially  when  we  consider,  that  it  has  been  transmitted  to  us  by  wri- 
ters of  extraordinary  merit,  many  of  whom  distinguished  themselves  as  much 
by  their  swords,  as  by  their  pens,  and  were  as  great  commanders  and  able 
statesmen,  as  excellent  historians.  I  confess,  it  is  a  vast  advantage  to  have 
such  men  for  guides  ;  men  of  an  exquisite  judgment  and  consummate  pru- 
dence ;  of  a  just  and  perfect  taste  in  every  respect ;  and  who  furnish  not  only 
the  facts  and  thoughts,  as  well  as  the  expressions  wherewith  they  are  to  be 
represented  ;  but,  what  is  more  important,  the  proper  reflections  that  are  to 
accompany  those  facts,  and  which  are  the  great  advantages  resulting  from  his- 
tory. These  are  the  rich  sources  from  whence  I  shall  draw  all  that  I  have  to 
gay,  having  previously,  however,  inquired  into  the  first  origin  and  establish- 
ment of  the  Grecian  states.  As  this  inquiry  must  be  dry,  and  not  capable  ot 
affording  much  delight  to  the  reader,  1  shall  be  as  brief  as  possible.  But  be- 
fore I  enter  upon  that,  I  think  it  necessary  to  draw  a  kind  of  short  plan  of  the 
situation  of  the  country,  and  of  the  several  parts  that  compose  it. 

ARTICLE  I. 

A  GEOGRAPHICAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  ANCIENT  GREECE. 

Ancient  Greece,  which  is  now  the  south  part  of  Turkey  in  Euroyc,  w^j 
bounded  on  the  east  by  the  ^gean  sea,  now  called  the  Arcnipelago  •  <y»i  the 
9outh  by  the  Cretan,  or  Candian  sea  ;  on  the  west  by  the  Ionian  sea  ,  and  on 
the  north  by  Illyria  and  Thrace. 

The  constituent  parts  of  ancient  Greece  are,  Epirus,  Peloponnesus,  Greece 
properly  so  called,  Thessaly,  and  Macedonia. 

Epirus.  This  province  is  situated  to  the  west,  and  divided  from  TheMalf 
and  Macedonia  by  Mount  Pindus  and  the  Acr')ceraunian  mountaia^i 


408 


HISTORY  OF  GKEECE. 


The  most  remarkable  inhabitants  of  Epirus  are,  the  Molg^sians,  whose 
♦  chief  city  is  Dodona,  famous  tor  the  temple  and  oracle  of  Jupiter.  The  Cha- 
ONiANs,  whose  principal  citj  is  Oricum.  The  Thesprotians,  whose  city  is 
Buthrotum,  where  was  the  palace  and  residence  of  Pyrrhus.  The  Acakaa- 
NiANS,  whose  city  was  Ambracia,  which  gives  its  name  to  the  gulf.  Near  to 
this  stood  Actium,  famous  for  the  victory  of  Augustus  Caesar,  who  built  oppo- 
site to  that  city,  on  the  other  side  of  the  gulf,  a  city  named  Nicopolis.  There 
lyere  two  little  rivers  in  Epirus,  very  famous  in  fabulous  story,  Cocytus  and 
iicheron. 

Epirus  must  have  been  very  well  peopled  in  former  times  ;  as  Polybius  re 
^tes,  that  Paulus  ^milius,  after  having  defeated  Perseus,  the  last  king  of  Ma- 
cedonia, destroyed  seventy  cities  in  that  country,  the  greatest  part  of  which  be- 
longed to  the  Molossians  ;  and  that  he  carried  away  from  thence  no  thai) 
a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  prisoners.* 

Peloponnesus.  This  is  a  peninsula,  now  called  the  Morea,  joined  to  the 
rest  of  Greece  only  by  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth,  which  is  but  six  miles  broad.  It 
is  well  known  that  several  princes  have  attempted  in  vain  to  cut  through  ihh 
Isthmus. 

The  parts  of  Peloponnesus  are  Achaia,  properly  so  called,  whose  chief 
cities  are,  Corinth,  Sicyon,  Fatrae,  &c.  Elis,  x'l  which  is  Olympia,  otherwise 
called  Pisa,  seated  on  the  river  Alpheus,  upon  the  banks  of  which  the  Olympic 
games  used  to  be  celebrated.  Messenia,  in  which  are  the  cities  of  Mes^ene, 
and  Pylos,  the  birth-place  of  Nestor  and  Corona.  Arcadia,  in  which  was  Cyl- 
iene,  the  mountain  where  Mercury  was  born,  the  cities  of  Tegea,  Stymphalus, 
'iTantinea,  and  Megalopolis,  the  native  place  of  Polybius.  Laconia,  wherein 
stood  Sparta,  or  Laceda^mon,  and  Amyddd  ;  Mount  Taygetus  ;  the  river  Eu- 
rotas,  and  the  cape  of  Tenarus.  Argolis,  in  which  was  the  city  of  Argos, 
called  aisoHip^ium,  famous  for  the  temple  of  Juno  ;  Nemea,  Mycenae,  Nau- 
plia.  Troezene,  and  Epidaurus,  wherein  was  the  temple  of  jEsculapius. 

Greece,  properly  so  called.  The  principal  parts  of  this  country  were, 
-Stolia,  in  which  were  the  cities  of  Chalcis,  Calydon,  and  Olenus.  Doris. 
Locris,  irihabited  by  the  OzoLiE.  Naupactum,  now  called  Lepanto,  famous 
for  the  defeat  of  the  Turks  in  1571.  Phocis.  Anticyra.  Delphos,  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Parnassus,  famous  for  the  oracles  delivered  there,  in  this  coun- 
try also  was  Mount  Helicon.  Bceotia.  Mount  Cithferon,Orchomenus.  Thes- 
pia.  Chseronea,  Plutarch's  native  country.  Plataea,  famous  for  the  defeat  of 
Mardonius.  Thebes.  Aulis,  famous  for  its  port,  from  whence  the  Grecian  - 
army  set  sail  for  the  siege  of  Troy.  Leuctra,  celebrated  for  the  victory  of  Epa- 
minondas.  Attica.  Megara.  Eleusis.  Decelia.  Marathon,  where  Miltiades  * 
defeated  the  Persian  army.  Athens,  whose  ports  were  Piraeus,  Munychia,  and 
Phalerus.   The  mountain  Hj^mettus,  famous  for  its  excellent  honey.  LocRia. 

Thessaly.  The  most  remarkable  towns  of  this  province  were  Gomphi, 
I'lvc  rsalia,  near  which  Julius  Caesar  defeated  Pompey.  Magnesia.  Methone, 
at  t  le  siege  of  which  Philip  lost  his  eye.  Thermopylae,  a  narrow  strait,  fa- 
mous for  the  defeat  of  Xerxes's  numerous  army  by  the  vigorous  resistance  of 
three  hundred  Spartans.  Phthia.  Thebes.  Larissa.  Demetrias.  The  de- 
lightful valleys  of  Tempe,  near  the  banks  of  the  river  Peneus.  Olympus, 
Pelion,  and  Ossa,  three  mountains  celebrated  in  fabulous  story  for  the  battle 
of  the  giants. 

Macedonia.  I  shall  only  mention  a  few  of  the  principal  towns  of  this  coun 
try.  Epidamnus,  or  Dyrrachium,  now  called  Durazzo.  Apollonia.  Pella, 
Ihe  capital  of  the  country,  and  the  native  place  of  Philip,  and  of  his  son  Alex- 
ander the  Great.  ^Egaea.  iEdessa.  Pallene.  Olinthus,  from  whence  the 
Olynthiacs  of  Demosthenes  took  their  name.  Torone.  Arcanthus.  Thessa- 
lonica,  now  called  Salonichi.  Stagira,  the  place  of  Aristotle's  birth.  Amphi- 
polis.  Philippi,  famous  for  the  victory  gained  there  by  Augustus  and  Anthony 
over  Brutus  and  Cassius.    Scotussa.    Mount  Athos  ;  and  the  river  Strymon. 


*  Apud.  Strab,  1.  rii.  p.  5'2^. 


HISTORY  OF  GREECtl 


THE  GRECIAN  ISLES. 

There  are  a  great  number  of  islands,  contiguous  to  Greece,  that  are  very  fa- 
mous in  history.  In  the  Ionian  sea,  Corcyra,  with  a  town  of  the  same  name, 
now  called  Corfu.  Cephalene  and  Zacynthus,  now  Cephalonia  and  Zante. 
Ithaca,  the  country  of  Ulysses,  and  Dulichium.  Near  the  promontOFy  Malea. 
opposite  to  Laconia,  is  Cythera.  In  the  Saronic  gulf,  are  .^Egina  and  Salamin, 
so  famous  for  the  naval  battle  between  Xerxes  and  the  Grecians.  Betweec 
Greece  and  Asia  lie  the  Sporades,  and  the  Cyclades,  the  most  noted  of  which 
are  Andros,  Delos,  and  Paros,  anciently  famous  for  fine  marble.  Higher  up  in 
the  jEgean  sea  is  Eubcea,  now  Negropont,  separated  trom  the  main  land  by  n 
small  arm  of  the  sea  called  Euripus.  The  most  remarkable  city  of  tnis  isle 
was  Chalcis.  Towards  the  north  is  Skyros,  and  beyond  is  Lemnos,  now  called 
Stalimene  ;  and  still  farther,  Samothrace.  Lower  down  is  Lesbos,  whose  prin- 
cipal city  w^as  Mitylene,  from  whence  the  isle  has  since  taken  the  name  of 
Metelin.  Chios,  now  Scio,  renowned  for  excellent  wine  ;  and  lastly,  Samos. 
Some  of  these  last-mentioned  isles  are  reckoned  to  belong  to  Asia. 

The  island  of  Crete,  now  Candia,  is  the  largest  of  all  the  isles  contiguous  to 
Greece.  It  has  to  the  north  the  ^Egean  sea,  or  the  Archipelago  ;  and  to  the 
south  the  African  ocean.  Its  principal  towns  were,  Gortyna,  Cydon,  Gnossus  ; 
its  mountains,  Dicte,  Ida,  and  Corycus.  Its  labyrinth  is  famous  throughout 
the  world. 

The  Grecians  had  colonies  in  most  of  these  isles. 
They  had  likewise  settlements  in  Sicily,  and  in  part  of  Italy  towards  Calabria,* 
which  places  are  for  that  reason  called  Gra^cia  Magna. 

But  their  grand  settlement  was  in  Asia  Minor,  and  particularly  in  j^^olis. 
Ionia,  and  Doris. f  The  principal  towns  of  jEolis,  are  Cumae,  Chocjea,  Elea, 
Of  Ionia,  Smyrna,  Clazomenae,  Teos,  Lebedus,  Colophon,  and  Ephesus.  Of 
Doris,  Halicarnassus  and  Cnidos. 

They  had  also  a  great  number  of  colonies  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  of 
which  I  shall  give  some  account  as  occasion  shall  ofler. 

ARTICLE  11. 

DIVISION  OF  THE  GRECIAN  HISTORY  INTO  FOUR  SEVERAL  AGES. 

The  Grecian  history  may  be  divided  into  four  different  ages,  noted  by  so 
many  memorable  epochs,  all  which  together  include  the  space  of  2154  years. 

The  first  age  extends  from  the  foundation  of  the  several  petty  kingdoms  of 
Greece,  beginning  with  that  of  Sicyon,  which  is  the  most  ancient,  to  the  siege 
of  Troy,  and  comprehends  about  a  thousand  years,  namely,  from  the  year  of 
tlie  world  1820  to  the  year  2820. 

The  second  begins  at  the  taking  of  Troy  and  reaches  to  the  reign  of  Da- 
rius, thf:  son  of  Hystaspes,  at  which  period  the  Grecian  history  begins  to  be 
intermixed  with  that  of  the  Persians,  and  contains  the  space  of  six  hunared 
and  sixty-three  years,  from  the  year  of  the  world  2820  to  the  year  3483. 

The  third  is  dated  from  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Darius  to  the  5eath 
of  Alexander  the  Great,  w-hich  is  the  finest  pa' t  of  Grecian  history,  and  take§ 
m  the  term  of  one  hundred  and  ninety-eight  years,  from  the  year  of  the  world 
3483  to  the  year  3681. 

The  fourth  and  last  age  commences  from  the  death  of  Alexander,  at  which 
time  the  Grecians  began  to  decline,  and  continues  to  their  final  subjection  by 
the  Romans.  The  epoch  of  the  utter  ruin  and  downfal  of  the  Greeks  may 
be  dated,  partly  from  the  taking  and  destruction  of  Corinth  by  the  consul  L, 
Mummius  in  3858,  partly  from  the  extinction  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Seleucidae 
in  Asia,  by  Fompey,  in  the  year  of  the  world  3939  ;  and  of  the  kingdom  of 
Ihe  Lagidae  in  Egypt,  by  Augustus,  A.  M.  3974.  This  last  age  includes,  in  all, 
two  hundred  and  ninety-three  years. 


*  Strab.  1  vi  p  -^^i^ 


r  r\hi.  1.  vi.  c.  i 


410 


HIBTORY  OF  (iilEECE. 


Of  these  four  distinct  ages,  I  shall  in  this  place  only  touch  upon  the  tW9 
first  in  a  very  succinct  manner,  just  to  give  the  reader  some  general  idea  o^ 
that  obscure  period  ;  because  those  times,  at  least  a  great  part  of  them,  par- 
take more  of  fable  than  of  real  history  :  and  are  wrapped  up  in  a  d-arkness  and 
obscurity,  which  it  is  very  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  penetrate  :  and  I  have 
often  declared  already,  that  such  a  dark  and  laborious  inquiry,  though  very 
useful  for  those  that  are  entering  deep  into  history,  does  not  come  within  the 
plan  of  my  desig:n. 

ARTICLE  III. 

THE  PRIMITIVE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  GRECIANS. 

Iw  order  to  arrive  at  any  certain  knowledge  concerning  the  derivation  of  tb« 
Grecian  nations,  we  must  necessarily  have  recourse  to  the  account  we  have  oi 
it  in  the  holy  Scriptures. 

Javan  or  Ion,  for  in  the  Hebrew  the  same  letters  differently  pointed,  form 
Aese  two  different  names,  the  son  of  Japhet,  and  grandson  of  Noah,  was  cer- 
tainly the  father  of  all  those  nations  that  went  under  the  generaKdenomination 
of  Greeks,  though  he  has  been  looked  upon  as  the  father  of  the  lonians  only, 
which  were  but  one  particular  nation  of  Greeks."^  But  the  Hebrews,  the  Chal- 
deans, Arabians,  and  others,  give  no  other  appellation  to  the  whole  body  of 
the  Grecian  nations,  than  that  of  lonians.  And  for  this  reason,  Alexander,  in 
the  predictions  of  Daniel,t  is  mentioned  under  the  name  of  the  king  of  Javan.  J 

Javan  had  four  sons,  Elisha,  Tarsis,  Chittim,  and  Dodanim.§  As  Javan  was 
the  original  father  of  the  Grecians  in  general,  no  doubt  but  his  four  sons  were 
the  heads  and  founders  of  the  chief  tribes  and  principal  branches  of  that  nation, 
which  became,  in  succeeding  ages,  so  renowned  for  arts  and  arms. 

Elisha  is  the  same  as  Ellas,  as  it  is  rendered  in  the  Chaldee  translation  ;  and 
the  word  Ewrivfj,  which  was  used  in  the  common  appellation  of  the  whole  peo- 
ple, in  the  same  manner  as  the  word  "Ewas  was  of  the  whole  country,  has  nc 
other  derivation.  The  city  of  Elis,  very  ancient  in  Peloponnesus,  the  Elysian 
fields,  the  river  Elissus,  or  Ilissus,  have  long  retained  the  marks  of  their  being 
derived  from  Elisha,  and  have  contributed  more  to  preserve  his  memory,  than 
the  historians  themselves  of  the  nation,  who  were  inquisitive  after  fore^ign  af- 
fairs, and  but  little  acquainted  with  their  own  original ;  because,  as  they  had 
Jittle  or  no  knowledge  of  the  true  religion,  they  did  not  carry  their  inquiries 
so  high.  Upon  which  account,  they  themselves  derived  the  vv'ords  Hellenes 
and  Tones  from  another  source,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel;  for  I  think  my- 
self obliged  10  give  some  account  of  their  opinions  al?o  in  this  respect. 

Tarsis  was  the  second  son  of  Javan.  He  settled,  as  his  brethren  did,  in 
some  parts  of  Greece,  perhaps  in  Achaia  or  the  neighbouring  provinces,  as 
Elisha  did  in  Peloponnesus. 

It  is  not  to  be  doubted  but  that  Chittim  was  the  father  of  the  Macedonians, 
according  to  the  authority  of  the  first  book  of  the  Maccabees,||  in  the  beginning 
of  which  it  is  said,  that  Alexander,  the  son  of  Philip,  the  Macedonian,  went  out 
of  his  country,  which  was  that  of  Cetthim,!  or  Chittim,  to  make  war  against 
Darius,  king  of  Persia.  And  in  the  eighth  chapter,  speaking  of  the  Romans 
tnd  their  victories  over  the  last  kings  of  Macedonia,  Philip  and  Perseus,**  the 
iwo  last-mentioned  princes,  are  called  kings  of  the  Cetheans. 

Doaanin?'  It  is  very  probable,  that  Thessaly  and  Epirus  were  the  poriiGiii 
of  the  fourtVi  son  of  Javan.  The  impious  worship  of  Jupiter  of  Dodona.  as  well 
as  the  city  of  Dodonatt  itself,  are  proofs  that  some  remembrance  of  Dodanira 
bad  remained  with  the  people,  who  derived  their  first  establishment  from  him. 

This  is  all  that  can  be  said  with  any  certainty  concerning  the  tine  origin  of 
the  Grecian  nation.    The  holy  Scripture,  whose  design  is  not  to  satisfy  our  cu- 


•  Gen.  y  **.  f  I^^S*        21*  t  Hircus  cnpranim  rex  Grecia; :  in  the  Hebrew,  rex  JavMi 

f  Gen.  X.  4.  i|  Maccab.  i.  1.  11  Egreasu?  de  leira  Cethim. 

PhiHfpn»eiP«r«eum,CIeth«ortHnrefeft.— V.fi     tt  Au'Vcvn  dnra  A^<5^vaTS  A  tos  xal  Eufv-trnf— Si* 


^  iriSTORY  6F  GREECE. 


•snsltT,  but  to  cherish  and  improve  our  piety,  after  scatterinp*  these  few  rays 
^i^nt,  leaves  us  in  utter  darkness  concerning  the  rest  of  th^  if  history,  nhich 
inerefore  can  only  be  collected  from  profane  authors. 

If  we  may  believe  Pliny,  the  Grecians  were  so  called  from  the  name  of  an 
ancient  king,  of  whom  they  had  but  a  very  uncertain  tradition.*    Homer,  in 
his  poems,  calls  them  Hellenes,  Danai,  Argives,  and  Achaians     It  is  observa 
ble,  that  the  word  Grozcus  is  not  once  used  in  Virgil. 

The  exceeding  rusticity  of  the  first  Grecians  would  appear  incredible,  if  Wf 
could  call  in  question  the  testimony  of  their  own  historians  upon  that  article. 
But  a  people  so  vain  of  their  origin,  as  to  adorn  it  with  fiction  and  fable,  we 
may  be  sure,  would  never  think  of  inventing  any  thing  to  its  disparagement. 
Who  would  imagine,  that  the  people  to  whom  the  world  is  indebted  for  all  hei 
knowledge  in  literature  and  the  sciences,  should  be  descended  from  mere  sav- 
ages, who  knew  no  other  law  than  force,  and  were  ignorant  even  of  agricul- 
ture ?t  And  yet  this  appears  plainly  to  be  the  case,  from  the  divine  honours 
they  decreed  to  Pelasgus,  who  first  taught  them  to  feed  upon  acorns,  as  a  more 
delicate  and  wholesome  nourishment  than  herbs.  There  was  still  a  great  dis- 
tance from  this  first  improvement  to  a  state  of  urbanity  and  politeness.  Nor 
did  they  indeed  arrive  at  the  latter,  till  after  a  long  process  of  time. 

The  weakest  were  not  the  last  to  understand  the  necessity  of  living  together 
ill  society,  in  order  to  defend  themselves  against  violence  and  oppression.  At 
first  they  built  single  houses  at  a  distance  from  one  another,  the  number  of 
which  insensibly  increasing,  formed  in  time,  towns  and  cities.  But  the  bare 
living  together  in  society  was  not  sufficient  to  polish  such  a  people.  Egypt  and 
Phrenicia  had  the  honour  of  doing  this.  Both  these  nations  contributed  to  m- 
struct  and  civilize  the  Grecians,  by  the  colonies  they  sent  among  them.  The 
latter  taught  them  navigation,  writing,  and  commerce  ;  the  former  the  knovv- 
ledge  cf  their  laws  and  polity,  gave  them  a  taste  for  arts  and  sciences,  and  ini- 
tiated them  into  their  mysteries.J 

Greece,  in  her  infant  state,  was  exposed  to  great  commotions  and  frequent 
revolutions  ;  because,  as  the  people  had  no  settled  correspondence,  and  no 
superior  power  to  give  laws  to  the  rest,eveiy  thing  was  determined  by  force 
and  violence.  The  strongest  invaded  those  lands  of  their  neighbours,  which 
they  thought  most  fertile  and  delightful,  and  dispossessed  tbe  lawful  owners, 
who  were  obliged  to  seek  new  settlements  elsew^here.  As  Attica  was  a  dry  and 
barren  country,  its  inhabitants  had  not  the  same  invasions  and  outrages  tofpar, 
and  therefore  consequently  kept  themselves  in  possession  of  their  ancient  ter- 
ritories ;  for  which  reason  they  took  the  name  of  aurox^^v",  that  is,  men  born  in 
the  country  w^here  they  lived,  to  distinguish  themselves  from  the  rest  of  the  na- 
tions, that  had  almost  all  transplanted  themselves  from  place  to  place. § 

Such  were  in  general  the  first  beginnings  of  Greece.  We  must  now  enter 
into  a  more  particular  detail,  and  give  a  brief  account  of  the  establishment  of 
the  several  aifierent  states,  which  constituted  the  whole  country. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

THE  DIFFERENT  STATES  INTO  WHICH  GREECE  WAS  DIVIDED. 

In  those  early  times,  kingdoms  were  but  inconsideraJble,  and  of  very  small 
e  ttent,  the  title  of  kingdom  Being  often  given  to  a  single  city,  with  a  few  leagues 
cr  land  depending  upon  it. 

SicYON.il  The  most  ancient  kingdom  of  Greece  was  that  of  Sicyon,  whose 
commencement  is  dated  by  Eusebius  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirteen 
years  before  the  first  Olympiad.  Its  duration  is  believed  to  have  been  about 
a  thousand  years. 

Argos.H  The  kingdom  of  Argos  in  Peloponnesus,  beean  one  thousand  asd 
tighty  years  betore  the  first  Olympiad,  in  the  time  of  Abraham.    The  first  king 


*  Lib.  iv.  c.  7.  t  Pausan.  1.  viii.  p.  455,  456. 

1  Herod.  1.  V.  c.  58.  el  1.  r.  c.  58—60.    Tin.  1.  v.  c.  12.  et  1.  v\\.  c  56.  §  Thucyd.  1.  i.  p.  3 

^AM  mS     Ant.  J.  C.  2039.  IT  A.  Jf.  2148.    Ant.  J.  C  185«.    Euseb.  In  Cbpon. 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


of  it  was  Inachus.    His  successors  were,  his  son  Phof.oneu85  Apis,  Argu») 

from  whom  the  country  took  its  name  ;  and  after  several  others,  Gleanor,  who 
was  dethroned  and  expelled  his  kingdom  by  Danaus  the  Egyptian.*  The 
successors  of  this  last  were  first,  Lynceus,  the  son  of  his  brother  Agyptus,  who 
alone,  of  fi^ty  brothers,  escaped  the  cruelty  of  the  Danaides ;  then  Abas, 
pROETUS,  and  AcRisius. 

Of  Danae,  daughter  of  the  last,  was  born  Perseus,  who  having,  when  he  wa« 
grown  up,  unfortunately  killed  his  grandfather  Acrisius,  and  not  being  able  tt> 
bear  the  sight  of  Argos,  where  he  committed  that  involuntary  murder,  with- 
drew to  Mycenae,  and  there  fixed  the  seat  of  his  kingdom. 

Mycen^.  Perseus  then  translated  the  seat  of  the  kingdom  from  Argos  to 
Mycenfe.  He  left  several  sons  behind  him  ;  among  others,  Alcaeus,  Sthenelus, 
•md  Electryon.  Alcaeus  was  the  father  of  Amphitryon,  Sthenelus  of  Furys- 
theus,  and  Electryon  of  Alcmena.  Amphitryon  married  Alcmena,  upon  whom 
Jupiter  begat  Hercules. 

Eurystheus  and  Hercules  came  into  the  world  the  same  day ;  but  as  the 
birth  of  the  former  was,  by  Juno's  management  antecedent  to  that  of  the  latter, 
Hercules  was  forced  to  be  subject  to  him,  and  was  obliged,  by  his  order,  to 
undertake  the  twelve  labours,  so  celebrated  in  fable. 

The  kings  who  reigned  at  Mycenae  after  Perseus,  were,  Electryon,  Sthe- 
nelus, and  Eurystheus.  The  last,  after  the  death  of  Hercules,  declared  open 
war  against  his  descendants,  apprehending  they  might  some  time  or  other  at- 
tempt to  dethrone  him,  which,  as  it  happened,  was  done  by  the  Heraclidae  ;  for 
having  killed  Eurystheus  in  battle, they  entered  victorious  into  Peloponnesus, 
and  made  themselves  masters  of  the  country.  But,  as  this  happened  before 
the  time  determined  by  fate,  a  plague  ensued,  which,  with  the  direction  of 
an  oracle,  obliged  them  to  quit  the  country.  Three  years  after  this,  being 
deceived  by  the  ambiguous  expression  of  the  oracle,  they  made  a  second  at- 
tempt, v/hich  likewise  proved  fruitless.  This  was  about  twenty  years  before 
the  taking  of  Troy. 

Atreus,  the  son  of  Pelops,  uncle  by  the  mother's  side  to  Eurystheus,  suc- 
ceeded the  latter.  And  in  this  manner  the  crown  came  to  the  oescendants  of 
Pelops,  from  whom  Peloponnesus,  which  before  was  called  Apia,  derived  its 
name.  The  bloody  hatred  of  two  brothers,  Atreus  and  Thyestes,  is  known  to 
all  the  world. 

Plisthenes,  the  son  of  Atreus,  succeeded  his  father  in  the  kingdom  oi 
Mycenae,  which  he  left  to  his  son  Agamemnon,  who  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Orestes.  The  kingdom  of  Mycenae  was  filled  with  enormous  and  horrible 
crimes,  from  the  time  it  came  into  the  family  of  Pelops. 

Tisamenes  and  Penthilus,  sons  of  Orestes,  reigned  after  their  father,  and 
were  at  last  driven  out  of  Peloponnesus  by  the  Heraclidae. 

Athens.!  Cecrops,  a  native  of  Egypt,  was  the  founder  of  this  kingdom. 
Having  settled  In  Attica,  he  divided  all  the  country  subject  to  him  into  twelve 
districts.    He  also  established  the  Areopagus. 

This  august  tribunal,  in  the  reign  of  his  successor  Cranaus,  -idjudged  the 
famous  dispute  between  Neptune  and  Mars.  In  this  time  happened  Deuca- 
lion's flood.  The  deluge  of  Ogyges  in  Attica  was  much  more  ancient,  befrig  a 
thousand  and  twenty  years  before  the  first  Olympiad,  and  consequently  in  flje 
Tear  of  the  world  2^08. 

Amphictyon,  the  third  king  of  Athens,  procured  a  confederacy  between 
melve  nations,  v,hicL  assembled  twice  a  year  at  Thermopylae,  there  to  offer 
their  conwnon  sacrifices,  and  to  consult  together  upon  their  affairs  in  general,  as 
also  upon  the  affairs  of  each  nation  in  particular.  This  convention  was  caUed 
the  Assembly  of  the  Amphictyons. 

The  ref^n  of  Erectheus  is  remarkable  for  the  arrival  of  Ceres  in  Attica, 
after  the  rape  of  her  daughter  Proserpine,  as  also  for  the  institution  of  the 
mysteries  at  Eleusis. 


♦  A.  M,  2530.    Ant.  J.  C.  1474. 


MlflTORV  OF  GREECE. 


41S 


,  The  reign  ot  ^Eoeus,  the  son  of  Pandion,  is  the  most  illustrious  period  of  tb€ 
tistory  of  the  heroes.*  In  his  time  are  placed  the  expedition  of  the  Ar«:onaut«3 ; 
the  celebrated  labours  of  Hercules ;  the  war  of  Minos,  second  king  of  Ciete, 
against  the  Athenians  ;  the  story  of  Theseus  and  Ariadne. 

Theseus  succeeded  his  father  ^geus.  Cecrops  had  divided  Attica  into 
twelve  boroughs,  or  districts,  separated  from  each  other.  Theseus  brought 
the  people  to  understand  the  advantages  of  a  common  government,  and  united 
the  twelve  boroughs  into  one  city,  or  body  politic,  in  which  the  whole  authority 
was  united- 

CoDRU  s  was  the  last  king  of  Athens ;  he  devoted  himself  to  death  for  his  people. 

After  him  the  title  of  king  was  extinguished  among  the  Athenians.!  Medon, 
his  son,  was  set  at  the  head  of  the  commonwealth  with  the  title  of  archon,  that 
m  to  say,  president  or  governor.  The  first  archons  were  for  life ;  but  the  Athe- 
nians, growing  weary  of  a  government  which  they  still  thought  bore  too  great 
resemblance  to  royal  power,  made  their  archons  elective  every  ten  years,  and 
at  last  reduced  il  to  an  annual  office. 

Thebes.J  Cadmus,  who  came  by  sea  from  the  coast  of  Phoenicia,  that  is. 
from  about  Tyre  and  Sidon,  seized  upon  that  part  of  the  country  which  was 
afterwards  called  Boeotia.  He  built  there  the  city  of  Thebes,  or  at  least  a  cita- 
del, which  from  his  own  name  he  called  Cadmaea,  and  there  fixed  the  seat  of 
his  power  and  dominion. 

The  fatal  misfortune  of  ljaius,one  of  his  successors,  and  of  Jocasta  his  wife, 
of  GEdipus  their  son,  of  Eteocles  and  Polynices,  who  were  born  of  the  incestu- 
ous  maft-riage  of  Jocasta  with  (Edipus,  have  furnished  ample  matter  for  fabulous 
narration  and  theatrical  representations. 

Sparta,  or  LACEOiEMON,  It  is  supposed  that  Lelex,  the  first  king  of  Laco- 
nia,  began  his  reign  about  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixteen  years  before 
the  Christian  era. 

Tyndarus,  the  ninth  kingof  Lacedaemon,  had,  by  Leda,  Castor  '^nd  Pollux, 
who  were  twins,  besides  Helena,  and  Clytemnestra,  the  wife  of  Agamemnon, 
king  of  Mycenae.  Having  survived  his  two  sons,  the  twins,  he  began  to  think 
of  choosing  a  successor,  by  seeking  a  husband  for  his  daughter  Helena.  Ail 
the  pretenders  to  this  princess  bound  themselves  by  oath  to  abide  by,  and  en- 
tirely submit  to  the  choice  which  the  lady  herself  should  make,  who  determined 
in  favour  of  Menelaus.  She  had  not  lived  above  three  years  with  her  husband, 
before  she  was  carried  off  by  Alexander  or  Paris,  son  of  Priam,  king  of  the 
Trojans, which  rape  was  the  cause  of  the  Trojan  war.  Greece  did  not  pro- 
perly begin  to  know  or  experience  her  united  strength,  till  the  famous  siege  of 
that  city,  where  Achilles,  the  Ajaxes,  Nestor,  and  Ulysses,  gave  Asia  s'lfficient 
reasons  to  forebode  her  future  subjection  to  their  posterity.  The  Greeks  took 
Troy  after  a  siege  of  ten  years,  much  about  the  time  that  Jephtha  governed 
the  people  of  God,  that  is,  according  to  Bishop  Usher,  in  the  year  of  the  world 
2820,  and  1184  before  Jesus  Christ.  This  epoch  is  famous  in  history,  and 
ihould  be  carefully  remembered,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Olympiads. 

An  Olympiad  is  the  revolution  of  four  complete  years  from  one  celebration 
*>f  the  Olympic  games  to  another.  We  shall  elsewhere  give  an  account  of  the 
institution  of  these  games,  which  were  celebrated  every  four  years,  near  the 
t3wn  of  Pisa,  otherwise  called  Olympia. 

The  common  era  of  the  Olympiads  begins  in  the  summer  of  the  year  cf  the 
world  3228,  seven  hundred  and  seventy-six  years  before  Jesus  Christ,  fi-om  the 
fames  in  which  Chorebus  won  the  prize  in  the  foot-race. 

Eighty  years  after  the  taking  of  Troy,  the  Heraclidae  re-entered  the  Pelopon* 
nesus,  and  seized  Lacedaemon,  where  two  brothers,  Eurysthenes  and  Procles. 
vns  of  Aristodemus,  began  to  reign  together,  and  from  their  time  the  sceptre 
llways  continued  jointly  in  the  hands  of  the  descendants  of  those  two  families. 
Many  years  after  this, Lycurgus  instituted  that  body  of  laws  for  the  Spartah 


«  A.  M.  27J0.    Af-.».  J.  C.  123A.  t  A.  M.  2034.    Ant.  J  C.  1070. 

,  A.  M.  3549     Ant.  J.  C.  1455- 


4!4 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


State,  which  rendered  both  the  legislature  and  the  republic  so  famous  in  bin* 
oiy.   I  shall  speak  of  them  at  lai^e  in  the  sequel. 

Corinth.*  Corinth  began  later  than  the  other  cities  I  have  been  speakirtf 
f  to  be  governed  by  particular  kings.  It  was  at  first  subject  to  Inose  of 
Argos  and  Mycenae  ;  at  last  Sisyphus,  the  son  of  iEolus,made  himself  master  of 
it.  But  his  descendants  were  dispossessed  of  the  throne  by  the  HeraclideB, 
about  one  hundred  and  ten  years  after  the  siege  of  Troy. 

The  regal  power  after  this  came  to  the  descendants  of  Bacchis,  under  whom 
the  monarchy  was  changed  into  an  aristocracy,  that  is,  the  reins  of  the  govern- 
ment  weie  in  the  hands  of  the  elders,  who  annually  chose  from  among  them- 
selves a  chief  magistrate,  whom  they  called  Prytanis.  At  last  Cypselus  having 
gained  the  people,  usurped  t\<s  supreme  authority,  which  he  transmitted  to  his 
son  Periander,  M'ho  was  ranked  among  the  Grecian  sages,  on  account  of  the 
love  he  bore  to  learning,  and  the  protection  and  encouragement  he  gave  to 
learned  men. 

Macedonia. t  It  was  a  long  time  before  the  Greeks  had  any  great  regard  to 
Macedonia.  Her  kings  living  retired  in  woods  and  mountains,  seemed  not  to 
be  considered  as  a  part  of  Greece.  They  pretended,  that  their  kings,  of  whom 
Caranus  was  the  first,  were  descended  from  Hercules.  Philip  and  his  son 
Alexander  raised  the  glory  of  this  kingdom  to  a  very  high  degree.  It  had  sub- 
sisted four  hundred  and  seventy-one  years  before  the  death  of  Alexander,  and 
continued  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  more,  t^ll  Perseus  was  beaten  and  taken 
by  the  Romans ;  in  all  six  hundred  and  twenty-six  years. 

ARTICLE  V. 

colonies  of  the  greeks  sent  into  ASIA  MINOR. 

We  have  already  observed,  that  eighty  years  after  the  taking  of  Troy,  the 
Heraclidae  recovered  Peloponnesus,  after  having  defeated  the  relopidae,  that 
is,  Tisamenes  and  Penthilus,  sons  of  Orestes;  and  that  they  divided  the  king- 
doms of  Mycenae,  Argos,  and  Lacedaemon,  among  them. 

So  great  a  revolution  as  this  almost  changed  the  face  of  the  country,  and 
made  way  for  several  very  famous  transmigrations ;  which,  the  better  to  under- 
stand, and  to  have  the  clearer  idea  of  the  situation  of  the  Grecian  nations,  as 
also  of  the  four  dialects,  or  different  idioms  of  speech,  that  prevailed  among 
them,  it  will  be  necessary  to  look  a  little  farther  back  into  history. 

Deucalion,  who  reigned  in  Thessaly,  and  under  whom  happened  the  flood 
that  bears  his  name,  had  by  Pyrrha,  his  wife,  two  sons,  Helenus  and  Amphictyon. 
This  last,  having  driven  Cranaus  out  of  Athens,  reigned  there  in  his  steau 
Helenus,  if  we  may  believe  the  historians  of  his  country,  gave  the  name  of 
Helenes  to  the  Greeks :  he  had  three  sons,  JColus,  Dorus,  and  Xuthus.J 

^olus,  who  was  the  eldest,  succeeded  his  father,  and,  besides  Thessaly,  had 
Locris  and  Boeotia  added  to  his  dominions.  Several  of  his  descendants  went 
into  Peloponnesus  with  Pelops,  the  son  of  Tantalus,  king  of  Phrj^gia,  from 
whom  Peloponnesus  took  its  name,  and  settled  themselves  in  Laconia. 

The  country  contiguous  to  Parnassus  fell  to  the  share  of  Dorus,  and  from  him 
was  called  Doris. 

Xuthus,  compelled  by  his  brothers,  upon  some  particular  distrust,  to  quit  his 
country,  retired  into  Attica,  where  he  married  the  daughter  of  Erechtheus, 
king  of  the  Athenians,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  Achaeub  and  Ion. 

An  involuntary  murder,  committed  by  Achaeus,  obliged  him  tu  retire  to 
Peloponnesus,  which  was  then  called  Egialeea,  of  which  one  part  was  from 
him  called  Ar  haia.    His  descendants  settled  at  Lacedaemon. 

Ion,  having  signaVized  himself  by  his  victories,  was  invited  by  the  Atheni* 
ans  to  govern  their  city,  and  gave  the  country  his  name  ;  for  the  inhabitants  of 
Attica  were  likewise  called  lonians.    The  number  of  the  citizens  increased 


»  A.  M.  2628.    Ant.  J.  C.  1376.  t  A.  M.  3191.    Ant.  J.  C.  8 13. 

t  Strab.  I.  viii.  p.  !tes»  &c.    l^*u»an.  1  vii.  p.  396,  Sec. 


HIBTORY  or  GREECE 


^D  ,^cn  a  degree,  that  the  Athenians  were  obliged  to  send  a  colony  of  the  lo- 
Mians  iRto  Peloponnesus,  who  likewise  gave  the  name  to  the  country  they  pos- 
sessed. 

Thus  all  the  inhabitants  of  Peloponnesus,  though  composed  of  different 
people,  were  united  under  the  names  of  Achaeans  and  lonians. 

The  Heraclidae,  eighty  years  after  the  taking  of  Troy,  resolved  seriously  to 
recover  Peloponnesus,  which  of  right  belonged  to  them.  They  had  three 
principal  leaders,  sons  of  Aristomachus,  namely,  Timenes,  Cresphontes,  and 
Aristodemus ;  the  last  dying,  his  two  sons,  Euristhenes  and  Procles,  succeeded 
him.  The  success  of  their  expedition  was  as  happy  as  the  motive  was  just, 
and  they  recovered  the  possession  of  their  ancient  dominion.  Argos  fell  to 
Timenes,  Messenia  to  Cresphontes,  and  Laconia  to  the  two  sons  of  Aristo- 
demus. 

Such  of  the  Achaeans  as  were  descei.ded  from  iEolus,  and  had  hitherto  in- 
habited Laconia,  being  driven  from  thence  by  the  Dorians,  who  accompanied 
the  Heraclidae  into  Peloponnesus,  after  some  wandering,  settled  in  that  part-  ^f 
Asia  Minor,  which  from  them  took  the  name  of  ^Eolis,  where  they  founded 
Smyrna,  and  eleven  other  cities  ;  but  the  town  of  Smyrna  came  afterwards 
into  the  hands  of  the  lonians.  The  iEolians  became  likew^ise  possessed  of 
several  cities  of  Lesbos. 

As  for  the  Achaeans  of  Mycenae  and  Argos,  being  compelled  to  abandon 
their  country  to  the  Heraclidae,  they  seized  upon  that  of  the  lonians,  who 
dwelt  at  that  time  in  a  part  of  Peloponnesus.  The  latter  fled  at  first  to  Athens, 
their  original  countiy,  from  whence  they  sometime  afterwards  departed  under 
the  conduct  of  Nileus  and  Androcles,  both  sons  of  Codrus,  and  seized  upon 
that  part  of  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor  which  lies  between  Caria  and  Lydia,  and 
from  them  was  named  Ionia  ;  here  they  built  twelve  cities,  Ephesus,  Clazo- 
menae,  Samos,  &c. 

The  power  of  the  Athenians,  who  had  then  Codrus  for  their  king,  being  veiy 
much  augmented  by  the  great  number  of  refugees  that  were  fled  into  their 
country,  the  Heraclidae  thought  proper  to  oppose  the  progress  of  their  power, 
and  for  that  reason  made  war  upon  them.    The  latter  were  defeated  in  a  bat 
tie,  but  still  remained  masters  of  Megaris,  where  they  built  Megara,  and  set 
tied  the  Dorians  in  that  country  in  the  room  of  the  lonians.* 

One  part  of  the  Dorians  continued  in  the  country  after  the  death  of  Co- 
drus, another  went  to  Crete  ;  the  greatest  number  settled  in  that  part  of  Asia 
Minor,  which  from  them  was  called  Doris,  where  they  built  Halicarnassus, 
Cnidos,  and  other  cities,  and  made  themselves  masters  of  the  island  of  Rhodes, 
Cos,  &c.t 

THE  GRECIAN  DIALECTS. 

It  will  now  be  more  easy  to  understand  what  we  have  to  say  concerning  the 
several  Grecian  dialects.  These  were  four  in  number;  the  Attic,  the  Ionic, 
the  Doric,  and  the  iEolic.  They  were  in  reality  four  different  languages, 
each  of  them  perfect  in  its  kind,  and  used  by  a  distinct  nation ;  but  yet  all 
derived  from,  and  founded  upon  the  same  original  tongue.  And  this  diversity 
of  languages  is  by  no  means  wonderful  in  a  countr}^  where  the  inhabitants  con- 
Eisted  of  different  nations,  that  did  not  depend  upon  one  another,  but  had  each 
lis  particular  territories. 

1.  The  Attic  dialect  is  that  which  was  used  in  Athens  and  the  country  round 
about.  This  dialect  has  been  chiefly  used  by  Thucydides,  Aristophanes,  Plato, 
fsocrates,  Xenophon,  and  Demosthenes. 

2.  The  Ionic  dialect  was  almost  the  same  with  the  ancient  Attic  ;  but  af\er 
it  had  passed  into  several  towns  of  Asia  Minor,  and  into  the  adjacent  islands 
isfhich  were  colonies  of  the  Athenians,  and  of  the  people  of  Achaia,  it  received 
«  sort  of  new  tincture,  and  did  not  come  up  to  that  perfect  delicacy,  which  the 

•  Strafe,  p-  S93  f  Strab  p.  CSa. 


416 


HISIORY  OF  (iKEECE. 


AlheDians  afterwards  attained  to.  Hippocrates  and  Herodotus  wrote  in  ftm 
dialect. 

3.  The  Doric  was  first  in  use  among  the  Spartans,  and  the  people  of  Argos  ] 
It  passed  afterwards  into  Epirus,  Libya,  Sicily,  Rhodes,  and  Crete.  Archime- 
ies  and  Theocritus,  both  of  them  Syracusans,and  Pindar,  followed  this  dialect.. 

4.  The  iEclic  dialect  was  at  first  used  by  the  Boeotians  and  their  neighbours, 
and  then  in  ^olis,  a  countiy  in  Asia  Minor,  between  Ionia  and  Mysia,  which 
contained  ten  or  twelve  cities  that  were  Grecian  colonies.  Sappho  and  Alcseus, 
of  whose  works  very  little  remains,  wrote  in  this  dialect.  We  find  also  a  mix* 
ture  of  it  in  the  writings  of  Theocritus,  Pindar,  Homer,  and  many  others. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

THE  REPUBLICAN    FORM   OF  GOVERNMENT   ALMOST  GENERALLY  ESTABLISHED 

THROUGHOUT  GREECE. 

The  reader  may  have  observed,  in  the  little  I  have  said  about  the  several 
settlements  of  Greece,  that  the  primordial  ground  of  all  those  different  states 
was  monarchial  government,  which  w^as  the  most  ancient  of  all  forms,  the  most 
universally  received  and  established,  the  most  proper  to  maintain  peace  and 
concord,  and  which,  as  Plato  observes,  is  formed  upon  the  model  of  paternal 
authority,  and  of  that  gentle  and  moderate  dominion  which  fathers  exercise 
over  their  families.* 

But,  as  the  state  of  things  degenerated  by  degrees,  through  the  injustice  of 
usurpers,  and  severity  of  lawful  masters,  the  insurrections  of  the  people,  and 
a  thousand  accidents  and  revolutions  that  happened  in  those  states,  a  different 
spirit  seized  the  people,  which  prevailed  throughout  Greece,  kindled  a  violent 
desire  of  liberty,  and  brought  about  a  general  change  of  government  every 
where,  except  in  Macedonia  ;  so  that  monarchy  gave  way  to  a  republican  go- 
vernment, which,  however,  was  diversified  into  almost  as  many  various  forms 
as  there  were  different  cities,  according  to  the  different  genius  and  peculiar 
character  of  each  people. 

There  still,however,  remained  a  kind  of  tincture  or  spirit  of  the  ancient  mon- 
archial government,  which  frequently  inflamed  the  ambition  of  private  citizens, 
and  made  them  desire  to  become  masters  of  their  country.  In  almost  eveiy 
state  of  Greece,  some  private  persons  arose,  who,  without  any  right  to  the 
throne,  either  by  birth  or  election  of  the  citizens,  endeavoured  to  advance  them- 
selves to  it  by  cabal,  treacheiy,  and  violence;  and  who,  without  any  respect 
for  the  laws,  or  regard  to  the  public  good,  exercised  a  sovereign  authority, 
with  a  despotic  empire  and  arbitrary  sway.  In  order  to  support  their  unjust 
usurpations  in  the  midst  of  distrust  and  alarms,  they  thought  themselves  obliged 
to  prevent  imaginary,  or  to  suppress  real  conspiracies,  by  the  most  cruel  pro- 
scriptions ;  and  to  sacrifice  to  their  own  security  all  those  whom  merit,  rank, 
wealth,  zeal  for  liberty,  or  love  of  their  country,  rendered  obnoxious  to  a  sus- 
picious and  unsettled  government,  which  found  itself  hated  by  all,  and  was  sen 
sible  it  deserved  to  be  so.  It  was  this  cruel  and  inhuman  treatment  that  ren 
dered  these  men  so  odious,  and  brought  upon  them  the  appellation  of  tyrants, 
and  v/hich  furnished  such  ample  matter  for  the  declamation  of  orators,  and  tbs 
tragical  representations  of  the  theatre. 

All  these  cities  and  districts  of  Greece  that  seemed  so  entirely  different  from 
one  another,  in  their  laws,  customs,  and  interests,  were  nevertheless  formed  ar^d 
combined  into  one  sole,  entire,  and  united  body  ;  whose  strength  increased  to 
such  a  degree,  as  to  make  the  formidable  power  of  the  Persians  under  Darius 
and  Xerxes  tremble  ;  and  which  even  then,  perhaps,  would  have  entirely  over- 
thrown the  Persian  greatness,  had  the  Grecian  states  been  wise  enough  to  have 
preserved  that  union  and  concord  among  themselves,  which  afterwards  re*- 


*  Pl.-it.  1.  iii.  de  Leer.  p.  6f;0. 
*  Th;3  word  originally  sign'ieJ  do  more  th»n  Icina  ^nd  was  anciently  the  title  of  lawful  pr)uc«p. 


fllSTORV  OF  GREECit 


dered  them  invincible.  This  is  the  scene  which  I  am  now  to  open,  and  which 
certainly  merits  the  reader's  whole  attention. 

We  shall  see,  in  the  following  volumes,  a  small  nation  confined  within  a 
country  not  equal  to  the  fourth  part  of  France,  disputing  empire  with  the  most 
powerful  throne  then  upon  the  earth  ;  and  we  shall  see  this  handful  of  men,  not 
only  making  head  against  the  innumerable  army  of  the  Persians,  but  dispersing, 
routing,  and  cutting  them  to  pieces,  and  sometimes  reducing  the  Pers-an  pride 
so  low,  as  to  make  them  submit  to  conditions  of  peace,  as  shameful  to  the  con- 
quered as  glorious  for  the  conquerors. 

Among  all  the  cities  of  Greece,  there  were  two  that  particularly  distinguished 
themselves,  and  acquired  an  authority  and  a  kind  of  superiority  over  the  rest, 
by  their  merit  and  conduct ;  these  two  were  Lacedsemon  and  Athens.  As  these 
cities  make  a  considerable  figure,  and  act  an  illustrious  part  in  the  ensuing  hi?' 
tory,  before  I  enter  upon  particulars,  I  think  I  ought  to  give  the  reader  some 
idea  of  the  genius,  character,  manners,  and  government  of  their  respective  in- 
habitants. Plutarch,  in  the  Lives  of  Lycurgus  and  Solon,  will  furnish  me  with 
the  greatest  part  of  what  I  have  to  say  upon  this  head. 

ARTICLE  VIL 

THE  SPARTAN  GOVERNMENT.     LAWS  ESTABLISHED  By.  LYCURGUS. 

There  is  perhaps  nothing  in  profane  history  better  attested,  and  at  the  same 
time  more  incredible,  than  what  relates  to  the  government  of  Sparta,  and  the 
discipline  established  in  it  by  Lycurgus.  This  legislator  was  the  son  of  Euno- 
mus,one  of  the  two  kings  who  reigned  together  in  Sparta.*  It  would  have 
been  easy  for  Lycurgus  to  ascend  the  throne  after  the  death  of  his  eldest  bro- 
ther, who  left  no  son  behind  him  ;  and  in  effect  he  was  king  for  some  da3^s. 
But  as  soon  as  his  sister-in-law  was  found  to  be  with  child,  he  declared,  thai 
the  crown  belonged  to  her  son,  if  she  had  one,  and  from  thenceforth  he  governed 
the  kingdom  only  as  his  guardian.  In  the  meantime,  the  widow  sent  to  him 
secretly,  that  if  he  would  promise  to  marry  her  when  he  was  king,  she  would 
destroy  the  fruit  of  her  womb.  So  detestable  a  proposal  struck  Lycurgus  with 
horror ;  however,  he  concealed  his  indignation,  and  am«sing  the  woman  with 
dilferent  pretences,  so  managed  it,  that  she  went  out  her  full  time,  and  was 
delivered.  As  ?oon  as  the  child  was  born,  he  proclaimed  him  king,  and  took 
care  to  have  him  brought  up  and  educated  in  a  proper  manner.  This  prince, 
on  account  of  the  joy  which  the  people  testified  at  his  birth,  was  named 
Charilaus. 

The  state  was  at  this  time  in  great  disorder,  the  authority,  both  of  the  king 
and  the  laws,  being  absolutely  despised  and  unregarded.  No  curb  was  strong 
enough  to  restrain  the  audaciousness  of  the  people,  which  every  day  increased.! 

Lycurgus  was  so  courageous  as  to  form  the  design  of  making  a  thorough  re- 
formation in  the  Spartan  government ;  and  to  be  the  more  capable  of  making 
wise  regulations,  he  thought  fit  to  travel  into  several  countries,  in  order  to  ac- 
quaint himself  with  the  different  manners  of  other  nations,  and  to  consult  the 
most  able  and  experienced  persons  he  could  meet  with,  in  the  art  of  govern- 
ment. He  began  with  the  island  of  Crete,  whose  rigid  and  austere  laws  were 
very  famous  ;  from  thence  he  passed  into  Asia,  where  quite  different  customs 
prevailed;  and,  last  of  all,  he  went  into  Egypt,  which  was  then  the  seat  of 
science,  wisdom,  and  good  counsels. 

His  long  absence  only  made  his  country  the  more  desirous  of  his  return ;  and 
the  kings  themselves  importuned  him  to  that  purpose,  being  sensible  how  much 
they  stood  in  need  of  his  authority  to  keep  the  people  within  bounds,  and  rj 
some  degree  of  subjection  and  order.  When  he  came  back  to  Sparta,  he 
dertook  to  change  the  whole  form  of  their  government,  being  persuaded  tJ-^t 
A  few  particular  laws  would  produce  no  great  effect.J 


*  Plut.  in  Vit  Lvc.  p  4a 

Vol..  I 


t    [(JcTl!,  p.  4i 


\  lUem,  p.  43. 


118 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


But  before  he  put  this  design  in  execution,  he  went  to  Delpbos  toconftult  the 

oracle  of  Apollo  ;  where,  after  having  offered  his  sacrifice,  he  received  that 
famous  answer,  in  which  the  priestess  called  him,  "A  friend  of  the  gods,  and 
rather  a  god  than  a  man."  And  as  for  the  favour  he  desired,  of  being  able  to 
frame  a  set  of  good  laws  for  his  country,  she  told  him,  the  gods  had  heard  his 
orayers,  and  that  the  commonwealth  he  was  going  to  establish  would  be  the 
*nost  excellent  state  in  the  world. 

On  his  return  to  Sparta,  the  first  thing  he  did,  was  to  bring  over  to  his  de- 
signs the  leading  men  of  the  city,  whom  he  made  acquainted  with  his  views  ; 
when  he  was  assured  of  their  approbation  and  concurrence,  he  went  into  the 
public  market-place,  accompanied  with  a  number  of  armed  men,  in  order  to 
astonish  and  intimidate  those  who  might  desire  to  oppose  his  undertaking. 

The  new  form  of  government  which  he  introduced  into  Sparta,  may  properly 
be  reduced  iu  three  principal  institutions. 

INSTITUTION  I. — THE  SENATE. 

Of  all  the  new  regulations  or  institutions  made  by  Lycurgus,  the  greatest  and 
most  considerable  was  that  of  the  senate  ;  which,  by  tempering  and  balancing, 
as  Plato  observes^,  the  too  absolute  power  of  the  kings,  by  an  authority  of  equal 
weight  and  influence  with  theirs,  became  the  principal  support  and  preservation 
of  the  state  *  Foi  whereas  before,  it  was  ever  unsteady,  and  tending  one  while 
towards  tyranny,  b}?  the  violent  proceeding  of  the  kings ;  at  other  times  towards 
democracy,  by  the  excessive  power  of  the  people  ;  the  senate  served  as  a  kind 
of  counterpoise  to  both,  which  kept  the  state  in  a  due  equilibrium,  and  pre- 
served it  in  a  firm  and  steady  situation  ;  the  twenty-eight  senatorst  of  which  il 
consisted  siding  with  the  king,  when  the  people  where  grasping  at  too  much 
power:  and,  on  the  other  hand,  espousing  the  interests  of  the  people,  whenevei 
the  kirigs  attempted  to  carry  their  authority  too  far. 

Lycurgus  having  thus  tempered  the  government,  those  that  came  after  him 
thought  the  power  of  the  thirty  that  composed  the  senate  still  too  great  and 
absolute  ;  and  therefore,  as  a  check  upon  them,  they  devised  the  authority  of 
the  Epbori,J  about  a  hundred  and  thirty  years  after  Lycurgus.  The  Ephori 
were  five  in  number,  and  remained  but  one  year  in  office.  They  were  all 
chosen  out  of  the  people,  and  in  that  respect  considerably  resembled  the 
tribunes  of  the  people  among  the  Romans.  Their  authority  extended  to  ar- 
resting and  imprisoning  the  persons  of  their  kings,  as  it  happened  in  the  case 
of  Pausanias.  The  institution  of  the  Ephori  began  in  the  reign  of  Theopom- 
pus,  whose  wife  reproached  him,  that  he  would  leave  to  his  children  the  regal 
authority  in  a  worse  condition  than  he  had  received  it ;  on  the  contrary,  said 
he,  I  shall  leave  it  to  them  in  a  much  better  condition,  as  it  will  be  more  per- 
manent and  lasting. 

The  Spaitan  government,  then,  was  not  purely  monarchial.  The  nobility 
had  a  great  share  in  it,  and  the  people  were  not  excluded.  Each  part  of  this 
body  politic,  in  proportion  as  it  contributed  to  the  public  good,  found  in  it  their 
advantage  ;  so  that,  in  spite  of  the  natural  restlessness  and  inconstancy  of  man's 
heart,  which  is  always  thirsting  after  novelty  and  change,  and  is  never  cured  of 
its  disgust  to  uniformity,  Lacedaemon  persevered  for  above  seven  hundred  years 
in  the  exact  observance  of  her  laws. 

IKSTITUTION  II. — THE  DIVISION  OF  THE  LANDS,  AND  THE  PROHIBITION  OF 

GOLD  AND  SILVER  MONEY. 

The  second  and  the  boldest  institution  of  Lycurgus  was  the  division  of  the 
lands,  which  he  looked  upon  as  absolutely  necessary  for  establishing  peace  and 
good  order  in  the  commonwealth.  The  major  part  of  the  people  were  so  poor, 
that  they  had  not  one  inch  of  land  of  their  own,  while  a  small  number  of  parti* 


*  Piift.  m  YiU  Ljreurg.  p  42.  f  This  council  consisted  of  thirty  person*,  including  the  tw«  klngi 

%  The  word  tig^nifici  MBni^lroUcr  or  inspector. 


HISTORY  OF  CUEEC'E 


413 


r  liar  persons  were  possessed  of  all  f.he  lands  and  wealth  of  the  country,  in 
order,  therefore,  to  banish  insolence,  envy,  fraud,  luxuiy,  and  two  other  distem- 
pers of  the  state  still  greater  and  more  ancient  than  these,  I  mean  extreme 
poverty  and  excessive  wealth,  he  persuaded  the  citizens  to  give  up  all  their 
iands  to  the  commonwealth,  and  to  make  a  new  division  of  them,  that  they 
might  all  live  together  in  a  perfect  equality,  and  that  no  pre-eminence  or 
honours  should  be  given,  but  to  virtue  and  merit  alone.* 

This  scheme,  extraordinary  as  it  may  seem,  was  immediately  executed. 
Lycurgus  divided  the  lands  of  Laconia  into  thirty  thousand  parts,  which  he  dis- 
tributed among  the  inhabitants  of  the  country ;  and  the  territories  of  Sparta  into 
nine  thousand  parts,  which  he  distributed  among  an  equal  number  of  citizens. 
It  is  said,  that  some  years  after,  as  Lycurgus  was  returning  from  a  long  journey, 
and  passing  through  the  lands  of  Laconia  in  the  time  of  harvest,  and  observing, 
as  he  went  along,  the  perfect  equality  of  the  reaped  corn,  he  turned  towards 
those  that  were  with  him,  and  said  smiling,  "  Does  not  Laconia  look  like  the 
possession  of  several  brothers,  who  have  just  been  dividing  their  inheritance 
among  them  ?" 

After  having  divided  their  immoveables,  he  undertook  likewise  to  make  the 
fame  equal  division  of  all  their  moveable  goods  and  chattels,  that  he  might 
utterly  banish  from  among  them  all  manner  of  inequality.  But, perceiving  that 
this  would  be  more  difficult  if  he  went  openly  about  it,  he  endeavoured  to  ef- 
fect it  by  sapping  the  very  found  itiops^  of  avarice.  For,  first,  he  cried  down 
all  gold  and  silver  money,  and  orda'ried  that  no  other  should  be  current  than 
that  of  iron,  which  he  made  so  very  heavy,  and  fixed  at  so  low  a  rate,  that  a 
cart  and  two  oxen  were  necessary  to  carry  home  a  sum  of  ten  minae,t  and  a 
whole  chamber  to  keep  it  in. 

The  next  thing  he  did,  was  to  banish  all  useless  and  superfluous  arts  from 
Sparta.  But  if  he  had  not  done  this,  most  of  them  would  have  sunk  of  them- 
selves, and  disappeared  with  the  gold  and  silver  money  ;  because  the  trades- 
men and  artificers  would  have  found  no  vent  for  their  commodities,  and  this 
iron  money  had  no  currency  among  any  other  Grecian  states,  who  were  so  fai 
from  esteeming  it,  that  it  became  the  subject  of  their  banter  and  ridicule. 

INSTITUTION  3. — OF  PUBLIC  MEALS. 

Lycurgus,  being  desirous  to  make  a  yet  more  effectual  war  upon  eiFemi 
nacy  and  luxury,  and  utterly  to  extirpate  the  love  of  riches,  made  a  third  re- 
gulation, which  was  that  of  public  meals.  That  he  might  entirely  suppress 
all  the  magnificence  and  extravagance  of  expensive  tables,  he  ordained,  that 
all  the  citizens  should  eat  together,  of  the  same  common  victuals  which  the 
law  prescribed,  and  expressly  forbade  all  private  eating  at  their  own  houses.^. 

By  this  settlement  of  public  and  common  meals,  and  this  frugality  and  sim- 
plicity in  eating,  it  may  be  said,  that  he  made  riches  in  some  measure  change 
their  very  nature,  by  putting  them  out  of  a  condition  of  being  desired  or  sto- 
len, or  of  enriching  their  possessors;  for  there  was  no  way  left  for  a  man  to 
use  or  enjoy  this  opulence,  or  even  to  make  any  show  of  it,  since  the  poor  and 
the  rich  eat  together  in  the  same  place,  and  none  were  allowed  to  appear  at 
the  public  eating-rooms,  after  having  taken  care  to  fill  themselves  with  other 
diet :  because  every  body  present  took  particular  notice  of  any  one  that  did 
not  eat  or  drink,  and  the  whole  company  was  sure  to  reproach  him  with  the 
delicacy  and  intemperance  that  made  him  despise  the  common  food  and  pub- 
lic table.§ 

The  rich  were  extremely  enraged  at  this  regulation ;  and  it  was  upon  this 
occasion  that,  in  a  tumult  of  the  people,  a  young  man  named  Alexander  struck 
out  one  of  the  eyes  of  Lycui^us.  The  people  provoked  at  such  an  outrage, 
delivered  the  young  man  into  Lycurgus's  hangs,  who  knew  how  to  revenge 
himself  in  a  proper  manner ;  for,  by  the  extraordinary  kindness  and  gentle- 

Plui  Vq  Vit.  I^yc.  p  44,       "t  Five  hundred  French  livres,  about  $88,  80.       %  Plut.  in  Vit.  Ltc  f . 
•   i  OY  ir\3rov  fiwuXov  naUov  5i  ^^n.\ov,  xal  &ir\u70v  fMre»?74<raTa._.!-J-w 


420 


HISTORY  OF  GREECI.. 


ness  with  vyhicli  he  treated  him,  he  made  the  violent  and  hot-headed  young 
man,  in  a  little  lime  become  veiy  moderate  and  wise.  The  tables  consisted 
cf  about  fifteen  persons  each,  where  none  could  be  admitted  but  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  whole  company.  Each  person  furnished,  every  month,  a  bushel  of 
flour,  eight  measures  of  wine,  five  pounds  of  cheese,  two  pounds  and  a  half 
of  figs,  and  a  small  sum  of  rnoney,  for  preparing  and  cooking  the  victuals. 
Every  one,  without  exception  of  persons,  was  obliged  to  be  at  the  common 
meal ;  and  a  long  time  after  the  making  of  these  regulations, king  Agis^  at  his 
returp  from  a  glorious  expedition,  having  taken  the  liberty  to  dispense  with  that 
law,  in  order  to  eat  with  the  queen  his  wife, was  reprimanded  and  punished. 

The  very  children  ate  at  these  public  tables,  and  were  carried  thither  as 
to  a  school  of  wisdom  and  temperance.  There  they  were  sure  to  hear  grave 
discourses  upon  government,  and  to  see  nothing  but  what  tended  to  their  in- 
struction and  improvement.  The  conversation  was  often  enlivened  with  in- 
genious and  spritely  raillery,  but  never  mixed  with  any  thing  vulgar  or  shock- 
ing; and  if  their  jesting  seemed  to  make  any  person  uneasy,  they  never  pro- 
ceeded any  farther.  Here  their  children  were  likewise  trained  up  and  ac- 
customed to  great  secrecy  :  as  soon  as  a  young  man  came  into  the  dining-room, 
the  oldest  person  of  the  company  used  to  say  to  him,  pointing  to  the  door, 

Nothing  spoken  here  must  ever  go  out  *here." 

The  most  exquisite  of  all  their  eatables  was  what  they  called  their  black 
broth,  and  the  old  men  preferred  it  before  all  that  was  set  upon  the  table.* 
Dionysius  the  tyrant,  when  he  was  at  one  of  those  meals,  was  not  of  the  same 
opinion,  and  what  was  a  ragout  to  them,  was  to  him  very  insipid.  I  do  not  won- 
der, said  the  cook,  for  the  seasoning  is  wanting.  What  seasoning  ?  replied  the 
tyrant.  Running,  sweating,  fatigue,  hunger,  and  thirst ;  these  are  the  ingre- 
fiients,  said  the  cook,  with  which  we  season  all  our  food. 

IV.  OTHER  ORDINANCES. 

W HEN  I  speak  of  the  ordinances  of  L3xurgus,  I  do  not  mean  written  laws : 
he  thought  proper  to  leave  very  few  of  that  kind,  being  persuaded,  that  the 
most  powerful  and  effectual  means  of  rendering  communities  happy,  and  peo- 
ple virtuous,  is  by  the  good  example,  and  the  impression  made  on  the  mind  by 
the  manners  and  practice  of  the  citizens :  for  the  principles  thus  implanted  by 
education  remain  firm  and  immoveable,  as  they  are  rooted  in  the  will,  which 
is  always  a  stronger  and  more  durable  tie  than  the  yoke  of  necessity  ;  and  the 
youth,  that  have  been  thus  nurtured  and  educated,  become  laws  and  legisla- 
tors to  them.selves.  These  are  the  reasons  why  Lycurgus,  instead  of  leaving 
his  ordinances  in  writing,  endeavoured  to  imprint  and  enforce  them  by  prac 
tice  and  example.!  ^  ■  '     ^  - 

He  looked  upon  the  education  of  youth  as  the  greatest  and  most  important 
object  of  a  legislator's  care.  His  grand  pnnciple  was,  that  children  belonged 
more  to  the  state  than  to  their  parents  ;  and  therefore  he  would  not  have  them 
brought  up  according  to  their  humours  and  fancies,  but  would  have  the  state 
intrusted  with  the  general  care  of  their  education,  in  order  to  have  them  formed 
upon  constant  and  uniform  principles,  which  might  inspire  them  betime?  with 
the  love  of  their  country  and  virtue. 

As  soon  as  a  boy  was  born,  the  elders  of  each  tribe  visited  him  ;  and  if  they 
ound  him  well  made,  strong,  and  vigorous,  they  ordered  him  to  be  brought  up, 
and  assigned  him  one  of  the  nine  thousand  portions  of  land  for  his  inheritance.! 
if,  on  the  contrary,  they  found  liim  to  be  deformed,  tender,  and  weakly,  so  that 
Ihey  could  not  expect  that  he  would  ever  have  a  strong  and  healthful  constitu* 
tion,  they  condemned  him  to  perish,  and  caused  the  infant  to  be  exposed.^ 


*  Cic.  Tusc.  Q,uiBBt.  lib.  v.  n.  98.  t  "^"it-  Lyc.  p.  47. 

$  I  do  not  comprehend  how  they  could  assign  to  eveiy  one  of  these  children  one  of  the  nine  thouaand 

rf tions,  appropriated  to  the  city,  for  his  inheritance.    "W  as  the  number  of  citizens  always  the  same  i  Dii 
never  exceed  nine  thousand  ?    It  is  not  said  in  this  case,  as  in  the  division  of  the  Holy  Land,  that  thf 
PMiioiiS  allotted  to  a  family  always  continued  iu  it.  and  conW!  not  bo  entiroly  niienr.tod. 
^  \  ^lut.  in  Vir.  I:yc.  p.  41 


niSTOKV  OK  CHECCK. 


421 


Children  were  accjstomed  betimes  not  to  be  nice  or  dilficult  in  their  eating, 
.lot  to  be  atraid  in  the  dark,  or  when  they  were  left  alone ;  not  to  give  them 
Belves  up  to  peevishness  and  ill-humour,  to  crying  and  bawling;  to  walk  bare* 
foot,  that  they  might  be  inured  to  fatigue  :  to  lie  hard  at  night ;  to  wear  the  saane 
clothes  winter  and  summer,  in  order  to  harden  them  against  cold  and  heat.* 

At  the  age  of  seven  years  the}^  w^ere  put  into  the  classes,  where  they  were 
all  brought  up  together  under  the  same  discipline.!  Their  education,  properly 
sneaking,  was  only  an  apprenticeship  of  obedience.J  The  legislature  having 
rightly  considered,  that  the  surest  way  to  have  citizens  submissive  to  the  law 
and  to  the  magistrates,  in  which  the  good  order  and  happiness  of  a  state  chielly 
consists,  was  to  teach  children  early,  and  to  accustom  them  from  their  tender 
years  to  be  perfectly  obedient  to  their  masters  and  superiors. 

While  they  were  at  table,  it  was  usual  for  the  masters  to  instruct  the  boys 
by  proposing  them  questions. §  They  would  ask  them,  for  example,  Who  is 
the  most  honest  man  in  the  town  ?  What  do  you  think  of  such  or  such  an 
action  ?  The  boys  were  obliged  to  give  a  quick  and  ready  answer,  which  was 
also  to  be  accompanied  with  a  reason  and  a  proof,  both  expressed  in  a  few 
words :  for  they  were  accustomed  betimes  to  the  Laconic  style,  that  is,  to  a  close 
and  concise  way  of  speaking  and  writing.  Lycurgus  was  for  having  the  money 
bulky,  heavy,  and  of  little  valu^,  and  their  language,  on  the  contrary,  veiy 
pithy  and  short ;  a  great  deal  of  sense  comprised  in  a  few  words. 

As  for  literature,  they  only  learned  as  much  as  was  necessary.il  All  the 
sciences  were  banished  out  of  their  country  ;  their  study  only  tended  to  know 
how  to  obey,  to  bear  hardship  and  fatigue,  and  to  conquer  in  battle.  The  su- 
perintendent of  their  education  was  one  of  the  most  honourable  men  of  the  city, 
and  of  the  first  rank  and  condition,  who  appointed  over  every  class  of  boys, 
•masters  of  the  most  approved  wisdom  and  probity. 

There  was  one  kind  of  theft  only,  and  that  too  more  a  nominal  than  a  real 
one,  which  the  boys  were  allowed,  and  even  ordered  to  practise. IF  They  were 
taught  to  slip,  as  cunningly  and  cleverly  as  they  could,  into  the  gardens  and 
public  halls,  in  order  to  steal  away  herbs  or  meat;  and  if  they  w^ere  caught  in 
the  fact,  they  were  punished  for  their  want  of  dexterity.  We  are  told  of  one 
who,  having  stolen  a  young  fox,  hid  it  under  hi«5  robe,  and  suffered  the  animal 
to  gnaw  into  his  belly,  and  tear  out  his  very  bowels,  till  he  fell  dead  upon  the 
spot,  rather  than  be  discovered.  This  kind  of  theft,  as  I  have  said,  was  but 
nominal,  and  not  properly  a  robbery;  since  it  was  authorized  by  the  law  and 
the  consent  of  the  citizens.  The  intent  of  the  legislature  in  allowing  it,  was  to 
inspire  the  Spartan  youth,  who  w^ere  all  designed  for  war,  with  the  greater 
boldness,  cunning,  and  address ;  to  inure  them  betimes  to  the  life  of  a  soldier  ; 
to  teach  them  '.o  live  upon  a  little,  and  to  be  able  to  shift  for  themselves.  But 
I  have  already  given  an  account  of  this  matter  more  at  lar^e  in  another  treatise. 

The  patience  and  constancy  of  tne  Spartan  youth  most  conspicuously  ap- 
peared m  a  certain  festival,  celebrated  in  honour  of  Diana,  surnamed  Orthia,** 
where  the  children,  before  the  eyes  of  their  parents,  and  in  presence  of  the 
whole  city,  suffered  themselves  to  be  whipped  till  the  blood  ran  down  upon  the 
altar  of  this  cruel  goddess,  where  sometimes  they  expired  under  the  strokes, 
and  all  this  without  uttering  the  least  cry,  or  so  much  as  a  groan  or  sigh  :  and 
even  their  own  fathers,  w^hen  they  saw  them  covered  with  blood  and  wounds, 
ind  ready  to  expire,  exhorted  them  to  persevere  to  the  end  with  constancy  ana 
resolution.tt  Plutarch  assures  us,  that  he  had  seen  with  his  own  eyes  a  great 
many  children  lose  their  lives  on  these  cruel  occasions.  Hence  it  is,  that  Ho 
race  gives  the  epithet  of  patient  to  the  city  of  Lacedaemon,  Patiens  Lacedct 
tnon^l  and  another  author  makes  a  man,  who  had  received  three  strokes  of  a 
stick  without  complaining,  say,  Tres  plagas  Spartana  nohilitate  concoxu 


Xen.  de  I.ac.  Rep.  p.  667.  f  Pint,  m  Lyc.  p.  60.  +  'QcrTf  Wiv  vaiBtlav  eTvaj  ^Xirriv  jirrtiSfia* 
\  Plut.  in  Lyc.  p.  51.  ||  Plut.  in  I>yc  p.  52.  ^  Idem,  p.  50.    Idem,  iostitut.  Lacon.  p.  237. 

»♦  Man.d'Ktui  Vol.  HI.  p.  471.  If  Cic.  Tiisr..  Q.««i«t.  lib.  H.  n.  34.  XX  Ode  vii.  lib.  t 


IIISTOEY  OF  GREfiCK. 

The  most  usual  occupation  of  the  Lacedaemonians  was  hunting-,  and  othei 
bodily  exercises.  They  were  forbid  to  exercise  any  mechanic  art.  The  ElotaCj 
who  were  a  sort  of  slaves,  tilled  their  land  for  them,  for  which  they  paid  them 
a  certain  revenue  * 

Lycurgus  would  have  his  citizens  erjoy  a  great  deal  of  leisure  :  they  had 
large  common  halls,  where  the  people  used  to  meet  to  converse  together :  and 
tliough  their  discourses  chiefly  turned  upon  grave  and  serious  topics,  yet  they 
seasoned  them  with  a  mixture  of  wit  and  facetious  humour,  both  agreeable  and 
instructive.  They  passed  little  of  their  time  alone,  being  accustomed  to  live 
like  bees  always  together,  always  about  their  chiefs  and  leaders.  The  lovecf 
their  country  and  of  the  public  good  was  their  predominant  passion  :  they  did 
not  imagine  they  belonged  to  themselves,  but  to  their  country.  Pedaretua 
having  missed  the  honour  of  being  chosen  one  of  the  three  hundred  who  had  a 
certain  rank  of  distinction  in  the  city,  went  home  extremely  pleased  and  satis- 
fied, saying,  he  was  overjoyed  there  were  three  hundred  men  in  Sparta  mor«i 
honourable  and  wonny  than  himself." f 

At  Sparta  every  thing  tended  to  inspire  the  love  of  virtue,  and  the  hatred 
of  vice  ;  the  actions  of  the  citizens,  their  conversations,  public  monuments,  and 
inscriptions.  It  was  hard  for  men  brought  up  in  the  midst  of  so  many  living 
precepts  and  examples,  not  to  become  virtuous,  as  far  as  heathens  were  capable 
of  virtue.  It  was  to  preserve  these  happy  dispositions,  that  Lycurgus  did  not 
allow  all  sorts  of  persons  to  travel,  lest  they  should  bring  home  foreign  manners, 
and  return  infected  with  the  licentious  customs  of  other  countries,  which  would 
necessarily  create,  in  a  little  time,  an  aversion  for  the  life  and  maxims  of  Lace- 
daemon.  On  the  other  hand,  he  would  suffer  no  strangers  to  remain  in  the  city, 
who  did  not  come  thither  to  some  useful  and  profitable  end,  but  out  of  mere 
curiosity ;  being  afraid  they  should  bring  along  with  them  the  defects  and  vices? 
of  their  own  countries  ;  and  being  persuaded,  at  the  same  time,  that  it  was 
more  important  and  necessary  to  shut  the  gates  of  the  town  against  depraved 
and  corrupt  manners,  than  against  infectious  distempers.  Properly  speaking, 
the  very  trade  and  business  of  the  Lacedaemonians  was  war :  every  thing  with 
them  tended  that  way  :  arms  were  their  only  exercise  and  employment :  their 
life  was  much  less  hard  and  austere  in  the  camp,  than  in  the  city  ;  and  they 
were  the  only  people  in  the  world,  to  whom  the  time  of  war  was  a  time  of  ease 
and  refreshment,  because  then  the  reins  of  that  strict  and  severe  discipline,  which 
prevailed  at  Sparta,  were  somewhat  relaxed,  and  the  men  were  indulged  in  a 
little  more  liberty. J  With  them  the  first  and  most  inviolable  law  of  war,  as 
Demaratus  told  Xerxes,  was  never  to  fly,  or  turn  their  backs,  whatever  superi- 
ority of  numbers  the  enemy's  army  might  consist  of;  never  to  quit  their  post ; 
never  to  deliver  up  their  arms;  in  a  word,  either  to  conquer  or  to  d'e  on  the 
spot.§  This  maxim  was  so  important  and  essential  in  their  opinion,  that  when 
the  poet  Archilochus  came  to  Sparta,  they  obliged  him  to  leave  their  city  im- 
mediately ;  because  they  understood,  that,  in  one  of  his  poems,  he  had  said. 

It  was  better  for  a  man  to  throw  down  his  arms,  than  to  expose  himself  to 
be  killed."|| 

Hence  it  is,  that  a  mother  recommended  to  her  son,  who  was  going  to  make 
a  campaign,  that  he  should  return  either  with  or  upon  his  shield  ;ir  and  that 
another,  hearing  that  her  son  was  killed  in  fighting  for  his  country,  answered 
very  coldly,  "  1  brought  him  into  the  w^orld  for  no  other  end."**  This  humour 
was  general  among  the  Lacedaemonians.  After  the  famous  batde  of  Leuctra, 
which  was  so  fatal  to  the  Spartans,  the  parents  of  those  that  died  in  the  action 
congratulated  each  other  upon  it,  and  went  to  the  temples  to  thank  the  gods 
that  their  children  had  done  their  duty  ;  whereas  the  relations  of  those  wha 


•  Plut.  In  Vil.  Lyc.  p.  54.  f  Idem,  p.  55.  +  Idem,  p.  56. 

(  Herod.  1.  vii.  cap.  t04h  |1  Plut.  in  Lacon.  Institut.  p.  239. 

IT  *AXXn  TTfoo-ava^iiSaa  tco  7rai5l  Triv  Aarrlda,  xat  rra^axeKeuo^'ivri.    TtKvov,  (tCpn)  n  tolv,  A  IttI  rai — 
f  'ut.  io  Lacon.  Apophtheg-m.  p.  241.  Sometimet  they  that  were  ilain  were  brought  home  jpon  their  thielJU 
Cic.  1.  i.  Tuf^.  Q,u«st.  a.  102.    Pint,  iu  Vit.  Ages.  p.  612. 


HISTOKY  OF  GREECE. 


4S3 


•urvived  the  defeat,  were  inconsolable.  If  any  of  the  Spartans  fled  in  battle, 
they  were  dishonoured  and  disgraced  for  ever.  They  were  not  only  excluded 
.Tom  all  posts  and  employments  in  the  state,  from  ail  assemblies  and  public 
diversions  ;  but  it  was  thought  scandalous  to  make  any  alliances  with  them 
oy  marriage  :  and  a  thousand  affronts  and  insults  were  publicly  offered  them 
*^th  imounity. 

The  Spartans  never  went  to  fight  without  first  imploring  the  help  of  the 
i^ods  by  public  sacrifices  and  prayers  ;  and,  when  that  was  done,  they  marched 
itgainst  the  enemy  with  a  perfect  confidence  and  expectation  of  success,  as 
being  assured  of  the  divine  protection  ;  and  to  make  use  of  Plutarch's  expres- 
iion.    As  if  God  were  present  with,  and  fought  for  them."  ws  topGeou  aviina^o^Tos. 

When  they  had  broken  and  routed  their  enemy's  forces,  they  never  pursued 
hem  farther  than  was  necessary  to  make  themselves  sure  of  the  victory ;  after 
which  they  retired,  as  thinking  it  neither  glorious,  nor  worthy  of  Greece,  to 
out  in  pieces  and  destroy  an  enemy  that  yielded  and  fled.  And  this  proved 
as  useful  as  honourable  to  the  Spartans  ;  for  their  enemies,  knowing  that  all 
who  resisted  them  were  put  to  the  sword,  and  that  they  spared  none  but  those 
who  fled,  generally  chose  rather  to  fly  than  to  resist.* 

When  the  first  institutions  of  Lycurgus  were  received  and  confirmed  by 
practice,  and  the  form  of  government  he  had  established,  seemed  strong  and 
vigorous  enough  to  support  itself;  as  Plato  says  of  God,  that  after  he  had 
finished  the  creation  of  the  world,  he  rejoiced  when  he  saw  it  revolve  and  per- 
form its  first  motions  with  so  much  justness  and  harmony  ;t  so  the  Spartan  le- 
gislator, pleased  with  the  greatness  and  beauty  of  his  laws,  felt  his  joy  and 
satisfaction  redouble,  when  he  saw  them,  as  it  were,  walk  alone,  and  go  for 
vv-^rd  so  happily. J 

But  desiring,  as  far  as  depended  on  human  prudence,  to  render  them  im- 
mortal and  unchangeable,  he  signified  to  the  people,  that  there  was  still  one 
point  remaining  to  be  performed,  the  most  essential  and  important  of  all,  about 
which  he  wofild  go  and  consult  the  oracle  of  Apollo  ;  and  in  the  mean  time 
he  made  them  all  take  an  oath,  that  till  his  return  they  would  inviolably  main- 
tain the  idrm  of  government  which  he  had  established.  When  he  was  arrived 
at  Delphos,  he  consulted  the  god,  to  know  whether  the  laws  he  had  made 
were  good,  and  sufficient  to  render  the  Lacedaemonians  happy  and  virtu- 
ous. The  priestess  answered,  that  nothing  was  wanting  to  his  laws  ;  and  that, 
as  long  as  Sparta  observed  them,  she  w^ould  be  the  most  glorious  and  happy 
city  in  the  world.  Lycurgus  sent  this  answer  to  Sparta ;  and  then  thinking  he 
had  fulfilled  his  ministry,  he  voluntarily  died  at  Uelphos,  by  abstaining  from 
all  manner  of  sustenance.  His  idea  was,  that  even  the  death  of  great  per- 
sons and  statesmen  should  not  be  useless  and  unprofitable  to  the  state,  but  a 
kind  of  supplement  to  their  ministry,  and  one  of  their  most  important  actions, 
which  ofj9^ht  to  do  them  as  much  or  more  honour  than  all  the  rest.  He  there- 
fore thought,  that  in  dying  thus  he  should  crown  and  complete  all  the  services 
which  he  had  rendered  his  fellow-citizens  during  his  life  ;  since  his  death 
would  engage  them  to  a  perpetual  observance  of  his  institutions,  wiiich  they 
nad  sworn  to  maintain  inviolably  till  his  return. 

Although  I  represent  the  sentiments  of  Lycui^us  upon  his  own  death,  in  the 
%ht  wherein  Plutarch  has  transmitted  them  to  us^I  am  very  far  from  appitjvinej 
ihem  ;  and  I  make  the  same  declaration  with  respect  to  several  other  lacts  of 
;he  like  nature,  which  I  sometimes  relate  without  making  any  reflecticjns  upon 
rhern,  though  I  think  them  very  unworthy  of  approbation.  The  pretended 
wise  men  of  the  heathens  had,  as  well  concerning  this  article  as  several 
others,  but  very  faint  and  imperfect  ideas  ;  or,  to  speak  more  properly,  re- 
mained in  great  darkness  and  error.    They  laid  down  this  admirable  princi- 


*  Plut.  in  Vit.  Lycurg-.  p.  54. 
\  This  passage  of  Plato  it  in  his  Timasus,  and  gives  us  reason  to  believe  this  philosopher  had  read  wlia 
Vloies  says  of  God,  whsu  h4  created  the  world  ;     Vidit  Deus  cunota  quae  fecerat,  et  erajit  valde  bona 
S^Q  i  SI  i  Idem.  y.  57. 


424 


HISTORY  0¥  GREECE. 


pie,  wtoich  we  meet  with  in  many  of  their  writings,  that  man,  placed  in  th« 
world  as  in  a  certain.post  by  his  general,  cannot  abandon  it  without  the  ex- 
press command  of  him  upon  whom  he  depends,  that  is,  of  God  himself.  At 
other  times,  they  looked  upon  man  as  a  criminal  condemned  to  a  melancholy 

f)rison,  from  whence,  indeed,  he  might  desire  to  be  released,  but  could  not 
awfully  auempt  to  be  so,  but  by  the  course  of  justice,  and  the  order  of  the 
magistrate  ;  and  not  by  breaking  his  chains,  and  forcing  the  gates  of  his  pri- 
son.* Tnese  ideas  are  beautiful,  because  they  are  true  ;  but  the  appiica" 
tion  they  made  of  them  was  wrong,  namely,  as  they  took  that  for  an  express 
order  of  the  Deity,  which  was  the  pure  effect  of  their  own  weakness  or  pride, 
by  which  they  were  led  to  commit  suicide,  either  that  they  might  deliver  them- 
selves from  the  pains  or  troubles  of  this  life,  or  immortalize  their  names,  as  was 
the  case  with  Lycurgus,  Cato,  and  a  number  of  others. 

REFLECTIONS  UPON  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  SPARTA,  AMD  UPON  THE  LAWS  OF 

LYCURGUS. 

I.  THINGS  COMMENDABLE  IN  THE  LAWS  OF  LYCURGUS. 

There  must  needs  have  been,  to  judge  only  by  the  event,  a  great  fund 
wisdom  and  prudence  in  the  laws  of  Lycurgus  ;  since,  as  long  as  they  were  ob- 
served in  Sparta,  which  was  above  five  hundred  years,  it  was  a  most  flourishing 
and  powerful  city.  It  was  not  so  much,  says  Plutarch,  speaking  of  the  law>' 
of  Sparta,  the  government  and  polity  of  a  city,  as  the  conduct  and  regular  be- 
haviour of  a  wise  man,  who  passes  his  whole  life  in  the  exercise  of  virtue  :  oi 
rather,  continues  the  same  author,  as  the  poets  .feign,  that  Hercules,  only  with 
his  lion's  skin  and  club,  went  from  country  to  country  to  free  the  world  of  rob- 
bers and  tyrants  ;  so  Sparta,  with  a  slip  of  parchment!  and  an  old  coat,  gave 
laws  to  all  Greece,  which  willingly  submitted  to  her  dominion  ;  suppressed  ty- 
rannies and  unjust  authority  in  cities  ;  put  an  end  to  wars  as  she  thought  fit, 
and  appeased  insurrection  ;  and  all  this  generally  without  moving  a  shield  or 
a  sword,  and  only  by  sending  a  simple  ambassador  among  them,  who  no  sooner 
appeared,  than  all  the  people  submitted,  and  flocked  about  him  like  so  many 
bees  about  their  queen  :  so  much  respect  did  the  justice  and  good  government 
of  this  city  imprint  upon  the  minds  of  all  their  neighbours. 

1.  THE  NATURE  OF  THE  SPARTAN  GOVERNMENT. 

We  find  at  the  end  of  Lycurgus's  life  a  single  reflection  made  by  Plutarch, 
which  of  itself  (Comprehends  a  great  encomium  upon  that  legislator.  He  there 
says,  that  Plato,  Diogenes,  Zeno,  and  all  those  who  have  treated  of  the  estab  - 
lishment of  a  political  state  or  government,  took  their  plans  from  the  republic 
of  Lycuigujj ,  with  this  difference,  that  they  confined  themselves  wholly  to  wordi 
and  theory  ;  but  Lycurgus,  without  dwelling  upon  ideas  and  theoretical  sys- 
tems, did  reciiiy  and  effectually  institute  an  inimitable  polity,  and  form  a  whole 
city  of  ph'iioouphers. 

In  order  lo  succeed  in  this  undertaking,  and  to  establish  the  most  perfect 
form  of  a  commonwealth  that  could  be,  he  melted  down,  as  it  were,  and  blended 
tc^ether  wiiaV  he  found  best  in  every  kind  of  government,  or  mo5t  conducive 


*  Vetat  Pythaaroras,  injussu  imperatorls,  id  est,  Dei,  de  praesidio  et  statione  vilae  decedcre. — Cic.  d« 
^pnect.  n.  73. 

Cato  sic  abiit  e  vita»  ut  causam  moriendi  nactum  se  esse  gauderet.  Vetat  enim  dominans  ille,in  nobit 
Deus  injussu  hip''  nos  suo  deinigrare.  Ciftn  vero  causam  justam  Deus  ipse  dederit,  ut  tunc  Socrati,  nunc 
Catoni,  saepe  mums  ;  ne  ille,  medius  fidius,  vir  sapiens,  lastus  ex  his  tenebris  in  lucem  illam  excesserit.  Neo 
tamcn  ilia  viactta  ca.rceris  ruperit ;  lee^es  enim  vetant :  scd,  tanquam  a  ma«:istratu  aijt,ab  aliqua  potestat* 
lejitima,  sic  a  I>/> -vocatiis  atque  cmissus,  exierit. — Id.  L  Tusc.  Q,uaest.  n.  74. 

f  This  was  what  the  Spartans  called  a  scytale,  a  thong' of  leather  or  parchment,  which  they  twisteJ 
round  a  staff  in  such  a  manner,  that  there  was  no  vacancy  or  void  space  left  upon  it.  They  wrote  iipo« 
lliis  thon^'.and  vrii{«i  'hey  had  written  they  untwisted  it,  and  sent  it  to  the  g-eneral  forwhom  it  was  iDteDded^ 
TJiis  g'ereral,  who  W-id  another  stick  of  the  same  size  with  that  on  which  the  thonsf  was  twisted  and  writ 
ton  upon,  wrapt  it  round  that  staff  in  the  same  manner,  and,  by  that  means,  found  out  the  connexion  and 
the  right  placing  of  the  letters,  which  otherwise  were  so  displaced  •nd  out  of  order,  that  there  was  do  m- 
t*bility  of  tfaeirbeing;'  read.--PJijt.  in  Vil.  Lyc.  p.  444. 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


to  the  public  good ;  thus  tempering  one  species  with  another,  and  balancing 
the  inconveniences  to  which  each  of  them  in  particular  is  subject,  with  the 
advantages  that  result  from  their  being  united  together.  Sparta  had  something 
of  the  raonarchial  form  of  government,  in  the  authority  of  her  kings.  The 
council  of  thirty,  otherwise  called  the  senate,  was  a  true  aristocracy  ;  and  the 
power  vested  in  the  people  of  nominating  the  senators,  and  of  giving  sanction 
to  the  laws,  resembled  a  democratical  government.  The  institution  of  the 
Ephori  afterwards  served  to  rectify  what  was  amiss  in  those  previous  estab- 
lishments, and  to  supply  what  was  defective.  Plato,  in  more  places  than  one, 
admires  the  wisdom  of  Lycurgus  in  his  institution  of  the  senate,  which  was 
equally  advantageous  both  to  the  king  and  people ;  because  by  this  means 
the  law  became  the  only  supreme  ruler  of  the  kings,  and  the  kings  never 
became  tyrants  over  the  law.* 

2.  EQUAL  DIVISION  OF  THE  LANDS  :  GOLD  AND  SILVER  BANISHED  FROM  SPARTA. 

The  design  formed  by  Lycurgus  of  making  an  equal  distribution  of  the  lands 
among  the  citizens,  and  of  entirely  banishing  from  Sparta  all  luxury,  avarice, 
law-suits,  and  dissensions,  by  abolishing  the  use  of  gold  and  silver,  would  ap 
pear  to  us  a  scheme  of  a  commonwealth  finely  conceived  for  speculation,  but 
utterly  incapable  of  execution,  did  not  history  assure  us,  that  Sparta  actually 
subsisted  in  that  condition  for  many  ages. 

When  I  place  the  transaction  I  am  now  speaking  of  among  the  laudable 
parts  of  L^ycurgus's  laws,  I  do  not  pretend  it  to  be  absolutely  unexceptionable  ; 
for  I  think  it  can  scarcely  be  reconciled  with  that  general  law  of  nature,  which 
forbids  the  taking  away  one  man's  property  to  give  it  to  another  ;  and  yet  this 
is  what  was  really  done  upon  this  occasion.  Therefore  in  this  affair  of  di- 
viding the  lands,  I  consider  only  so  much  of  it  as  was  truly  commendable  in 
itself,  and  worthy  of  admiration. 

Can  we  possibly  conceive,  that  a  man  could  persuade  the  richest  and  most 
opulent  inhabitants  of  a  city,  to  resign  all  their  revenues  and  estates,  in  order 
to  level  and  confound  themselves  with  the  poorest  of  the  people  ;  to  subject 
themselves  to  a  new  way  of  living,  both  severe  in  itself,  and  full  of  restraint ;  in 
a  word,  to  debar  themselves  of  the  use  of  every  thing,  wherein  the  happiness 
and  comfort  of  life  is  thought  to  consist?  And  yet  this  is  what  Lycui^us  ac- 
tually effected  in  Sparta. 

Such  an  institution  as  this  would  have  been  less  wonderful,  had  it  subsisted 
only  durin^^  the  life  of  the  legislator  ;  but  we  know  that  it  lasted  many  ages  after 
his  decease.  Xenophon,  in  the  encomium  he  has  left  us  of  Agesilaus,  and  Ci- 
cero, in  one  of  his  orations,  observed,  that  Lacedaemon  was  the  only  city  in 
the  world  that  preserved  her  discipline  and  laws  for  so  considerable  a  term  of 
years  unaltered  and  inviolate.  Soli,  said  the  latter,  speaking  of  the  Lacedae- 
monians, toto  orhe  terraruin  septingentos  jam  annos  amplius  unis  morihus  et 
nunquam  mutatis  legibus  viviint.]  I  believe  that  though  in  Cicero's  time  the 
discipline  of  Sparta,  as  well  as  her  power,  was  very  much  relaxed  and  dimin- 
ished, yet,  however,  all  historians  agree,  that  it  was  maintained  in  all  *  6  vigour 
till  the  reign  of  Agis,  under  whom  Lysander,  though  incapable  of  bein^  blinded 
or  corrupted  with  gold,  filled  his  country  with  luxury  and  the  love  of  riches,  hy 
bringing  into  it  immense  sums  of  gold  and  silver,  which  were  the  fruits  of  hia 
victories,  and  thereby  subverting  the  laws  of  Lycui^us. 

But  the  introduction  of  gold  and  silver  money  was  not  the  first  wound  given 
})y  the  Lacedaemonians  to  the  institutions  of  the  legislator.  It  was  the  conse- 
quence of  the  violation  of  another  law  still  more  fundamental.  Ambition  was 
tfie  vice  that  preceded,  and  made  way  for  avarice.  The  desire  of  conquests 
drew  on  tha'.  of  riches,  without  which  they  could  not  propose  to  extend  their 
dominion.    The  main  design  of  Lycurgus,  in  the  establishing  his  laws,  and  es- 


»  Wc'poi  izr€i<5n  x6yjoy  i7<-v:Tj         '  eC-s  tCSv  dv5$»ajrcov,         hx  av9ocd7roi  rofawoi  ic.UCOv^Plat.  Episl.  vii 

t  Pro.  Fiac.  num.  Ixlii. 


HWruRY  OF  GREECK. 

Pecially  that  which  prohibited  the  use  of  gold  and  silver,  was,  as  Polybius  anJ 
lutarch  have  judiciously  observed,  to  curb  and  restrain  the  ambition  of  the 
citizens ;  to  disable  them  from  making  conquests,  and  in  a  ma.mer  to  force  their, 
to  confine  themselves  within  the  narrow  bounds  of  their  own  country,  withou/' 
carrying  their  views  and  pretensions  any  farther.'^  Indeed,  the  government 
which  he  established  was  sufficient  to  defend  the  frontiers  of  Sparta,  but  was 
not  calculated  for  elevating  her  to  a  dominion  over  other  oities. 

The  design,  then,  of  Lycurgus,  was  not  to  make  the  Spartans  conquerors. f 
To  remove  such  thoughts  from  his  fellow-citizens,  he  expressly  forbade  them, 
though  they  inhabited  a  country  surrounded  with  the  sea,  to  meddle  in  mari- 
time  affairs  ;  to  have  any  fleets,  or  ever  to  fight  upon  the  sea.  They  were  re- 
ligious observers  of  this  prohibition  for  many  ages,  and  even  till  the  defeat  of 
Xerxes  :  but  upon  that  occasion  they  began  to  think  of  making  themselvesi 
masters  at  sea,  that  they  might  be  able  to  keep  that  formidable  enemy  at  the 
greater  distance.  But  having  soon  perceived,  that  these  maritime,  remote  com- 
mands,  corrupted  the  manners  of  their  generals,  they  laid  that  project  aside 
without  any  difficulty,  as  we  shall  observe  when  we  come  to  speak  of  king 
Pausanias. 

When  Lycurgus  armed  his  fellow-citizens  with  shields  and  lances,  it  was  not 
to  enable  them  to  commit  wrongs  and  outrages  with  impunity,  but  only  to  de- 
fend themselves  against  the  invasions  and  injuries  of  others.  He  made  them 
indeed  a  nation  of  warriors  and  soldiers  :  but  it  was  only  that  under  the  shadow 
of  their  arms  they  might  live  in  liberty,  moderation,  justice,  union,  and  peace, 
oy  being  content  with  their  own  territories,  without  usurping  those  of  others, 
and  by  being  persuaded,  that  no  city  or  state,  any  more  than  a  single  person, 
can  ever  hope  for  solid  and  lasting  happiness,  but  from  virtue  only.j;  Men  of  a 
depraved  taste,  says  Plutarch  farther,  on  the  same  subject,  who  think  nothing 
so  desirable  as  riches,  and  a  large  extent  of  dominion,  may  give  preference  to 
those  vast  empires  that  have  subdued  and  enslaved  the  world  by  violence  ;  but 
Lycurgus  was  convinced,  that  a  city  had  occasion  for  nothing  of  that  kind,  in 
order  to  be  happy.  His  policy,  which  has  justly  been  the  admiration  of  all 
ages,  had  no  farther  views,  than  to  establish  equity,  moderation,  liberty,  and 
peace :  and  was  an  enemy  to  all  injustice,  violence,  and  ambition,  and  the  pas- 
sion oi  reigning  and  extending  the  bounds  of  the  Spartan  commonwealth. § 

Such  reflections  as  ihese,  which  Plutarch  agreeably  intersperses  in  his  Lives, 
and  in  which  their  greatest  and  most  essential  beauties  consist,  are  of  infinite 
use  towards  the  giving  us  true  ideas  of  things,  and  making  us  understand  - 
wherein  consists  the  solid  and  true  glory  of  a  state,  that  is  really  happy ;  aa 
also  to  correct  those  false  ideas  we  are  apt  to  form  of  the  vain  greatness  of  those 
empires  which  have  swallowed  up  kingdoms,  and  of  those  celebrated  con- 
querors who  owe  all  their  fame  and  grandeur  to  violence  and  usurpation. 

3.  THE  EXCELLENT  EDUCATION  OF  THEIR  YOUTH. 

The  long  duration  of  the  laws  established  by  Lycurgus,  is  certainly  very 
wonderful :  but  the  means  he  made  use  of  to  succeed  therein,  are  no  less  wor- 
thy of  admiration.  The  principal  of  these  was  the  eitraordinary  care  he  took 
to  have  the  Spartan  youth  brought  up  in  an  exact  and  severe  discipline  :  for,  as 
Plutarch  observes,  the  religious  obligation  of  an  oath,  which  he  exacted  from 
the  citizens,  would  have  been  a  feeble  tie,  had  he  not  by  education  infused  his 
laws,  as  it  were,  into  the  minds  and  manners  of  the  children,  and  made  them 
guck  in,  almost  with  their  mothers'  milk,  an  affection  for  his  institutions.  This 
was  the  reason  why  his  principal  ordinances  subsisted  above  five  hundred  years, 
naving  sunk  into  the  very  temper  and  hearts  of  the  people  like  a  strong  ana 
^ood  die,  that  penetrates  thoroughly.il  Cicero  makes  the  same  remark,  ,^nd 
ascribes  the  courage  and  virtue  of  the  Spartans,  not  so  much  to  their  own  natural 
N  ,.  — . 

Polyb.  I.  vi.  p.  491.  t  P'"^-      Moribus  Laced,  p.  239.  J  Pint,  in  Vit.  Lycurg.  5#. 

i<}em,  t)t  in  Vit.  Ag-esil.  p.  614.       )|  "Qcrjff?  palpni  dxff'tTJi  xai  tcrxu?"f  xaTa^l'autvTij.— Plut.  ai- 


IflfiWuRY  OP  OREECR. 


disposition,  as  to  their  excellent  education  :  Cujus  civiiatis  spectata  ac  ^ohhtata 
virtus^  non  solum  natura  corrolorata,  verum  etiam  dua'plina  putatur.'^  A  il  this 
shows  of  what  importance  it  is  to  a  state,  to  take  care  that  their  youth  be  brouglit 
up  in  a  manner  proper  to  inspire  them  with  a  love  for  the  laws  of  their  country. 

The  great  maxim  of  Lycurgus,  which  Aristotle  repeats  in  express  terms,  was 
that  as  children  belong  to  the  state,  their  education  ought  to  be  directed  by  the 
state,  and  the  views  and  interests  of  the  state  only  considered  tiiereinj  It 
was  for  this  reason  he  desired  they  should  be  educated  all  in  common,  and  not 
left  to  the  humour  and  caprice  of  their  parents,  who  generally,  through  a 
and  blind  indulgence,  and  a  mistaken  tenderness,  enervate  at  once  noth  the 
bodies  and  minds  of  their  children.  At  Sparta,  from  their  tenderest  years,  they 
were  inured  to  labour  and  fatigue,  by  the  exercises  of  hunting  and  racing,  and 
accustomed  betimes  to  endure  hunger  and  thirst,  heat  and  cold ;  and,  what  it  is 
difficult  to  make  motherf^  believe,  all  these  hard  and  laborious  exercises  tended 
to  promote  their  health,  and  make  their  constitutions  the  more  vigorous  and  ro- 
bust, able  to  bear  the  hardships  and  fatigues  of  war,  for  which  they  were  ali 
designed  from  their  cradles. 

4.  OBEDIENCE. 

But  the  most  excellent  thing  in  the  Spartan  education,  was  its  teaching  yoir#ip 
people  so  perfectly  how  to  obey.  It  was  from  hence  the  poet  ►'^imonides  givei 
that  city  such  a  magnificent  epithet,  which  denotes,  that  they  alone  knew  how 
to  subdue  the  passions  of  men,  and  to  render  them  tractable  and  submissive 
to  law^s,  as  horses  are  taught  to  obey  the  spur  and  the  bridle,  by  being  broken 
and  managed  while  they  are  young.f  For  this  reason,  Agesilaus  advised  Xeno- 
pbon  to  send  his  children  to  Sparta,  that  they  might  learn  there  the  noblesi 
and  greatest  of  all  sciences,  that  is,  how  to  command  and  how  to  obey.§ 

5.  RESPECT  TOV^TARDS  THE  AGED. 

One  of  the  lessons  most  frequently  and  strongly  inculcated  upon  the  Lace 
da^monian  youth,  was,  to  bear  a  great  reverence  and  respect  to  old  men,  and 
to  give  them  proofs  of  it  upon  all  occasions,  by  saluting  them,  by  making  way 
for  them,  and  by  giving  them  place  in  the  streets,  by  rising  up  to  show  them 
honour  in  all  companies  and  public  assemblies  ;  but  above  all,  by  receiving 
their  advice,  and  even  their  reproofs,  with  docility  and  submission. |1  By  these 
characteristics  a  Lacedseinonian  was  known  wherever  he  went;  if  he  had  !f*e- 
haved  otherwise,  it  would  have  been  looked  upon  as  a  reproach  to  himself, 
and  a  dishonour  to  his  country.  An  old  man  of  Athens  going  into  a  theatre 
once  to  see  a  play,  none  of  his  own  countrymen  offered  him  a  seat ;  but  when 
he  came  near  the  place  where  the  Spartan  ambassadors  and  the  gentlemen 
of  their  retinue  were  sitting  they  all  rose  up  out  of  reverence  to  his  age,  and 
seated  him  in  the  midst  of  them.  Lysander,  therefore,  had  reason  to  say,  that 
old  age  had  no  where  so  honourable  an  abode  as  in  Sparta;  and  that  it  wa« 
an  agreeable  tning  to  grow  old  in  that  city.  IF 

II.  DEFECTS  IN  THE  LAWS  OF  LYCURGUS, 

In  order  to  perceive  the  defects  in  the  laws  oi  Lycurgus,  we  have  only  to 
compare  them  with  those  of  Moses,  which  we  know  were  dictated  by  more 
'than  human  wisdom.  But  my  design  in  this  place  is  not  to  enter  into  an  exact 
examination  of  the  particulars,  w^herein  the  laws  and  institutions  of  L3xui^us 
are  faulty ;  I  shall  content  myself  with  making  some  slight  reflectioiis  only, 
which  probably  may  have  already  occurred  to  the  reader  in  the  perusal  of 
those  ordinances,  among  which  there  are  some  with  w4iich  he  will  have  been 
justly  offended. 

»  Oral,  pro  Flac.  n.  G8.  f  Polyb.  1.  viii.  Politic.  X  Aa|aa(n'M§f  orof,  that  is  to  say,  Tamer  of  «>ea, 
}  Ma^Ticrouivoj  TtX)V]ia9T|jx6.TWv     k6.KKi7ov,  a^xe^ai  xa\  ^jx^'^-  II  P'ut-      Lacon.  Institut.  p.  237 

IT  Lysandrum  Lacedaemonium  dicere  aiunt  soiituni,  Lacedremone  esse  honestissimum  domicilium 
■ectntii — Cic  de  Sen.  n.  ^3.    "Ev  Aax£jai]iovi  xa^Aicra  7Ti?u)cri. — Plut.  in  Mor  o. 


428 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE 


K  THE  CHOICE  MADE  OF  THE  CHILDREN  THAT  WERE  ElVHER  Tt    B£  SRQVtinl 

UP  OR  EXPOSED. 

To  begin,  for  instance,  with  that  ordinance  relating  to  the  choi  e  tbey  made 
of  theii  children,  which  of  them  were  to  be  brought  up,  and  wh.»c  \  exposed  to 
perish  ;  who  would  not  be  shocked  at  the  unjust  and  inhuman  cu  torn  of  pro- 
nouncing sentence  of  death  upon  all  such  infants  as  had  the  misf.  rtune  to  be 
born  with  a  constitution  that  appeared  too  weak  to  undergo  the  atigues  and 
exercises  to  which  the  commonwealth  destined  all  her  subjects?  1.  it  then  im- 
possible, and  without  example,  that  children,  who  are  tender  an  d  weak  in 
their  infancy,  should  ever  alter  as  they  grow  up,  and  become  iii  time  of  a 
robust  and  Vigorous  constitution  ?  Or,  suppose  it  was  so,  can  a  rii  m  no  way 
serve  his  country  but  by  the  strength  of  his  body  ?  Is  there  no  acc  )unt  to  be 
made  of  his  wisdom,  prudeno^,  counsel,  generosity,  courage,  magnanimity, 
and,  in  a  word,  of  all  the  qualities  that  depend  upon  the  mind  and  the  intel- 
lectual faculties  ?  Omnino  illud  honestttm  quod  ex  animo  excelso  rrui  '^ni/icogue 
gucerlmus,  animi  efflcihir, non  corporis  viribus,^  Did  Lycurgus  him .5.3lf  render 
[ess  service,  or  do  less  honour  to  Sparta,  by  establishing  his  laws  tlian  the 
greatest  generals  did  by  their  victories  ?  Agesilaus  was  of  so  small  n  stature, 
and  so  mean  a  figure,  that  at  the  first  sight  of  him  the  Egyptians  could  not 
help  laughing ;  and  yet,  small  as  he  was,  he  made  the  great  king  i  f  Persia 
tremble  upon  the  throne  of  half  the  world. 

But,  what  is  yet  stronger  than  all  I  have  said,  has  any  other  person  i  right  or 
power  over  the  lives  of  men,  than  he  from  whom  they  received  them,  ^r^en  God 
himself?  And  does  not  a  legislaior  visibly  usurp  the  authority  of  God,  when- 
ever he  arrogates  to  himself  such  a  power  without  his  commission  ?  I'i  a^  pre- 
cept of  the  decalogue,  which  was  only  a  renovation  of  the  law  of  natu  t*.  Thou 
shall  not  A'zV/,  universally  condemns  all  those  among  the  ancients,  who  i  ii:<"^ined 
they  had  a  power  of  life  and  death  over  their  slaves,  and  even  over  then 
own  children. 

2.  THEIR  CARE  CONFINED  ONLY  TO  THE  BODY. 

I  The  great  defect  in  the  laws  of  Lycurgus,  as  Plato  and  Aristotle  ha7*»  ob- 
served, is,  that  they  only  tended  to  form  a  warlike  and  martial  people.  J  Ji  that 
legislator's  thoughts  seemed  wholly  bent  upon,  was  the  means  of  strengtl^t  ling 
the  bodies  of  the  people  without  any  regard  to  the  cultivation  of  their  fti.rk^s. 
Why  should  he  banish  from  his  commonwealth  all  arts  and  sciences,  viiii^h, 
Desides  many  other  advantages,  have  this  most  happy  effect,  that  they  i  often 
our  manners,  polish  our  understandings,  improve  the  heart,  and  rende:*  o  ir 
behaviour  civil,  courteous,  gentle,  and  obliging ;  such,  in  a  word,  as  qu&Iiiies 
us  for  company  and  society,  and  makes  the  ordinary  intercourse  of  life  a(:iec- 
able  ?t  Hence,  it  came  to  pass,  that  there  was  a  degree  of  roughness  an  \ 
austerity  in  the  temper  and  behaviour  of  the  Spartans,  and  many  times  ovei 
something  of  ferocity  ;  a  failing  that  proceeded  chiefly  from  their  educaiton 
and  that  rendered  them  disagreeable  and  ofFeasive  to  all  their  allies. 

3.  THEIR  BARBAROUS  CRUELTY  TOWARDS  THEIR  CHILDREN. 

It  was  an  excellent  practice  in  Sparta,  to  accustom  their  youth  betimes  t 
suffer  heat  and  cold,  hunger  and  thirst,  and  by  many  severe  and  laborious  ex 
ercises  to  bring  the  body  into  subjection  to  reason,  whose  faithful  and  diligen 
minister  it  ought  to  be  in  the  execution  of  all  her  orders  and  injunctions  ;  whicl 
it  can  never  do,  if  it  be  not  able  to  undergo  all  sorts  of  hardships  and  fatigue.i.J 
But  was  it  rational  in  them  to  carry  their  severities  so  far,  as  the  inhuman 
treatment  we  have  mentioned  ?  And  was  it  not  utterly  barbarous  and  broital  is 

*  Cicer.  1.  i.  de  Offic.  n.  79.    Idem,  n.  76. 

t  Ornnt'S  fvrtos  quibus  astas  pnenlis  ad  hunianitatein  ir/ormari  solct. — Cic.  Orat.  pro  Arch, 
j  Kxcrc'-.rK'uni  corpu?,  el  ita  arficiendum  est,  nt  obe.'^t  consilio  ralioniqiie  possit  in  exequendit  negotJ./ 
4t''  hr.r-'  (  W-rando.— Lib.  i.  dr.  Olfic.  n  7«. 


rnfiTORv  or  Greece. 


429 


ihe  fatli«rs  nd  mothers,  to  see  the  blood  trickling  Irom  the  wounds  of  their 
children,  nay,  even  to  see  them  expiring  under  the  lashes,  without  concern  ? 

4.  THE  mothers'  inhumanity. 

Some  people  admire  the  courage  of  the  Spartan  mothers,  who  could  hear 
the  news  of  the  death  of  their  children  slain  in  battle^  not  only  without  tears, 
but  even  with  a  kind  of  joy  and  satisfaction.  For  my  part,  I  should  think  it 
much  better,  that  nature  should  show  herself  a  little  more  on  such  occasions, 
and  that  the  love  of  one's  country  should  not  utterly  extinguish  the  sentimenla 
of  maternal  tenderness.  One  of  our  generals  in  France,  who  in  the  heat  of 
battle  was  told  that  his  son  was  killed,  seemed  by  his  answer  to  be  much  wiser; 
"  Let  us  at  present  think,"  said  he,  "  only  of  beating  the  enemy ;  to-morrow 
I  will  mourn  for  my  son." 

5.  their  excessive  leisure. 

Nor  can  I  see  what  excuse  can  be  made  for  that  law,  imposed  by  Lycur- 
gus  upon  the  Spartans,  which  enjoined  the  spending  so  much  of  their  time  in 
idleness  and  inaction,  and  following  no  other  business  than  that  of  war.  He 
left  all  the  arts  and  trades  entirely  to  the  slaves,  and  strangers  that  lived 
among  them  ;  and  put  nothing  into  the  hands  of  the  citizens,  but  the  lance  and 
the  shield.  Not  to  mention  the  danger  there  was  in  suffering  the  number  of 
slaves  that  were  necessary  for  tilling  the  land,  to  increase  to  such  a  degree  as 
to  become  much  greater  than  that  of  their  masters,  which  was  often  an  occa- 
sion of  seditions  and  riots  among  them  ;  how  many  disorders  must  men  ne- 
cessarily fall  into,  that  have  so  much  leisure  upon  their  hands,  and  have  no 
daily  occupation  or  regular  labour  ?  This  is  an  inconvenience  still  but  too 
common  among  our  nobility,  and  which  is  the  natural  effect  of  their  faulty  edu- 
cation. Except  in  the  time  of  war,  most  of  our  gentry  spend  their  lives  in 
the  most  useless  and  unprofitable  manner.  They  look  upon  agriculture,  arts, 
and  commerce,  as  beneath  them,  and  derogatory  to  their  gentility.  They  sel- 
dom know  how  to  handle  any  thing  but  their  swords.  As  for  the  sciences, 
they  barely  acquire  just  so  much  as  they  cannot  well  be  without ;  and  many 
have  not  the  least  knowledge  of  them,  nor  any  manner  of  taste  for  books  or 
reading.  We  are  not  to  wonder,  then,  if  gaming  and  hunting,  eating  and  drink- 
ing, mutual  visits,  and  frivolous  discourse,  make  up  their  whole  occupation. 
What  a  life  is  this  for  men  that  have  any  parts  or  understanding  ! 

6.  their  cruelty  towards  the  helots. 

Lycurgus  would  be  utterly  inexcusable,  if  he  gave  occasion,  as  he  is  at. 
cused  of  having  done,  for  all  the  rigour  and  cruelty  exercised  towards  the 
Helots  in  this  republic.  These  Helots  were  the  slaves  employed  by  the  Spar- 
tans to  till  the  ground.  It  was  their  custom  not  only  to  make  these  poor  crea- 
tures drunk,  and  expose  them  before  their  children,  in  order  to  give  them  ai: 
abhorrence  for  so  shameful  and  odious  a  vice,  but  also  to  treat  them  with  (hf 
utmost  barbarity,  as  thinking  themselves  at  liberty  to  destroy  them  by  any  wo 
lence  or  cruelty  whatever,  under  pretence  of  their  being  always  ready  to  rebel 

Upon  a  certain  occasion  related  by  Thucydides,  two  thousand  of  these  slaves 
disappeared  at  once,  without  any  body's  knowing  what  was  become  af  them.* 
Plutarch  pretends,  that  this  barbarous  custom  was  not  practised  till  after  the 
time  of  Lycurgus,  and  that  he  had  no  hand  in  it. 

7.  MODESTY  AND  DECENCY  ENTIRELY  NEGLECTED. 

But  the  points  wherein  Lycurgus  appears  to  be  most  culpable,  and  which 
best  shows  the  great  enormities  and  gross  darkness  in  which  the  Pagans  were 
plunged,  is  the  little  regard  he  showed  for  modesty  and  decency,  in  what  con- 
cerned the  education  of  girls,  and  the  marriages  ot  young  women  ;  which  was 
without  doubt  the  source  of  those  disorders  that  prevailed  in  Sparta,  as  Aristotle 


•  Thucid.  li!).  iv. 


130  HIFIORY  OF  GftEECTS. 

has  wisely  observed.   When  we  compare  these  indecent  and  licentious 
tutions  ofthe  wisest  legislator  that  ever  profane  antiquity  could  boast,  with  the 
sanctity  and  purity  of  the  evangelical  precepts,  what  a  noble  idea  does  it  give 
us  of  the  dignity  and  excellence  of  the  Christian  religion ! 

Nor  will  it  give  us  a  less  advantageous  idea  of  this  pre-eminence,  if  we  com- 
pare the  most  excellent  and  laudable  part  of  the  institutions  of  Lycui^us  with 
the  laws  of  the  gospel.  It  is,  we  must  own,  a  wonderful  thing,  that  the  whole 
people  should  consent  to  a  division  of  their  lands,  which  set  the  poor  upon  an 
equal  footing  with  the  rich ;  and  that  by  a  total  exclusion  cf  ^Id  and  silver  they 
should  reduce  themselves  to  a  kind  of  voluntary  poverty,  but  the  Spartan  le- 
gislator, when  he  enacted  these  laws,  had  the  sword  in  his  hand  ;  whereas  the 
Christian  legislator  says  but  a  word,  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,"  and 
thousands  of  the  faithful  through  all  succeeding  generations  renounce  their 
goods,  sell  their  lands  and  estates,  and  leave  all,  to  follow  Jesus  Christ,  theii 
Master,  in  poverty  and  want. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  ATHENS.  THE  LAWS  OF  SOLON.  THE  HISTORY  OF 
THAT  REPUBLIC,  FROM  THE  TIME  OF  SOLON  TO  THE  REIGN  OF  DARIUS 
THE  FIRST. 

I  HAVE  already  observed,  that  Athens  was  at  first  governed  by  kings.  But 
they  were  such  as  had  little  more  than  the  name ;  for  their  whole  power  being 
confined  to  the  command  of  the  armies,  vanished  in  time  of  peace.  Every  man 
was  master  in  his  own  house,  where  he  lived  in  an  absolute  state  of  indepen- 
dence. Codrus,  the  last  king  of  Athens,  having  devoted  himself  to  death  for 
the  public  good,  his  sons  Medon  and  Nileus  quarrelled  about  the  succession.* 
The  Athenians  took  this  occasion  to  abolish  the  regal  power,  though  it  did  not 
much  incommode  them  ;  and  declared,  that  Jupiter  alone  was  king  of  Athens, 
at  the  very  same  time  that  the  Jews  were  weary  of  their  theocracy,  that  is, 
having  the  true  God  for  their  king,  and  would  absolutely  have  a  man  to  reign 
over  them. 

Plutarch  observes,  that  Homer,  when  he  enumerated  the  ships  of  the  con- 
federate Grecians,  gives  the  name  of  people  to  none  but  the  Athenians  ;  from 
whence  it  may  be  inferred,  that  the  Athenians  even  then  had  a  great  inclination 
to  a  democratical  government,  and  that  the  chief  authority  was  at  that  time  ^ 
vested  in  the  people. 

In  the  place  of  their  kings  they  substituted  a  kind  of  governors  for  life,  under 
the  title  of  archons.  But  this  perpetual  magistracy  appeared  still,  in  the  eyes 
of  this  free  people,  as  too  lively  an  imas^e  of  regal  power,  of  which  they  were 
desirous  of  abolishing  even  the  very  shadow ;  for  which  reason  they  first  re- 
duced that  office  to  die  term,  of  ten  years,  and  then  to  that  of  one  :  and  thia 
they  did  with  a  view  of  resuming  the  authority  the  more  frequently  into  their 
own  hands,  which  they  never  transferred  to  their  magistrates  but  with  regret. 

Such  a  limited  power  as  this  was  not  sufficient  to  restrain  those  turbulent 
spirits,  who  were  grown  excessively  jealous  of  their  liberty  and  independence, 
very  tender  and  apt  to  he  offended  at  an}''  thing  that  seemed  to  break  in  upon 
their  equality,  and  always  ready  to  take  umbrage  at  whatever  had  the  least 
appearance  of  dominion  or  superiority.  Hence  arose  continual  factions  and 
quarrels  ;  there  was  no  agreement  or  concord  among  them,  either  about  reli- 
gion or  government. 

Athens  therefore  continued  a  long  time  incapable  of  enlarging  her  power, 
it  being  veiy  happy  for  her  that  she  could  preserve  herself  from  ruin  in  the 
midst  of  those  long  and  frequent  dissensions  she  had  to  struggle  with. 

Misfortunes  instruct.  Athens  learned  at  length,  that  true  liberty  consists  in 
a  dependence  upon  justice  and  reason.  This  nappy  subjection  could  not  be 
tstatlished,  but  by  a  legislator.    She  therefore  placed  her  choice  upon  Draco, 


•  Codrui  wai  c^tcmpora:^  with  Saul. 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


431 


n  mao  of  acknowiodged  wisdom  and  integrity,  for  that  employment.  It  does 
Dr)t  appear  that  Greece  had,  before  his  time,  any  written  laws.*  The  first  of 
that  kind,  then,  were  of  his  publishing  ;  the  rigour  of  which,  anticipating  as  it 
were  the  Stoical  doctrine,  was  so  great,  that  it  punished  the  smallest  offence, 
as  well  as  the  most  enormous  crimes,  equally  with  death.  These  Jaws  of 
Draco,  written,  says  Demades,  not  with  ink,  but  with  blood,  had  the  same  fate 
as  usually  attends  all  violent  things.  Sentiments  of  humanity  in  the  judges, 
compassion  for  the  accused,  whom  they  were  wont  to  look  upon  rather  as  un- 
fortunate than  criminal,  and  the  apprehensions  the  accusers  and  witnesses  werf 
under  of  rendering  themselves  odious  to  the  people,  all  concurred  to  produce 
a  remissness  in  the  execution  of  the  laws,  which,  by  that  means,  in  process  of 
time,  became  as  it  were  afbrogated  through  disuse :  and  thus  an  excessive 
rigour  paved  the  way  for  impunity. 

The  danger  of  relapsing  into  their  former  disorders,  made  them  have  re- 
course to  fresh  precautions  ;  for  they  were  willing  to  slacken  the  curb  and  re- 
straint of  fear,  but  not  to  break  it.  In  order,  therefore,  to  find  out  mitigations, 
which  might  make  amends,  for  what  they  took  away  from  the  letter  of  the 
law,  they  cast  their  eyes  upon  one  of  the  wisest  and  most  virtuous  persons  oi 
his  age,  I  mean  Solon,  whose  singular  qualities,  and  especially  his  great  meek- 
ness, had  acquired  him  the  affection  and  veneration  of  the  whole  city.j 

His  main  application  had  been  to  the  stud)'-  of  philosophy,  and  especially  to 
that  part  of  it  which  we  call  policy,  and  which  teaches  the  art  of  government. 
His  extraordinary  merit  placed  him  among  the  first  of  the  seven  sages  of  Greece, 
who  rendered  the  age  we  are  speaking  of  so  illustrious.  These  sages  often 
paid  visits  to  each  other.  One  day,  that  Solon  went  to  Miletus  to  see  Thales, 
tlwj  first  thing  he  said  to  Thales  was,  that  he  wondered  why  he  had  never  de- 
sired to  have  either  wife  or  children.  Thales  made  him  no  answer  then  ;  but 
a  few  days  after  he  contrived,  that  a  stranger  should  come  into  their  company, 
and  pretend  that  he  had  just  arrived  from  Athens,  from  whence  he  had  set  out 
about  ten  days  before.  Solon  hearing  the  stranger  say  this,  ask^d  him,  if  there 
was  any  news  at  Athens  when  he  came  away.  The  strangei ,  who  had  been 
taught  his  lesson,  replied,  that  he  had  heard  of  nothing  but  the  death  of  a  young 
gentleman,  whom  all  the  town  accompanied  to  the  grave  ;  because,  as  they 
said,  he  was  the  son  of  the  worthiest  man  in  the  city,  who  was  then  absent. 
Alas  1  cried  Solon,  interrupting  the  man's  story,  how  much  is  the  poor  father 
of  the  youth  to  be  pitied !  But  pray,  what  is  the  g'entleman's  nam^e  ?  I  heard 
his  name  replied  the  stranger,  but  I  have  forgot  it.  I  only  remember  that  the 
people  talked  much  of  his  wisdom  and  justice.  Every  answer  afforded  new 
matter  cf  trouble  and  terror  to  this  inquisitive  father,  who  was  so  justly  alarmed. 
Was  it  not,  said  he  at  length,  the  son  of  Solon?  The  very  same,  replied  the 
stranger.    Solon  at  these  words  rent  his  clothes,  and  beat  his  breast,  and  ex- 

Eressing  his  sorrow  by  tears  and  groans,  abandoned  himself  to  the  most  sensi- 
le  affliction.  Thales,  seeing  this,  took  him  by  the  hand,  and  said  to  him  with 
a  smile,  comfort  yourself,  my  friend,  all  that  has  been  told  you  is  a  mere  fic- 
tion. Now  you  see  the  reason  why  I  never  married :  it  is  because  I  am  un- 
irilling  to  expose  myself  to  such  trials  and  afflictions.J 

Plutarch  has  given  us  in  detail,  a  refutation  of  Thates's  reasoning,  which  tends 
to  deprive  mankind  of  the  most  natural  and  reasonable  attachments  in  life,  in 
lieu  of  which  the  heart  of  man  will  not  fail  to  substitute  others  of  an  unjust  and 
unlawful  nature,  which  will  expose  him  to  the  same  pains  and  inconveniences. 
The  remedy,  says  this  historian,  against  the  grief  that  may  arise  from  the  loss 
of  goods,  of  friends,  or  of  children,  is  not  to  throw  away  our  estates,  and  reduce 
ourselve.s  to  poverty,  to  make  an  absolute  renunciation  of  all  friendship,  or  to 
confine,  ourselves  to  a  state  of  celibacy  ;  but,  upon  all  such  accidents  and  mis- 
fortunes, to  make  a  right  use  of  our  reason. 


♦AM.  3330.    Ant.  J.  C.  624.  f  A.  M.  3400.    Ant.  J.  C.  6(H. 

I  Plut.  de  Vit.  LycuTf .  p.  81, 13. 


432 


HISTORY  OF  G»KECE. 


Athens,  after  some  time  of  tranquillity  and  peace,  which  the  prudence  and 
courage  of  Solon  had  procured,  who  was  as  great  a  warrior  as  he  was  a  states- 
man, relapsed  into  her  former  dissensions  about  the  government  of  the  com 
monwealth,  and  was  divided  into  as  many  parties  as  there  were  different  sorts 
of  inhabitants  in  Attica.  For  those  that  lived  upon  the  mountains  were  fond 
of  popular  government ;  those  in  the  low-lands  were  for  an  oligarchy ;  and 
those  who  dwelt  on  the  sea-coasts,  were  for  having  a  mixed  government,  com- 
pounded of  these  two  forms  blended  together ;  and  they  hindered  the  other 
two  contending  parties,  from  getting  any  ground  of  each  other.  Besides  these, 
there  was  a  fourth  party,  w^hich  consisteduDnly  of  the  poor,  who  were  grievously 
harassed  and  oppressed  by  the  rich,  on  account  of  their  debts,  which  they 
^vere  not  able  to  discharge.  This  unhappy  party  was  determined  to  choose 
themselves  a  chief,  who  should  deliver  them  from  the  inhuman  severity  of 
their  creditors,  and  make  an  entire  change  in  the  form  of  their  government, 
by  making  a  new  division  of  the  lands.* 

In  this  extreme  danger,  all  the  wise  Athenians  cast  their  eyes  upon  Solon, 
who  was  obnoxious  to  neither  party ;  because  he  had  never  sided  either  with 
the  injustice  of  the  rich,  or  the  rebellion  of  the  poor  ;  and  they  strongly  soli- 
cited him  to  take  the  matter  in  hand,  and  to  endeavour  to  put  an  end  to  these 
differences  and  disorders.  He  was  very  unwilling  to  take  upon  him  so  dan- 
gerous a  commission :  however,  he  was  at  last  chosen  Archon,  and  was  con- 
stituted supreme  arbiter  and  legislator  with  the  unanimous  consent  of  all  par- 
ties ;  the  rich  liking  him  as  he  was  rich  ;  and  the  poor  because  he  was  honest. 
He  now  had  it  in  his  power  to  make  himself  king  :  several  of  the  citizens  ad 
vised  him  to  it ;  and  even  the  w^isest  among  them,  not  thinking  it  was  in  the 
power  of  human  reason  to  bring  about  a  favourable  change,  consistent  with  the 
laws,  were  not  unwilling  that  the  supreme  power  should  be  vested  in  one  man, 
who  was  so  eminently  distinguished  for  his  prudence  and  justice.  But  not- 
withstanding all  the  remonstrances  that  were  made  to  him,  and  all  the  solici- 
tations and  reproaches  of  hi?  friends,  who  treated  his  refusal  of  the  diadem  as 
an  effect  of  pusillanimity  and  meanness  of  spirit,  he  was  still  firm  and  un- 
changeable in  his  purpose  pnd  would  hearken  to  no  other  scheme  than  that 
of  settling  a  form  of  gove  ^vi  f^ni  in  his  country,  that  should  be  founded  upon 
the  basis  of  a  just  and  reasonable  liberty.  Not  venturing  to  meddle  with  cer- 
tain disorders  and  evils,  which  he  looked  upon  as  incurable,  he  undertook  to 
bring  about  no  other  alterations  or  changes,  than  such  as  he  thought  he  could 
persuade  the  citizens  to  comply  with  by  argument  and  reason,  or  bring^  them 
into  by  the  weight  of  his  authority ;  wisely  uniting,  as  he  himself  said,  au 
thority  and  power  with  reason  and*  justice.  Wherefore,  when  one  afterwards 
asked  him,  if  the  laws  which  he  had  made  for  the  Athenians  were  the  best: 
"  Yes,'*  said  he,  "  the  best  they  were  capable  of  receiving." 

The  soul  of  popular  states  is  equality.  But  for  fear  of  disgusting  the  rich, 
Solon  did  not  venture  to  propose  any  equality  of  lands  and  wealth  ;  whereby 
Attica,  as  well  as  Laconia,  would  have  resembled  a  paternal  inheritance,  di- 
vided among  a  number  of  brethren.  However,  he  went  so  far  as  to  put  an 
end  to  the  slavery  and  oppression  of  those  poor  citizens,  whose  excessive  debts 
and  accumulated  arrears  had  forced  them  to  sell  their  persons  and  liberty,  and 
reduce  themselves  to  a  state  of  servitude  and  bondage.  An  express  law  wat 
made,  which  declared  all  debtors  discharged  and  acquitted  of  all  their  debts. 

This  affair  drew  Solon  into  a  troublesome  difficulty,  which  gave  him  a  great 
deal  of  vexation  and  concern.  When  he  first  determined  to  cancel  the  debts 
he  foresaw  that  such  an  edict,  which  had  something  in  it  contrary  to  justice, 
would  be  extremely  offensive.  For  which  reason,  he  endeavoured  in  some 
measure  to  rectify  the  tenor  of  it,  by  introducing  it  with  a  specious  preamble, 
which  set  forth  a  great  many  very  plausible  pretexts,  and  gave  a  colour  oi 
equity  and  reason  to  the  law,  which  in  reality  it  had  not.    But  in  order  hereto, 


*  Plot,  in  Solon,  p.  8^  C9. 


HISTORY  or  GREECIi.  433 

eie  first  disclosed  his  design  to  some  particular  friends  whom  he  used  to  consult 
ir  all  his  affairs,  and  concerted  with  them  the  form  and  the  terms  in  which  thii 
edict  should  be  expressed.  Now,  before  it  was  published,  his  friends,  who 
were  more  interested  than  faithful,  secretly  borrowed  great  sums  of  money  of 
their  rich  acquaintance,  which  they  laid  out  in  the  purchase  of  lands,  know- 
ing they  would  not  be  aflfected  by  the  edict.  When  this  appeared,  the  gene- 
ral indignation  that  was  raised  by  such  a  base  and  flagrant  knavery,  fell  upoo 
Solon,  though  in  reality  he  had  no  hand  in  it.*  But  it  is  not  enough  for  a  mar 
in  office  to  be  disinterested  and  upright  himself;  all  that  surround  and  ap- 
proach him  ought  to  be  so  too ;  wife,  relations,  friends,  secretaries,  and  servants. 
The  faults  of  others  are  charged  lo  his  account :  all  the  wrongs,  all  the  rapines, 
that  are  committed  either  through  his  negligence  or  connivance,  are  justly 
imputed  to  him ;  because  it  is  his  business,  and  one  of  the  principal  designs 
of  his  being  put  into  such  a  trust,  to  prevent  those  corruptions  and  abuses. 

This  ordinance  at  first  pleased  neither  of  the  two  parties  ;  it  disgusted  the 
rich,  because  it  abolished  the  debts;  and  dissatisfied  the  poor,  because  it  did 
not  ordain  a  new  division  of  the  lands,  as  they  had  expected,  and  as  Lycurgus 
had  actually  effected  at  Sparta.  But  Solon's  influence  at  Athens  fell  very  short 
of  the  power  which  L}[curgus  had  acquired  in  Sparta ;  for  he  had  no  other 
authority  over  the  Athenians,  than  what  the  reputation  of  his  wisdom,  and  the 
confidence  of  the  people  in  his  integrity,  had  procured  him. 

However,  in  a  little  time  afterwards,  this  ordinance  was  generally  approved, 
and  the  same  powers  as  before,  were  continued  to  Solon. 

He  repealed  all  the  laws,  that  had  been  made  by  Draco,  except  those  against 
murder.  The  reason  of  his  doing  this,  was  the  excessive  rigour  of  these  lawj, 
which  inflicted  death  alike  upon  all  sorts  of  offenders  :  so  that  they  who  were 
convicted  of  sloth  or  idleness,  or  they  who  had  only  stolen  a  few  herbs,  or  a 
little  fruit  out  of  a  garden,  were  as  severely  punished  as  those  that  were  guilty 
of  murder  or  sacrilege. 

He  then  proceeded  to  the  regulation  of  offices,  employments,  and  magistra 
cies,  all  which  he  left  in  the  hands  of  the  rich  ;  for  which  reason  he  distributed 
all  the^  rich  citizens  into  three  classes,  ranging  them  according  to  the  difference 
of  their  incomes  and  revenues,  and  accordir^  to  the  value  and  estimation  of 
each  particular  man's  estate.  Those  who  were  found  to  have  five  hundred 
measures  a  year,  as  well  in  corn  as  in  liquids,  were  placed  in  the  first  class  ; 
those  who  had  three  hundred  were  placed  in  the  second  ;  and  those  who  had 
but  two  hundred  made  up  the  third. 

AW  the  rest  of  the  citizens,  whose  income  fell  short  of  two  hundred  measures, 
W€*re  comprised  in  a  fourth  and  last  class,  and  were  never  admitted  into  any 
employments.!  But,  in  order  to  make  them  amends  for  this  exclusion  from 
offices,  he  left  them  a  right  to  vote  in  the  assemblies  and  judgments  of  the 

Eeople ;  which  at  first  seemed  to  be  a  matter  of  little  consequence,  but  in  time 
ecame  extremely  advantageous,  and  made  them  masters  of  all  the  affairs  of 
the  city ;  tor  most  of  the  law-suits  and  differences  resumed  to  the  people,  to 
whom  an  appeal  lay  from  all  the  judgments  of  the  magistrates  ;  and  in  the  as- 
semblies of  the  people,  the  greatest  and  most  important  affairs  of  the  statp 
relating  to  peace  or  war,  wer^  also  determined. 

The  Areopagus,J  so  called  from  the  place  where  its  assemblies  were  held, 
had  been  a  long  time  establish^jd.  Solon  restored  and  augmented  its  authorit}'^ 
leaving  to  that  tribunal,  as  the  supreme  court  of  judicature,  a  general  inspec 
tion  and  superintendency  oyer  all  affairs,  as  also  the  care  ot  causing  the  laws, 
of  which  he  was  the  guardian,  to  be  observed  and  put  in  execution.  Before 
ftis  time,  the  citizens  of  the  greatest  probity  and  justice  were  made  the  judgei 
of  the  Areopagus.  Solon  was  the  first  who  thought  it  convenient  that  non« 
ghould  be  honoured  with  that  dignity,  except  such  as  had  passed  through  th* 


♦  Plut.  lo  Solon,  p.  87.  |  plui  in  Solon,  p.  89. 

X  Thi«  wot  a  hill  near  th»-  nitac't'l  of  Athens,  csilled  AreorRjrus,  Umt  is  lo  sav,  lb*  hill  o"  M«r8  ;  )h9 
MM  il  w»«  thf)r«  Man  had  beer,  tried  for  Uie  njurcler  of  rTHisrrjjiiiies,  t^e  %on  of  S'tplone. 


454  mSTOKY  OF  greecs 

•fice  of  archon.  Nothing  was  so  august  as  this  senate :  and  its  reputation  fol 
judgment  and  integrity  became  so  very  great,  that  the  ilomans  sometimes  re« 
Ferred  causes,  which  were  too  intricate  for  their  own  decision,  to  the  detcrmi- 
nation  of  this  tribunal.* 

Nothing  was  regarded  or  attended  to  here  but  truth,  and  to  the  end  that  no 
external  objects  might  divert  the  attention  of  the  judges,  their  tribunal  wat 
always  held  at  night,  or  in  the  dark ;  and  the  orators  were  not  allowed  to  mak« 
use  of  any  exordium,  digression,  or  peroration. 

Solon,  to  prevent,  as  much  as  possible,  the  abuse  which  the  people  mighl 
make  of  the  great  authority  he  left  them,  created  a  second  council,  consisting  of 
four  hundred  men,  a  hundred  out  of  every  tribe  ;  and  ordered  all  causes  and 
affairs  to  be  brought  before  this  council,  and  to  be  maturely  examined  by  them, 
before  they  were  proposed  to  the  general  assembly  of  the  people ;  to  whose 
iudgment  the  sentiments  of  the  other  were  to  submit,  and  to  which  alone  be» 
longed  the  right  of  giving  a  final  sentence  and  decision.  It  w^as  upon  this  sub- 
ject Anacharsis,  whom  the  reputation  of  the  sages  of  Greece  nad  brought 
*rom  the  middle  of  Scythia,  said  one  day  to  Solon,  *'  I  wonder  you  should 
empower  the  wise  men  only  to  deliberate  and  debate  upon  affairs,  and  leave 
the  determination  and  decision  of  them  wholly  to  fools." 

Upon  another  occasion,  when  Solon  was  conversing  with  him  upon  some  other 
i-egulations  he  had  in  view,  Anacharsis,  astonished  that  he  could  expect  to  sue 
ceed  in  his  designs  of  restraining  the  avarice  and  injustice  of  the  citizens  by 
written  laws,  answered  him  in  this  manner:  "give  me  leave  to  tell  you,  that 
your  writings  are  just  like  spiders'  webs ;  the  weak  and  small  flies  may  be  en- 
tangled and  caught  in  them,  but  the  rich  and  powerful  will  break  through  them 
and  despise  them." 

Solon,  who  was  an  able  and  prudent  man,  was  very  sensible  of  the  incon- 
veniences that  attend  a  democracy  or  popular  government ;  but  having  tho- 
roughly studied,  and  being  perfectly  well  acquainted  with  the  character  and 
disposition  of  the  Athenians,  he  knew  it  would  be  a  vain  attempt  to  take  the 
sovereignty  out  of  the  people's  hands  ;  and  that,  if  they  parted  with  it  at  one 
time,  they  would  soon  resume  it  at  another,  by  force  and  violence.  He  there- 
fore contented  himself  with  limiting  their  power  by  the  authority  of  the  Areo 
pagus,  and  the  council  of  four  hundred ;  judging  that  the  state,  being  support- 
ed and  strengthened  by  these  two  powerful  bodies,  as  by  two  good  anchors, 
would  not  be  so  liable  to  commotions  and  disorders  as  it  had  been,  and  that  the  - 
people  would  be  kept  within  due  bounds,  and  enjoy  more  tranquillity, 

1  shall  only  mention  some  of  the  laws  which  Solon  made,  by  which  the  reader 
may  be  able  to  form  a  judgment  of  the  rest.  In  the  first  placed  every  ijarticu- 
lar  person  was  authorized  to  espouse  the  quarrel  of  any  one  that  was  injured 
and  insulted ;  so  that  the  first  comer  might  prosecute  the  offender,  and  bring 
nim  to  justice  for  the  outrage  he  had  committed.! 

The  design  of  this  wise  legislator  in  this  ordinance,  was  to  a'-xustom  his 
citizens  to  have  a  fellow-feeling  for  one  another's  sufferings  and  misfortunes,  as 
they  were  all  members  of  one  and  the  same  body. 

By  another  law,  those  persons  who,  in  public  differences  and  dissensions,  did 
not  declare  themselves  of  one  party  or  other,  but  waited  to  see  how  things 
would  go  before  they  determined,  were  declared  infamous,  condemned  to  per- 
petual banishment,  and  to  have  all  their  estates  confiscated.J  Solon  had  learned 
from  long  experience  and  deep  reflection,  that  the  rich,  the  powerful,  and 
even  the  wise  and  virtuous,  are  usually  the  most  backward  to  expose  themselves 
io  the  ijconveniences  which  public  dissensions  and  troubles  produce  in  society  ; 
and  that  their  zeal  for  the  public  good  does  ne  t  render  them  so  active  and  vigi- 
laiit  in  the  defence  of  it,  as  the  passions  of  the  factious  render  them  industrioui 
8u  destroy  it ;  that  the  just  party,  being  thus  abandoned  by  those  that  are  cs^ 
..  1     ,  —  .  — ■  ■ — — —  <  ■ 

•  Val.  Max.  1.  viii.  c.  I.    Lucian.  in  Herwot.  p.  S95.    Quintil.  1.  vi.  «.  1. 
t  Plot-  in  Solon,  p.  88.  P»  W» 


HISTORY  or  GREECE. 

pable  of  giving  more  weight,  authority,  and  strength  to  it  by  their  union  and 
concurrence,  becomes  unable  to  contend  with  the  audacious  and  violent  enter- 
prises of  a  few  daring  innovators.  To  prevent  this  misfortune,  which  may  be 
attended  with  the  most  fatal  consequences  to  a  state,  Solon  judged  it  proper  to 
force  the  well-afFected,  by  the  fear  of  greater  inconveniences  to  themselves,  to 
declare  for  the  just  party  at  the  very  beginning  of  seditions,  and  to  animate  the 
spirits  and  courage  of  the  best  citizens,  by  engaging  with  them  in  the  common 
danger.  By  this  method  of  accustoming  the  minds  of  the  people  to  look  upon 
that  man  almost  as  an  enemy  and  a  traitor,  who  should  appear  indifferent  to,  and 
unconcerned  at  the  misfortunes  of  the  public,  he  provided  the  state  with  a  quick 
tnd  sure  resource  against  the  sudden  enterprises  of  wicked  and  profligate 
citizens. 

Solon  abolished  the  giving  of  portions  in  marriage  with  young  women,  un- 
less they  were  only  daughters,  and  ordered  that  the  bride  should  carry  no  other 
fortune  to  her  husband,  than  three  suits  of  clothes,  and  some  few  household- 
goods  of  little  value  ;  for  he  would  not  have  matrimony  become  a  traffic,  and 
a  mere  commerce  of  interest,  but  desired  that  it  should  be  regarded  as  an  ho- 
nourable fellowship  and  society ,1n  order  to  raise  subjects  to  the  state,  to  make 
the  married  pair  live  agreeably  and  harmoniously  together,  and  to  give  con- 
tinual testimony  of  mutual  love  and  tenderness  to  each  other.* 

Before  Solon's  time,  the  Athenians  were  not  allowed  to  make  their  wills  ;  the 
wealth  of  the  deceased  always  devolved  upon  his  children  and  family.  So- 
lon's law  allowed  every  one  that  was  childless,  to  dispose  of  his  whole  estate 
as  he  thought  fit ;  preferring,  by  that  means,  friendship  to  kindred,  and  choice 
to  necessity  and  const''aint,  and  rendering  every  man  truly  master  of  his  own 
fortune,  by  leaving  him  at  liberty  to  bestow  it  where  he  pleased.^  This  law, 
however,  did  not  authorize  indifferently  all  sorts  of  donations  ;  it  justified  and 
approved  of  none  but  those  that  were  made  freely,  and  without  any  compul- 
sion ;  without  having  the  mind  distempered  and  intoxicated  with  drinks  or 
charms,  or  perverted  and  seduced  by  the  allurements  and  caresses  of  a  wo- 
man ;  for  this  wise  lawgiver  was  justly  persuaded,  that  there  is  no  difference 
to  be  made  between  being  seduced  and  being  forced,  looking  upon  artifice  and 
violence,  pleasure  and  pain,  in  the  same  light,  when  they  are  made  use  of  ag 
means  to  impose  upon  men's  reason,  and  to  captivate  the  liberty  of  their  un» 
derstanding. 

Another  regulation  he  made,  was  to  lessen  the  rewards  of  the  victors  at  the 
Isthmian  and  Olympic  games,  and  to  fix  them  at  a  certain  value,  viz.  a  hun 
dred  drachms,  which  make  about  fifty  livres,  for  the  first  sort  ;t  and  five  hun- 
dred drachms,  or  two  hundred  and  fifty  livres,  for  the  second.J  He  thought 
it  a  shameful  thing,  that  athletae  and  wrestlers,  a  sort  of  people  not  only  use- 
less but  often  dangerous  to  the  state,  should  have  any  considerable  rewards 
allotted  to  them,  which  ought  rather  to  be  reserved  for  the  families  of  those 
persons  whj  died  in  the  service  of  their  country  ;  it  being  veiy  just  and  rea 
fonable,  that  the  state  should  support  and  provide  for  such  oiphans,  who  pro- 
bably might  come  in  time  to  follow  the  good  examples  of  their  fathers. § 

In  order  to  encourage  arts,  trades,  and  manufactures,  the  senate  of  the  Are- 
opagus was  charged  with  the  care  of  inquiring  into  the  ways  and  means  that 
every  man  made  use  of  to  get  his  livelihood  :  and  of  chastising  and  punishing 
all  th  ose  who  led  an  idle  life.  Besides  the  fore-mentioned  view  of  bringing 
arts  and  trades  into  a  flourishing  condition,  this  regulation  w^as  founded  upon 
two  other  reasons,  still  more  important. 

In  the  fii-st  place,  Solon  considered,  that  such  persons  as  have  no  fortune, 
and  make  use  of  no  methods  of  industry  to  get  their  livelihood,  are  ready  to 
employ  all  manner  of  unju?t  and  unlawful  means  for  acquiring  money  ;  and 
that  the  necessity  of  subsisting  some  way  or  other  disposes  them  for  commit- 
ting all  sorts  of  misdemeanours,  rapines,  knaveries,  and  frauds  ;  from  whidi 


♦  riut.  in  Solon,  p.  8fc        t  $45.      {  Hlut.  in  Solon  p.  91.    Diog.  LaSrt.  in  S«lou.  p.  99 


436  HISTORY  Of  GKEECB. 

spring  up  a  school  of  vice  in  the  bosom  of  the  commonwealth ;  and  scch  an 
evil  gains  ground,  as  does  not  fail  to  spread  its  infection,  and  by  degrees  cor- 
rupt the  manners  of  the  public. 

In  the  second  place,  the  most  able  statesmen  have  always  looked  upon  these 
indigent  and  idle  people  as  a  troop  of  dangerous,  restless,  and  turbulent  spj- 
rits  eager  after  inoovation  and  change,  always  ready  for  seditions  and  insur- 
rections, and  interested  in  the  revolutions  of  the  state,  by  which  alone  Ihey 
can  hope  to  change  their  own  situation  and  fortune  It  was  for  all  these  rea- 
sons, that,  in  the  law  we  are  speaking  of,  Solon  declared,  that  a  son  should 
not  be  obliged  to  support  his  father  in  old  age  or  necessity,  if  the  latter  had 
not  taken  care  to  have  his  son  brought  up  to  some  trade  or  occupation  :  all 
children  that  were  spurious  and  illegitimate,  were  exempted  from  the  same 
duty  :  for  it  is  evident,  says  Solon,  that  whoever  thus  contemns  the  dignity  and 
sanctity  of  matrimony  has  never  had  in  view  the  lawful  end  v/e  ought  to  pro- 
pose to  ourselves  in  having  children,  but  only  the  gratification  of  a^loose  pas- 
sion. Having  satisfied  his  own  desires,  the  end  he  proposed  to  himself,  he 
has  no  proper  right  over  the  persons  who  may  spring  from  him,  upon  whose 
lives,  as  well  as  births,  he  has  entailed  indelible  infamy  and  reproach. 

It  was  prohibited  to  speak  any  ill  of  the  dead  ;  because  religion  directs  us 
to  account  the  dead  as  sacred,  justice  requires  us  to  spare  those  that  are  no 
more,  and  good  policy  should  prevent  hatreds  from  becoming  immortal.* 

It  was  also  forbidden  to  affront,  or  give  ill  language  to  any  body  in  the  tem. 
pies  and  courts  of  judicature,  in  public  assemblies,  and  in  the  theatres  during 
the  time  of  representation ;  for  to  be  no  where  able  to  govern  our  passions  and 
resentments,  argues  too  untractable  and  licentious  a  disposition  ;  as  to  restrain 
them  at  all  times,  and  upon  all  occasions,  is  a  virtue  beyond  the  mere  force  of 
human  nature,  a  perfection  reserved  for  the  evangelical  law. 

Cicero  observes,  that  this  wise  legislator  or  Athens,  whose  laws  were  in  force 
even  in  his  time,  had  provided  no  law  against  parricide ;  and  being  asked  the 
reason  why  he  had  not,  he  answered,  "  that  to  make  laws  against,  and  ordain 
punishments  for,  a  crime  that  had  never  been  known  or  heard  o^,  was  the  way 
to  introduce  it,  rather  than  to  prevent  it."t  I  omit  several  of  his  laws  con- 
cerning marriage  and  adultery,  in  which  there  are  remarkab'  and  manifest 
contradictions,  and  a  great  mixture  of  light  and  darkness,  knov  ige  and  error, 
which  we  generally  n.\d  among  the  very  wisest  of  the  heatheiiS,  who  had  no 
e  jtablished  principles  i  r  rules  to  go  by. 

After  Solon  had  published. his  laws,  and  engaged  the  people  by  public  oath 
.0  observe  them  religiously,  at  least  for  the  term  of  a  hundred  years,  he 
thought  proper  to  remove  from  Athens,  in  order  to  give  them  time  to  take  root, 
and  to  gather  strength  by  custom  ;  as  also  to  rid  himself  of  the  trouble  ana 
importunity  of  those  who  came  to  consult  him  about  the  sense  and  meaning  of 
his  laws,  and  to  avoid  the  complaints  and  odium  of  others  ;  for,  as  he  said  him- 
self, in  great  undertakings,  it  is  difficult  if  not  impossible,  to  please  all  parties. 
He  was  absent  ten  years,  in  which  interval  of  time  we  are  to  place  his  journej 
into  Egypt,  into  Lydia  to  visit  king  Croesus,  and  into  several  other  countries. 
At  his  return  he  found  the  whole  city  in  commotion  and  trouble  ;  the  three  old 
factions  were  revived,  and  had  formed  three  different  parties  :  Lycurgus  was 
at  the  head  of  the  people  that  inhabited  the  low-lands ;  Megacles,  son  of 
Alcmeon,  was  the  leader  of  the  inhabitants  on  the  sea  coast ;  and  Pisistratui 
had  declared  for  the  mountaineers,  to  whom  were  joined  the  manufacturers 
and  labourers  who  lived  by  their  industry,  and  whose  animosity  was  chiefly 
against  the  rich  :  of  these  three  leaders,  the  two  last  were  the  most  powerful 
and  considerable.! 


f  tlut.  in  Solon,  p.  89. 

I  Sa  pienter  fecisse  dicitur,  cum  de  eo  nihil  saDxerit,quod  antca  commitsum  non  erat ;  ne,  non  tarn  prohib^ft. 
fMwn  aJinonere,  rideretur. — Pro  Ros.  Amer.  n.  70, 

I  A.M.  5445.    ADt.J.  €.559.    Plut.  iu  Solon,  p.  94. 


HISTORY  or  GREECE. 

Me^acles  was  the  son  of  that  Alcmeon,  whom  Crcesus  had  cxtre  nely  enriched 
for  d  particular  service  he  had  done  him.  He  had  likewise  married  a  lady 
»no  had  brought  him  an  immense  portion  ;  her  name  was  Agarista,  the  daugh- 
ter 1/  Clisthenes,  tyrant  of  Sicyon.  This  Clisthenes  was  at  this  time  the 
richest  and  most  opulent  prince  in  Greece.  In  order  to  be  able  to  choose  a 
worthy  son-in-law,  and  to  know  his  temper,  manners,  and  character,  from  his 
own  experience,  Clisthenes  invited  all  the  young  noblemen  of  Greece  to  come 
and  spend  a  year  with  him  at  his  house  ;  for  this  was  an  ancient  custom  in  that 
country.  Several  youths  accepted  the  invitation,  and  there  came  from  dif- 
ferent parts  to  the  number  of  thirteen.  Nothing  was  seen  every  day  but  races, 
games,  tournaments,  magnificent  entertainments,  and  conversations  upon  all  sorts 
of  questions  and  subjects.  One  of  the  gentlemen,  who  had  hitherto  surpassed 
all  his  competitors,  lost  the  princess,  by  using  some  indecent  gestures  and  pos- 
tures in  his  dancing,  with  which  her  father  was  extremely  offended.  Clistheriw, 
at  the  end  of  the  year,  declared  for  Megacles,  and  sent  the  rest  of  the  noble- 
men away,  loaded  with  civilities  and  presents.* 

Pisistratus  was  a  well-bred  man,  of  a  gentle  and  insinuating  behaviour,  ready 
to  succour  and  assist  the  poor  ;t  wise  and  moderate  towards  his  enemies ;  a  most 
artful  and  accomplished  dissembler ;  and  one  who  had  all  the  exterior  of  vir- 
tue, even  beyond  the  most  virtuous;  who  seemed  to  be  the  most  zealous  stickler 
for  equality  amonff  the  citizens,  and  who  absolutely  declared  against  innova- 
tions and  change.! 

It  was  pot  very  hard  for  him  to  impose  upon  the  people,  with  all  his  artifice 
and  address.    But  Solon  quickly  saw  through  his  disguise,  and  perceived  the 
drift  of  all  his  seeming  virtue  and  fair  pretences;  however,  he  thought  fit  to 
observe  measures  with  him  in  the  beginning,  hoping,  perhaps,  by  gentle  me 
thods,  to  bring  him  back  to  his  duty. 

It  was  at  this  time  Thespis  began  to  change  the  Grecian  tragedy  ;§,  1  say 
change,  because  it  w^as  invented  long  before.il  This  novelty  drew  all  the 
world  after  it.  Solon  went  among  the  rest  for  the  sake  of  hearing  Thespis, 
who  acted  himself,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  ancient  poets.  When  the 
play  was  ended,  he  called  to  Thespis,  and  asked  him,  "  Why  he  was  not 
ashamed  to  utter  such  lies  before  so  many  people  ?"  Thespis  made  answer, 

that  there  was  no  harm  in  lies  of  that  sort,  and  in  poetical  fictions,  which 
were  only  made  for  diversion."  **No,"  replied  Solon,  giving  a  great  stroke 
with  his  stick  upon  the  ground  ;  "  but  if  we  suffer  and  approve  of  lyine  for  our 
diversion,  it  will  quickly  find  its  way  into  our  serious  engagements,  and  ail  our 
business  and  affairs.'* 

In  the  mean  time,  Pisistratus  still  pushed  on  his  point;  and  in  order  to 
accomplish  it,  made  use  of  a  stratagem  that  succeeded  as  well  as  he  could 
cxpect.lF 

He  gave  himself  several  wounds ;  and  in  that  condition,  with  his  body  all 
bloody,  caused  himself  to  be  carried  in  a  chariot  into  the  market  place,  where 
he  raised  and  inflamed  the  populace,  by  giving  them  to  understand  that  his 
enemies  had  treated  him  in  that  manner,  and  that  he  was  the  victim  of  his  zeaJ 
for  the  public  gocJ.** 

An  assembly  oi  the  people  was  immediately  convened,  and  there  it  was  re-  » 
solved,  in  spite  of  all  the  remonstrances  Solon  could  make  against  it,  that  fifty 
guards  should  be  allowed  Pisistratus  for  the  security  of  his  person.   He  soon 


*  Herod.  1.  vi.  c.  125—131. 
f  We  are  not  here  to  understand  such  as  beg-^edor  asked  alms;  for  in  those  times,  says  Isocrates,  Utert 
•as  no  citizen  who  died  of  hung^er,  or  dishonoured  his  city  bj  begging. — Orat.  Areop.  p.  300. 

t  Plut  in  Solon,  p.  95.  J  Plut.  in  Solon,  p.  95. 

jl  Traged;^  was  in  being  a  long  time  before  Thespis ;  but  it  was  only  a  chorus  of  persons  that  supf  1  m4 
Mid  opprcbrious  things  to  one  another.    Thespis  was  the  first  that  improred  this  chorus,  by  the  addition  of 
m  personage  or  character,  who,  in  order  to  gire  the  rest  time  to  take  breath,  and  to  recover  their  spirits,  re 
eited  an  adref  .ure  of  some  illaftriouf  p«rflon.    And  this  recital  gare  occasion  afterwards  for  introducinf 
the  subjects  of  tragedies. 

1  Herod.  1.  i.  c.  5»— 6*  Plut.  in  Solon,  p.  9& 


438 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


augmented  the  number  as  much  as  he  thought  fit,  and  by  their  means  made 
himself  master  of  the  citadel  All  his  enemies  betook  themselves  to  flight,  and 
the  whole  city  was  in  great  consternation  and  disorder,  except  Solon,  who 
loudly  reproached  the  Athenians  with  their  cowardice  and  folly,  and  the  tyrant 
with  his  treachery.  Upon  his  being  asked,  what  it  was  that  gave  him  so  much 
firmness  and  resolution  ?  "  It  is,"  said  he,  "  my  old  age.'*  He  was  indeed 
very  old,  and  did  not  seem  to  risk  much,  as  the  end  of  his  life  was  veiy  near; 
though  it  often  happens,  that  men  grow  fonder  of  life,  in  proportion  as  they 
have  less  reason  and  right  to  desire  it  should  be  prolonged.  But  Pisistratus, 
after  he  had  subdued  all,  thought  his  conquest  imperfect  till  he  had  gained 
Solon ;  and  as  he  was  well  acquainted  with  the  means  that  are  proper  to  engage 
an  old  man,  he  caressed  him  accordingly  ;  omitted  nothing  that  could  tend  to 
soften  and  win  upon  him,  and  showeJ  him  all  possible  marks  of  friendship  and 
esteem,  doing  him  all  manner  of  honour,  having  him  often  about  his  person,  and 
publicly  professing  a  great  veneration  for  the  laws,  which  in  truth  ne  both  ob- 
served himself,  and  caused  to  be  observed  by  others.  Solon,  seeing  it  was 
impossible  either  to  bring  Pisistratus  hj  fair  means  to  renounce  this  usurpa- 
tion, or  to  depose  him  by  force,  thought  it  a  point  of  prudence  not  to  exasperate 
the  tyrant  by  rejecting  the  advances  he  made  him  ;  and  hoped,  at  the  same 
time,  that  by  entering  into  his  confidence  and  counsels,  he  might  at  least  be 
capable  of  conducting  a  power  which  he  could  not  abolish,  and  of  mitigating 
the  mischief  and  calamity  which  he  had  not  been  able  to  prevent. 

Solon  did  not  survive  the  liberty  of  his  country  quite  two  years  :  for  Pisis- 
tratus made  himself  master  of  Athens  under  the  archon  Comias,  the  first  year 
of  the  51st  Olympiad,  and  Solon  died  the  year  following,  under  the  archon  He- 
gestratus,  who  succeeded  Comias. 

The  two  parties,  whose  leaders  were  Lycurgus  and  Megacles,  uniting,  drove 
Pisistratus  out  of  Athens  ;  where  he  was  soon  recalled  by  Megacles,  who  gave 
him  his  daughter  in  marriage.  But  a  difference  that  arose  upon  occasion  of  this 
match  having  embroiled  them  afresh,  the  Alcmseonidae  had  the  worst  of  it ;  and 
were  obliged  to  retire.  Pisistratus  was  twice  deposed,  and  twice  found  means 
to  reinstate  himself.  His  artifices  acquired  him  his  power,  and  his  moderation 
maintained  him  in  it ;  and  without  doubt  his  eloquence,  which  even  in  Tully^s 
judgment  was  very  great,  rendered  him  very  acceptable  to  the  Athenians,  who 
were  but  too  ^pt  to  be  affected  with  the  charms  of  discourse,  as  it  made  them 
forget  the  care  of  their  liberty.*  An  exact  submission  to  the  laws  distinguished 
Pisistratus  from  most  other  usurpers  ;  and  the  mildness  of  his  government  was 
such  as  might  make  many  a  lawful  sovereign  blush.  For  which  reason  the 
character  of  Pisistratus  was  thought  worthy  of  being  set  in  opposition  to  that 
of  other  tyrants.  Cicero,  doubting  what  use  Caesar  would  make  of -his  vic- 
tory at  Pharsalia,  wrote  to  his  dear  friend  Atticus,  "  We  do  not  yet  know 
whether  the  destiny  of  Rome  will  have  us  groan  under  a  Phalaris,  or  Jive 
under  a  Pisistratus.* 

This  tyrant,  if  indeed  we  are  to  call  him  so,  always  showed  himself  very 
popular  and  moderate,  and  had  such  a  command  of  his  temper,  as  to  bear  re- 
proaches and  insults  with  patience,  w^hen  he  had  it  in  his  power  to  revenge 
t  them  with  a  word.J  His  gardens  and  orchards  were  open  to  all  the  citizens , 
in  which  he  was  afterwards  imitated  by  Cimon.  It  is  said  he  was  the  first  who 
opened  a  public  library  in  Athens,§  which  after  his  time  was  much  augme^;ited, 
and  at  last  carried  into  Persia  by  Xerxes,  when  he  took  that  city.H  But 
Scleucus  Nicanor,  a  long  time  afterwards,  restored  it  to  Athens.  Cicero 
thinks  also,  it  was  Pisistratus  who  first  made  the  Athenians  acquainted  with 


*  Pisistratus  dieendo  tantum  raliiisse  dicitur,  ut  ei  Athenienses  regium  imperium  oratiooe  capti  permit- 
IcrenU — Val.  M»K.  1.  viii.  c.  9. 

Q,uis  doctior  uadem  temporibus,  aut  cujut  e!oquentia  Uteris  instructior  fuisse  traditur,  qnam  Pitistfttii 
Cic.  de  Oral.  1.  iii.  n.  137. 

f  Incertum  est  Phalarimne,  an  Pisistratum,  nit  imitaturui.-— Ad  Attic.  I.  rii.  Ep.  xix. 
*,  Val.  Max.  1.  V.  z.  \.  {  Ath«n.  1.  xii.  p.  532.  U  Aol.  Gel.  I.  Vi^  ST 


H18TOKY  OF  GREECE. 


the  poems  of  Homer ;  who  arranged  the  books  in  the  order  we  now  find  them, 
whereas  before  they  were  confused,  and  not  digested;  and  who  fi^fi  caused 
them  to  be  publicly  read  at  their  feasts,  called  Panathenea*.*  Plato  ascribes 
this  honour  to  his  son  Hipparchus.t 

Pisistralus  died  in  tranquillity,  and  transmitted  to  his  sons  the  sovereign 
power,  which  he  had  usurped  thirty  years  before  ;  seventeen  of  which  he  had 
reigned  in  peace  .J 

His  sons  were  Hippias  and  Hipparchus.§  Thucydides  adds  a  third,  whoni 
be  calls  Thessalus.  They  seemed  to  have  inherited  from  their  father  an  af- 
fection for  learning  and  learned  men.  Plato,  who  attributes  to  Hipparchus 
what  we  have  said  concerning  the  poems  of  Homer,  adds  that  he  invited  to 
Athens  the  famous  poet  Anacreon,  who  was  of  Teos,  a  city  of  Ionia  ;  and  thai 
he  sent  a  vessel  of  fifty  oars  op  purpose  for  him.ll  He  likewise  entertained  at 
his  house  Simonides,  another  famous  poet  of  the  isle  of  Ceos.  one  of  the  Cycla- 
des,  in  the  JEgean  sea,  to  whom  he  gave  a  large  pension,  and  made  very  rich 
presents.  The  design  of  these  princes  in  inviting  men  of  letters  to  Athens  was, 
says  Plato,  to  soften  and  cultivate  the  minds  of  the  citizens,  and  to  infuse  into 
them  a  relish  and  love  of  virtue,  by  giving  them  a  taste  for  learning  and  the  sci- 
ences. Their  care  extended  even  to  the  instructing  of  the  peasants  and  coun- 
try people,  by  erecting,  not  only  in  the  streets  of  the  city,  but  in  all  the  roads 
and  highways,  statues  of  stones,  called  Mercuries, with  grave  sentences  carved 
upon  them  ;  in  which  manner  those  silent  monitors  gave  instructive  lessons  to 
all  passengers.  Plato  seems  to  suppose,  that  Hipparchus  had  the  authority, 
or  that  the  two  brothers  reigned  together.  But  Thucydides  shows,  that  Hip 
pias,  as  the  eldest  of  the  sons,  succeeded  his  father  in  the  government. If 

Be  this  as  it  may,  their  reign  in  the  whole,  after  the  death  of  Pisistratus,  ^va« 
only  of  eighteen  years  duration,  and  ended  in  the  following  manner. 

Harmodi'js  and  Aristogiton,  both  citizens  of  Athens,  had  contracted  a  very 
strict  friendship.  Hipparchus,  angry  with  the  former  for  a  personal  affront  he 
pretended  to  have  received  from  him,  sought  to  revenge  himself  by  a  public 
affront  to  his  sister,  in  obliging  her  shamefully  to  retire  from  a  solemn  proces- 
sion, in  which  she  wa?  to  carry  one  of  the  sacred  baskets,  alleging  that  she  was 
not  in  a  fit  condition  to  assist  at  such  a  ceremony.  Her  brother,  and  still  more 
his  friend,  being  stung  to  the  quick  by  so  gross  and  outrageous  an  affront,  formed, 
from  that  moment,  a  resolution  to  attack  the  tyrants.  And  to  do  it  the  more 
effectually,  they  waited  for  the  opportunity  of  a  festival,  which  they  judged 
would  be  very  favourable  for  their  purpose  :  this  was  the  feast  of  the  Pana- 
thenea,  in  which  the  ceremony  required  that  all  the  tradesmen  and  artificers 
should  be  under  arms.  For  the  greater  security,  they  only  admitted  a  very 
small  number  of  the  citizens  into  their  secret ;  conceiving  that,  upon  the  fir^t 
motion,  all  the  rest  would  join  them.  The  day  being  come,  they  went  l^e- 
times  into  the  market-place,  armed  with  daggers.  Hippias  came  out  of  lltc 
palace,  and  went  to  the  Ceramicum,  which  was  a  place  without  the  city,  where 
the  company  of  guards  then  were,  to  give  the  necessary  orders  for  the  ceje- 
mony  The  tw^o  friends  followed  him  thither,  and  cominp  near  him,  they  saw 
one  of  the  conspirators  talking  very  familiarly  with  him,  which  made  them  ap- 
prehend they  were  betrayed.  They  could  have  executed  their  design  that  mo- 
ment upon  Hippias;  but  were  willing  to  begin  their  vengeance  upon  the  au- 
thor of  the  affront  they  had  received.  They  therefore  returned  into  the  city, 
where  meeting  with  Hipparchus,  they  killed  him  ;  but  being  immediately  ap 
prehended,  themselves  were  sJain,  and  Hippias  found  means  to  dispel  the 
storm.** 

After  this  affair  he  regarded  no  measures,  and  reigned  like  a  true  tyrant, 
putting  to  death  a  vast  number  of  citizens.  To  guard  himself  for  the  future 
against  a  like  enterprise,  and  to  secure  a  safe  retreat  in  case  of  any  accident. 


•  Lib.  iii.  de  Orat.  n.  137.  t  In  Hipparch.  p.  233. 

5  A.  M.  3473.    Ant.  J.  C  526. 
▼  ThucyH.  1.  Y«.  p.  'i-2b. 


*  Aris*.  lib.  de  Rep.  c. 
II  Id  Hip.  p.  2-23,229. 


140 


UfSTORY  OF  GREtOE. 


he  endeavoured  to  strengthen  himself  by  a  foreign  support,  and,  ]b  that  end, 
gave  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  the  son  of  the  tyrant  of  Lampsacus. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Alcmaeonidae,  who,  from  the  beginning  of  the  revolu- 
tion, had  been  banished  from  Athens  by  Pisistratus,  and  who  saw  their  hopes 
frustrated  by  the  bad  success  of  the  last  conspiracy,  did  not  however  lose  cou- 
rage, but  turned  their  views  another  way.*  As  they  were  very  rich  and  power- 
ful, they  got  themselves  appointed  by  the  Amphictyons,  who  were  the  heads 
of  the  grand  or  general  council  of  Greece,  superintendents  for  rebuilding  the 
temple  of  Delphos,  for  the  sum  of  three  hundred  talents,  or  nine  hundred  thou* 
sand  livres.t  As  they  were  naturally  very  generous,  and  besides  had  their 
reasons  for  being  so  on  this  occasion,  they  added  to  this  sum  a  great  deal  of 
their  own  money,  and  made  the  whole  front  of  the  temple  of  Parian  marble,  at 
their  private  expense  ;  whereas,  by  the  contract  made  with  the  Amphictyons, 
it  was  only  to  have  been  made  of  common  stone. 

The  liberality  of  the  Alcmaeonidae  was  not  altogether  a  free  bounty  ;  neither 
was  their  magnificence  towards  the  god  of  Delphos  a  pure  eflfect  of  religion. 
Policy  was  the  chief  motive.  They  hoped,  by  this  means,  to  acquire  great 
credit  and  influence  in  the  temple,  which  happened  according  to  their  expec- 
tation. The  money  which  they  had  plentifully  poured  into  the  hands  of  the 
priestess,  rendered  them  absolute  masters  of  the  oracle,  and  of  the  pretended 
god  who  presided  over  it,  and  who,  for  the  future,  becoming  their  echo,  faith- 
fully repeated  the  words  they  dictated  to  him,  and  gratefully  lent  them  the 
assistance  of  his  voice  and  authority.  As  often,  therefore,  as  any  Spartan  came 
to  consult  the  priestess,  whether  upon  his  own  affairs,  or  upon  those  of  the  state, 
no  promise  was  ever  made  him  of  the  god's  assistance,  but  upon  condition  that 
the  Lacedaemonians  should  deliver  Athens  from  the  yoke  of  tyranny.  This 
order  was  so  often  repeated  to  them  by  the  oracle,  that  they  resolved  at  last  to 
make  war  against  the  Pisistratidae,  though  they  were  under  the  strongest  en- 
gagements of  friendship  and  hospitality  with  them  ;  herein  preferring  the  will 
of  God,  says  Herodotus,  to  all  human  considerations.J 

The  first  attempt  of  this  kind  miscarried  ;  and  the  troops  they  sent  against 
the  tyrants  were  repulsed  with  loss.  Notwithstanamg,  a  short  time  after,  they 
made  a  second,  which  seemed  to  promise  no  better  an  issue  than  the  first ;  be- 
cause most  of  the  Lacedaemonians,  seeing  the  siege  they  had  laid  before  Athens 
likely  to  continue  a  great  while,  retired,  and  left  only  a  small  number  of  troops 
to  carry  it  on.  But  the  tyrant's  children,  who  had  been  clandertinely  con- 
veyed out  of  the  city,  in  order  to  be  put  in  a  safe  place,  being  taken  by  the 
enemy,  the  father,  to  redeem  them,  was  obliged  to  come  to  an  accommoda- 
tion with  the  Athenians,  by  which  it  was  stipulated,  that  he  should  depart  out 
of  Attica  in  five  days  time.  Accordingly,  he  actually  retired  within  the  time 
limited,  and  settled  at  Sigaeum,  a  town  in  Phrygia,  seated  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river  Scamander.§ 

Pliny  observes,  that  the  tyrants  were  driven  out  of  Athens  the  same  year 
the  kings  were  expelled  from  Rome.ll  Extraordinary  honours  were  paid  to  the 
memory  of  Harmodius  and  Aristogiton.  Their  names  were  infinitely  respected 
at  Athens  in  all  succeeding  ages,  and  almost  held  in  equal  reverence  with  those 
of  the  gods.  Statues  were  forthwith  erected  to  them  in  the  market-place,which 
was  an  honour  that  had  never  been  rendered  to  any  man  before.  The  veiy 
Bight  of  these  statues,  exposed  to  the  view  of  all  the  citizens,  kept  up  their 
fcatred  and  detestation  of  tyranny,  and  daily  renewed  their  sentiments  of  grati- 
tude to  those  generous  defenders  of  their  liberty,  who  had  not  scrupled  to  pur- 
chase it  with  their  lives,  and  to  seal  it  with  their  blood.  Alexander  the  Great, 
who  knew  how  dear  the  memory  of  these  men  was  to  the  Athenians,  and  how 
far  they  carried  their  zeal  in  this  respect,  thought  he  did  them  a  sensible  plea- 
•ure  in  sending  them  the  statues  of  those  two  great  men,  which  he  found  Ml 


•  Herod.  1.  r.  c  62—96.  t  ^bout  $177,777. 

^  A.  M  Ant.  J.  O.  m.  H  Plin  K  xxxir.  r  ' 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


441 


Persia  after  the  defeat  of  Darius,  and  which  Xerxes  before  had  carriea  ih/ther 
from  Athens.*  This  city,  at  the  time  of  her  deliverance  from  tyranny,  did 
not  confine  her  gratitude  solely  to  the  authors  of  her  liberty  ;  but  extended  it 
even  to  a  woman,  who  had  signalized  her  courage  on  that  occasion.  This 
woman  was  a  courtezan,  named  Leona,  who,  by  the  charms  of  her  beauty, 
and  skill  in  playing  on  the  harp,  had  particularly  captivated  Harmodius  and 
Aristogiton.  After  their  death,  the  tyrant,  who  knew  they  had  concealed  no- 
thing from  this  woman,  caused  her  to  be  put  to  the  torture,  in  order  to  make 
her  declare  the  names  of  the  other  conspirators.  But  she  bore  all  the  cruelty 
of  their  torments  with  an  invmcible  constancy,  and  expired  in  the  midst  of  them ; 
gloriously  showing  to  the  world,  that  her  sex  is  more  courageous,  and  more 
capable  of  keeping  a  secret,  than  some  men  imagine.  The  Athenians  would 
not  suffer  the  memory  of  so  heroic  an  action  to  be  lost:  and  to  prevent  the 
lustre  of  it  from  being  sullied  by  the  consideration  of  her  character  as  a  cour- 
tezan, they  endeavoured  to  conceal  that  circumstance,  by  representing  her  in 
the  statue,  which  they  erected  to  her  honour,  under  the  figure  of  a  lioness  with- 
out a  tongue.t 

Plutarch,  in  the  life  of  Aristides,  relates  a  thing  which  does  great  honour 
to  the  Athenians,  and  which  shows  to  what  a  length  they  carried  their  gratitude 
to  their  deliverer,  and  their  respect  for  his  memory.  They  had  learned  that 
the  grand-daughter  of  Aristogiton  lived  at  Lemnos,  in  very  mean  and  poor  cir- 
cumstances, nobody  being  willing  to  marry  her,  upon  account  of  her  extreme 
indigence  and  poverty.  The  people  of  Athens  sent  for  her,  and  marrying  her 
to  one  ot  the  richest  and  most  considerable  men  of  their  city,  gave  her  an  es- 
tate in  land  in  the  town  of  Potamos  for  her  portion.J 

Atiiens  seemed,  in  recovering  her  liberty,  to  have  also  recovered  her  cou- 
rnge.  During  the  reigns  of  her  tyrants  she  had  acted  with  indolence  and  in- 
difference, knowing  that  what  she  did  was  not  for  herself,  but  for  them.  But 
after  her  deliverance  from  their  yoke,  the  vigour  and  activity  she  exerted  was 
of  quite  a  different  kind,  because  then  her  labours  were  her  own. 

Athens,  however,  did  not  immediately  enjoy  a  perfect  tranquillity.  Two 
of  her  citizens,  Clisthenes,  one  of  the  Alcmaeonidae,  and  Isagoras,  who  were 
men  of  the  greatest  influence  and  power  in  the  city,  by  contending  with  each 
other  for  superiority,  created  two  considerable  factions.  The  former,  who 
had  gained  the  people  on  his  side,  made  an  alteration  in  the  form  of  their 
establishment,  and  instead  of  four  tribes,  whereof  they  consisted  before,  di- 
vided  that  body  into  ten  tribes,  to  which  he  gave  the  names  of  the  ten  sons  of 
Ion,  whom  the  Greek  historians  make  the  father  and  first  founder  of  the  nation. 
Isagoras,  finding  himself  inferior  to  his  rival,  had  recourse  to  the  Lacedaemo- 
nians. Cleomenes,  one  of  the  two  kings  of  Sparta  obliged  Clisthenes  to  de- 
part from  Athens,  with  seven  hundred  families  of  his  adherents.  But  they 
soon  returned,  and  were  restored  to  all  their  estates  and  fortunes. 

The  Lacedaemonians,  stung  with  spite  and  jealousy  against  Athens,  because 
she  took  upon  her  to  act  independent  of  their  authority  ;  and  repenting  also, 
that  they  had  delivered  her  from  her  tyrants  upon  the  credit  of  an  oracle,  ol 
which  they  had  since  discovered  the  imposture,  began  to  think  of  reinstating 
Hippias,  one  of  the  sons  of  Pisistratus  ;  and  to  that  end  sent  for  him  from  Si- 
gaeum,  to  which  place  he  had  retired.  They  then  communicated  their  design 
to  the  deputies  of  their  allies,  whose  assistance  and  concurrence  they  propose  d 
to  use,  in  order  to  render  their  enterprise  more  successful. 

The  deputy  of  Corinth  spoke  first  on  this  occasion,  and  expressed  grt  ^^t 
astonishment,  that  the  Lacedaemonians,  who  were  themselves  avowed  enemies 
of  tyranny,  and  professed  the  greatest  abhorrence  for  all  arbitrary  govern* 
ment,  should  desire  to  establish  it  elsewhere ;  describing  at  the  same  tim^', 
in  a  lively  manner,  all  the  cruel  and  horrid  effects  of  tyrannical  governme/it, 
which  his  own  country,  Corinth,  had  but  very  lately  felt  by  woful  experience. 


Plin.  1.  rxx""«.  c.  8. 


t  Plin.l.  rii.  c.  23.  et  1.  \xxiv  c.  St. 


:  Pag-e  315 


443 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE 


The  rest  of  the  deputies  applauded  his  discourse,  and  were  of  his  opinion 

Thus  the  enterprise  came  to  nothing ;  and  had  no  other  effect,  than  to  disco 
ver  tlie  base  jealousy  of  the  Lacedaemonians,  and  to  cover  them  with  shann 
and  confusion. 

Hippias,  defeated  in  his  hopes,  retired  into  Asia  to  Artaphernes,  governo; 
of  Sard  is  for  the  king  of  Persia,  whom  he  endeavoured,  by  every  method;  to 
engage  in  a  war  against  Athens  ;  representing  to  him,  that  the  taking  of  so 
rich  and  powerful  a  city  would  render  him  master  of  all  Greece.  Artaphei- 
nes  hereupon  required  of  the  Athenians,  that  they  would  reinstate  Hippias  in 
the  government ;  to  which  they  made  no  other  answer  than  a  downright  and 
absolute  refusal.  This  was  the  original  ground  and  occasion  of  the  wars  be- 
tween the  Pe-^wans  and  the  Greeks,  which  will  be  the  sufcy'ect  of  the  following 
■  volumes. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

'  ILLUSTRIOUS  MEN,  WHO  DISTINGUISHED  THEMSELVES  IN  ARTS  AND  SCIENCES 

^  I  BEGIN  with  the  poets,  because  the  most  ancient. 

Homer,  the  most  celebrated  and  illustrious  of  all  the  poets,  is  he  of  whom 
we  have  the  least  knowledge,  either  with  respect  to  the  country  where  he  was 
born,  or  the  time  in  which  he  lived.  Among  the  seven  cities  of  Greece,  that 
contend  for  the  honour  of  having  given  him  birth,  Smyrna  seems  to  have  the 
best  title. 

Herodotus  tells  us,  that  Homer  wrote  four  hundred  years  before  his  time, 
that  is,  three  hundred  and  forty  years  after  the  taking  of  Troy  ;  for  Herodo- 
tus flourished  seven  hundred  and  forty  years  after  that  expedition.* 

Some  authors  have  pretended,  that  he  was  called  Homer,  because  he  was 
born  blind.  Velleius  Paterculus  rejects  this  story  with  contempt.  If  any 
man,"  says  he,  believes  that  Homer  was  born  blind,  he  must  be  so  himself, 
and  even  have  lost  all  his  senses."t  Indeed,  according  to  the  observation  of 
Cicero,  Homer's  works  are  rather  pictures  than  poems,  so  perfectly  does  he 
paint  to  the  life,  and  set  the  images  of  every  thing  he  undertakes  to  describe 
before  the  eyes  of  the  reader ;  and  he  seems  to  have  been  intent  upon  intro- 
ducing all  the  most  delightful  and  agreeable  objects  that  nature  affords,  into 
his  writings,  and  to  make  them,  in  a  manner,  pass  in  review  before  his  readers.J 

What  is  most  astonishing  in  this  poet  is,  that  having  applied  himself  the  first, 
at  least  of  those  that  are  known,  to  that  kind  of  poetry  which  is  the  most  sublime 
and  difficult  of  all,  he  should,  however,  soar  so  high,  and  with  such  rapidity, 
as  to  carry  it  at  once  to  the  utmost  perfection  ;  which  seldom  or  never  hap- 
pens in  other  arts,  but  by  slow  degrees,  and  after  a  long  series  of  years.6 

The  kind  of  poetry  we  are  speaking  of,  is  the  epic  poem,  so  called  from 
the  Greek  word  inos  ;  because  it  is  an  acticn  related  by  the  poet.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  poem  must  be  great,  instructive,  serious,  containing  only  one  prin- 
cipal event,  to  which  all  the  rest  must  refer  and  be  subordinate  ;  and  this 
principal  action  must  have  passed  in  a  certain  space  of  time,  which  must  not 
exceed  a  year  at  most. 

Homer  has  composed  two  poems  of  this  kind,  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey : 
the  subject  of  the  first  is  the  anger  of  Achilles,  so  pernicious  to  the  GreeKs, 
when  they  besieged  Ilion  or  Troy  ;  and  that  of  the  second  is,  the  voyagei 
and  adventures  of  Ulysses,  after  the  taking  of  that  city. 

U  is  remarkable  that  no  nation  in  the  world,  however  learned  and  ingenious, 
has  ever  produced  any  poems  comparable  to  his  ;  and  that  whoever  have  at* 

*  Lib.  ii.  c.  53.    A.  M,  3160.    Ant.  J.  C.  844. 
I  Q,uem  si  quis  caecum  genitum  putat,  omnibus  aensibus  ©rbus  est. — Paterc.  1.  i.  c.  5. 
X  Tuscul.  QusBSt.  1.  V.  n.  114. 
1  Clarissimum  deinde  Homeri  illuxit  ing^enium,  sine  exemplo  maximum  :  qui  magnitudin*.  operis,  ct  fi;l- 
pore  carminiim.  solus  appellaii  Poeta  meruit.    In  quo  hoc  maximum  est,  quod  aequo  ante  ilium,  q  em  illi 
imilaretur;  neque  post  ilium,  qui  imitari  eum  possit,  inventus  est;  neque  quemqnam  alium,  cujus  operis  pri 
Ovii»  aVHMor  fuerit,  in  to  prrfectissimum,  prvnter  Homerum  et  Archilochum  rej)erlemuB. — Veil  Pate«»- 
V.  i.  t  4. 


fnSTORY  OF  GREFXK. 


44.: 


ttrmptedany  works  of  that  kind,  have  taken  their  plan  and  ideas  fronri  Homer, 
borrowed  all  their  rules  from  him,  made  him  their  model,  and  have  only  suc- 
ceeded in  proportion  to  their  success  in  copying  him.  The  truth  is,  Homei 
was  an  original  genius,  and  a  fit  model  for  the  formation  of  others :  Fons  in," 
gemorum  Homerus* 

The  greatest  men,  and  the  most  exalted  geniuses,  that  have  appeared  for 
these  two  thousand  and  five  or  six  hundred  years,  in  Greece,  Italy,  and  else- 
where ;  those,  whose  writings  we  are  forced  still  to  admire ;  who  are  still  our 
masters,  and  who  teach  us  to  think,  to  reason,  to  speak,  and  to  write  ;  all  these, 
says  Madame  Dacier,  acknowledge  Homer  to  be  the  greatest  of  poets,  and  look 
upSLi  his  poems  as  the  model  after  which  all  succeeding  poets  should  form 
their  taste  and  judgment.!  After  all  this,  can  there  be  any  man  so  conceited 
of  his  own  talents,  be  they  ever  so  great,  as  reasonably  to  presume,  that  his 
decisions  should  prevail  against  such  a  universal  concurrence  of  judgment  in 
persons  of  the  most  distinguished  abilities  and  characters  ? 

So  many  testimonies,  so  ancient,  so  constant,  and  so  universal,  entirely  jus- 
tify the  favourable  judgment  of  Alexander  the  Great,  of  the  works  of  Homer, 
tvhich  he  looked  upon  as  the  most  excellent  and  valuable  production  of  human 
tvit ;  preiiosismnum  humard  anirm  opus,X 

Quintilian,  after  having  made  a  magnificent  encomium  upon  Homer,  gives 
us  a  just  idea  of  his  character  and  manner  of  writing  in  these  few  words  : 
Hu7ic  nemo  in  rnagnis  sublimitate,  in  parvis  proprietate  superaverit.  Idem  Ice-  * 
ins  ac  pressus^  jucundus  et  gravis^  turn  copia  turn  hrevitate  mirahilis.  In 
great  things,  what  a  sublimity  of  expression !  and  in  little,  what  a  justness  and 
propriety!  diffusive  and  concise, pleasant  and  grave,  equally  admirable  both 
for  his  copiousness  and  his  brevity.§ 

Hesiod.  The  most  common  opinion  is,  that  he  was  cotemporary  with 
Homer.  It  is  said,  that  he  was  born  at  Cumae,  a  town  in  iEolia,  but  that  he 
was  brought  up  at  Ascra,  a  little  town  in  Boeotia,  which  has  since  passed  for 
his  native  country.  Thus  Virgil  calls  him  the  old  man  of  Ascra. Il  We  know 
little  or  nothing  of  this  poet,  but  by  the  few  remaining  poems  of  his,  all  in 
hexameter  verse ;  which  are,  1st,  "  The  Works  and  Days ;"  2dly,  "  The 
Theogony  or,  the  Genealogy  of  the  gods  ;  3dly,  "  The  Shield  of  Hercu- 
les    which,  by  some,  is  doubted  to  have  been  written  by  Hesiod. 

1.  In  the  first  of  these  poems,  entitled  "  The  Works  and  Days,"  Hesiod 
treats  of  agriculture,  which  requires,  besides  a  great  deal  of  labour,  a  prudent 
observation  of  times,  seasons,  and  days.  This  poem  is  full  of  excellent  sen- 
tences and  maxims  for  the  conduct  of  life.  He  begins  it  with  a  short  but  lively 
description  of  two  sorts  of  disputes  ;  the  one  fatal  to  mankind,  the  source  of 
quarrels,  discords  and  wars  ;  and  the  other,  infinitely  useful  and  beneficial  to 
man,  as  it  sharpens  their  wits,  excites  a  noble  and  generous  emulation  among 
them,  and  prepares  the  way  for  the  invention  and  improvement  of  arts  and  sci- 
ences. He  then  gives  an  admirable  description  of  the  four  different  ages  of 
the  world ;  the  golden,  the  silver,  the  brazen  and  the  iron  age.  The  persons 
who  lived  in  the  golden  age,  ar^  those  whom  Jupiter  after  their  death,  turned 
hito  so  many  GeniilF  or  spirits,  and  then  appointed  them  as  guardians  over 
mankind,  giving  them  a  commission  to  go  up  and  down  the  earth,  invisible  t# 
men,  and  to  observe  all  their  good  and  evil  actions. 

This  poem  was  Virgil's  model  in  composing  his  Georgics,  as  he  himself  ac- 
knowledges in  this  verse  : 

Ascrjeiimque  cano  Romana  per  opplda  carmen.* 
••And  sing  the  Ascraean  verse  to  Roman  swains.'* 

The  choice  made  by  these  two  illustrious  poets  of  this  subject  for  the  exer- 
cise of  theii  muse,  shows  in  what  honour  the  ancients  held  agriculture,  and  the 
feeding  of  cattle,  the  two  innocent  sources  of  wealth  and  plenty.    It  is  much 


•  Phn.  1,  xvii.  c.  5.  t  I"  Homer'«  Life,  wlilch  is  jrefixed  to  her  translation  of  th«  lUa4 

X  Plln.  1.  svii.  c.  29  \  Quint.  \.  x.  c.  1. 


444 


KISIORY  or  GRKECB. 


lo  be  deplored,  that,  in  after  ages,  men  departed  from  a  taste  «o  agreeable  (o 
nature,  and  so  well  adapted  to  the  preservation  of  innocence  and  good  man- 
ners.  Avarice  and  luxury  have  entirely  banished  it  from  the  world.  Nimi* 
rum  alii  subiere  ritus,  circaque  alia  mentes  hominum  detinentur,  et  avaritia 
tantum  artes  coluntur,^ 

2.  "  The  Theogony"  of  Hesiod,  and  the  poems  of  Homer,  may  be  looked 
upon  as  the  surest  and  most  authentic  archives  and  monuments  of  the  theology  oi 
the  ancients,  and  of  the  opinion  they  had  of  their  gods.  P'or  we  are  not  to  sup* 
p()se,  that  these  poets  were  inventors  of  the  fables  which  we  read  in  their  writings. 
They  only  collected,  and  transmitted  to  posterity,  the  doctrines  of -the  religion 
which  they  found  established,  and  which  prevailed  in  their  time  and  country. 

3.  "  The  Shield  of  Hercules"  is  a  separate  fragment  of  a  poem,  wherein, 
it  is  pretended,  Hesiod  celebrated  the  most  illustrious  heroines  of  antiquity  ; 
and  it  bears  that  title,  because  it  contains,  among  other  things,  a  long  descrip- 
tion of  the  sbie.d  of  Hercules,  concerning  whom  the  same  poem  relates  a  par- 
ticular adventure. 

The  poetry  of  Hesiod,  in  those  places  that  are  Sdsceptible  of  ornament,  is 
very  elegant  and  delightful,  but  not  so  sublime  and  lofty  as  that  of  Homer. 
Qiiintilian  reckons  him  the  chief  in  the  middle  manner  of  writing.  Datur  et 
palma  in  illo  medio  dicendi  general 
^  Archilochus.  The  poet  Archilochus,  born  in  Paros,  inventor  of  the  iam- 
bic verse,  lived  in  the  time  of  Candaules,  king  of  Lvdia.§  He  has  this  ad- 
vantage in  common  with  Homer,  according  to  Velleius  Paterculus,  that  he 
carried  at  once  that  kind  of  poetry,  which  he  invented,  to  a  very  great  perfec- 
tion. The  feet  which  gave  their  name  to  these  verses,  and  which  at  first  were 
the  only  sort  used,  are  composed  of  one  short  and  one  long  syllable.  The 
iambic  verse,  such  as  was  invented  by  Archilochus,  seems  very  proper  for  the 
vehement  and  energetic  style  :  accordingly  we  see,  that  Horace,  speaking  of 
this  poet,  says,  that  it  was  his  anger,  or  n  Iher  his  rage,  that  armed  him  with 
his  iambics,  for  the  exercising  and  exerting  of  his  vengeance. 

Archilochum  proprio  rabies  armavit  iambo.|) 

And  Quintilian  says,  he  had  an  uncommon  force  of  expression  ;  was  full  of 
bold  thoughts,  and  of  those  strokes  that  are  short,  but  keen  and  piercing  ;  in  ' 
a  word,  his  style  was  strong  and  nervous. IF  The  longest  of  his  poems  were 
said  to  be  the  best.**  The  same  judgment  has  been  universally  passed  upon 
the  orations  of  Demosthenes  and  Cicero  ;  the  latter  of  ^vhom  says  the  same 
of  the  letters  of  his  friend  Atticus. 

The  verses  of  Archilochus  were  extremely  biting  and  licentious  ;  witness 
those  he  wrote  against  Lycambes,  his  father-in-law,  which  drove  him  to  des- 
pair.tt  For  these  two  reasons,  his  poetry,  however  excellent  it  was  esteemed 
jn  other  respects,  was  discountenanced  in  Sparta,  as  being  more  likely  to  cor- 
rupt the  hearts  and  manners  of  young  people,  than  to  be  useful  in  cultivating 
their  understanding-.^^  We  have  only  some  very  short  fragments  that  remain 
of  this  poet.  Such  delicacy  in  a  heathen  people,  in  regard  to  the  quality  of 
the  books  which  they  thought  young  people  should  be  permitted  to  read,  is 
highly  worthy  of  our  notice,  and  justly  reproaches  many  Christians. 

HippoNAX.  This  poet  was  of  Ephesus,  and  signalized  his  wit  some  years 
after  Archilochus,  in  the  same  kind  of  poetry,  and  with  the  same  force  aiid 


•  Geor.  1.  ii.  y.  176.  f  Plin.  in  Proem.  1.  xir.  %  Lib.  i.  c.  5. 

J  A.  M.  3230.    Ant.  J.  C.  724.  ||  Art.  Poet.  v.  79. 

If  Summa  in  hoc  vis  elocutionis,  cum  valide  turn  brevet  vibrantesque  sentential,  plurimum  sanguinis  at* 
que  nervorum. — Q,uint.  1.  x.  c.  J. 

Ut  Aristopfaani  Archilochi  iambus,  sic  epistola  long^issima  qiieque  optima  videtur. — Cic.  Epist.  xi.  1. 
JO.  ai  Ajtlicwm. 

tt  Hor.  Epod.  Od.  vi.  et  Episl.  xix  I.  i. 
J$  Lacedacmonii  libros  Archilochi  c  civitate  sua  exportari  jusserunt,  quod  eorum  parum  verecundam  ao 
j^udieam  lectionem  arbitrabantur.    N.oluerunt  cnim  ealiberonim  suorum  animos  imbni,  nc  plus  moribus  no- 
tteret,  qusm  ingeniis  prode-sset.    Itaque  maximum  poetam,  aut  certc  summo  proximum,  quia  domum  wbi 
i^viwirrt  obscwnis  maled^ctis  larernvcrat,  oarminum  cxilio  tin']c' v^runt. — Vtil.  Pat.  1.  vi.c  3. 


HlSTOity  OF  CREECB 


rehemence.  He  n-as  ugly,  little,  lean,  and  slender.*  Two  celebrated  sculp- 
tors and  brothers,  Bupalus  and  Atlienis,  (some  call  the  latter  Anthermus,^  di- 
verted themselves  at  his  expense,  and  represented  him  in  a  ridiculous  lorm. 
It  is  dangerous  to  attack  satiric  poets.  Hipponax  retorted  their  pleasantry 
with  such  keen  strokes  of  satire,  that  they  hanged  themselves  out  of  mortifi- 
cation :  others  say,  they  only  quitted  the  city  of  Ephesus,  where  Hipponai 
lived.  His  malignant  pen  did  not  spare  even  those  to  whom  he  owed  his  life. 
How  monstrous  was  this !  Horace  joins  Hipponax  with  Archilochus,  and  rep- 
resents them  as  two  poets  equally  dangerous.f  In  the  Anthologia  there  are 
ihree  or  four  epigrams,  which  describe  Hipponax  as  terrible,  even  after  death. 
They  admonish  travellers  to  avoid  his  tomb,  as  a  place  from  whence  a  dread- 
ful hail  perpetually  pours  :  cX)£t)y£  T3vxaXa{fr^i  roKpov,  Tjv(pf»j<T6y.  Fuge  grandinati' 
lem  tumulum^  horrendum,'l 

It  is  thought  he  invented  the  Scazon  verse,  in  which  the  spondee  is  used  in- 
stead of  the  iambus,  in  the  sixth  foot  of  the  verse  which  bears  that  name. 

Stesichorus.  He  was  of  Himera,  a  town  in  Sicily,  and  excelled  in  lyric 
poetry,  as  did  those  other  poets  we  are  about  to  mention.  Lyric  poetry  is  that, 
in  whichithe  verses,  arranged  into  odes  and  stanzas,  Avere  sung  to  the  lyre,  or 
to  other  such  like  instruments.  Stesichorus  flourished  between  the  37th  and 
47th  Olympiad.  Pausanias,  after  many  other  fables,  relates,  that  Stesichorus, 
having  been  punished  with  the  loss  of  sight  for  his  satirical  verses  against  He- 
lena, did  not  recover  it  till  he  had  retracted  his  invectives,  by  writing  another 
ode  contrary  to  the  first ;  which  latter  kind  of  ode  is  since  called  palinodia.§ 
Quintilian  says,  that  he  sung  of  wars  and  illustrious  heroes,  and  that  he  sup- 
ported upon  the  lyre  all  the  dignity  and  majesty  of  epic  poetry. || 

Alcman.  He  was  of  Lacedaemon,  or,  according  to  some,  of  Sardis  in  Ly- 
dia,  and  lived  much  about  the  same  time  as  Stesichorus.  Some  make  him 
the  first  author  of  amorous  verses. 

Aic^us.  He  was  born  at  Mitylene  in  Lesbos  :  it  is  from  him  that  the  Alcaic 
verse  derived  its  name.  He  was  a  professed  enemy  to  the  tyrants  of  Lesbos, 
and  particularly  to  Pittacus,  against  whom  he  perpetually  inveighed  in  his  ver- 
ses. It  is  said  of  him,  that  being  once  in  a  battle,  he  was  seized  with  such  fear 
and  terror,  that  he  threw  down  his  arms  and  ran  away.H  Horace  has  thought 
fit  to  give  us  the  same  account  of  himself.^*  Poets  do  not  value  themselves  so 
much  upon  prowess  as  upon  wit.  Quintilian  says,  that  the  style  of  Alcaeus  was 
close,  magnificent,  and  accurate  ;  and  to  complete  his  character,  adds,  that  he 
very  much  resembled  Komer.jt 

SiMONiDES.  This  poet  was  of  the  island  of  Ceos,  in  the  jEgean  sea.  He 
continued  to  flourish  at  the  time  of  Xerxes's  expedition.  He  excelled  princi- 
pally in  funeral  elegy. J;]:  The  invention  of  local  memory  is  ascribed  to  him,  of 
which  I  have  spoken  elsewhere. §§  At  twenty-four  years  of  age,  he  contended 
Jbr  and  carried  the  prize  of  poetry. 

The  answer  he  gave  to  Hiero,  king  of  Syracuse,  who  asked  him  what  God 
was,  is  much  celebrated.    The  poet  desired  a  day  to  consider  the  questi'/a 


♦  Hipponac^  notabilis  Tultus  foeditas  erat:  quamobrem  itnag^nem  ejus  lascirla  jocorum  ii  proposiierc  ri 
ientium  circulU.  Q,tiod  Hipponax  indignatus  amaritudinem  canninum  diftrinxit  in  tantum,  ut  credatur  all 
fuibu*  ad  laqueum  cos  impuMsse:  quod  fal.sum  est. — Plin.  1.  xxxvi.  c.  5. 

I  In  malos  aiperrimut 

Parata  toUo  cornua . 
Qualis  Lycarobae  spretus  infido  gener, 
Aut  acer  hoitis  Bupalo.  ■        Epod.  ri. 
J  Anlhol.  1.  iii.    ^  }  Paul,  in  Lacon.  p.  200. 

I  SUtiehorum,  quam  lit  ing^enio  validui.  raatert«  quoque  ost«ndunt,  maxima  bclla  et  clariMlmoi  ca  i«b 
Um  4i«af,  et  epici  carminis  onera  Ijra  lustinentem — Lib.  x.  c.  1. 

IT  Herod.  1.  t.  c.  95. 
Tecum  Philipposet  celerem  fug-am 

Semi,  relicta  noabene  parmula.  Hor.  Od.  rii.  1«  % 

II  In  eloquendo  breris  et  magnificus  et  diligens,  plerumque  Homero  tiailU. 
XX  Sed  me  relictis,  Musa  procax,  jocii 

Ceae  retractes  munera  neniae.  Horat. 

Moestius  lacrymis  Simonideis.— ——Catull. 
il  Method  of  Teaching  ana  Studying  the  Belles  LetU«i 


HISTORY  UF  CREECE 


proposed  to  him.  On  the  morrow  he  asked  two  days ;  and  whenever  he  was 
called  upon  for  his  answer,  he  still  doubled  the  time.  The  king,  surprised  at 
this  behaviour,  demanded  his  reason  for  it.  It  is,  replied  Simonides,  because 
the  more  I  consider  the  question,  the  more  obscure  it  seems  :  Quia  quanto  diu^ 
tins  considero^  tanto  mlhi  res  videtur  obicurior.*  The  answer  was  wise,  if  it 
proceeded  from  the  high  idea  which  he  conceived  of  the  Divine  Majesty  which 
no  understanding  can  comprehend,  nor  any  tongue  express.! 

After  having  travelled  to  many  cities  of  Asia,  and  amassed  considerable 
wealth,  by  celebrating  in  his  verses  the  praises  of  those  who  were  capable  of 
rewarding  him  well,  he  embarked  for  the  island  of  Ceos,  his  native  country. 
The  ship  was  cast  away.  Every  one  endeavoured  to  save  what  he  could, 
Simonides  took  no  care  of  any  thing ;  and  when  he  was  asked  the  reason  for  it, 
he  replied,  "  I  carry  all  I  have  about  me  Mecnm,  inquit^  mea  sunt  cuncta. 
Several  of  the  company  were  drowned  by  the  w^eigh*  of  the  things  they  at- 
tempted to  save,  and  those  who  got  to  shore  were  robbed  by  thieves.  All 
that  escaped  went  to  Clazomenae,  which  was  no:  tar  from  the  place  where  the 
vessel  was  lost.  One  of  the  citizens,  who  bved  learning,  and  had  read  the 
poems  of  Simonides  with  great  admiration,  was  excessively  pleased,  and 
thought  it  an  honour  to  receive  him  into  his  house.  He  supplied  him  abun- 
dantly with  necessaries,  while  the  rest  were  obliged  to  beg  through  the  city  : 
The  poet,  upon  meeting  them,  did  not  forget  to  observe  how  justly  he  had 
enswered  them,  in  regard  to  his  effects  :  Dm,  inquit^mea  mecum  esse  cuncta; 
vos  quod  rapuistis^  perit.X 

He  was  reproached  with  having  dishonoured  poetry  by  his  avarice,  in 
making  his  pen  venal,  and  not  composing  any  verses  till  he  had  agreed  on  the 
price  of  them.  In  Aristotle  we  find  a  proof  of  this,  which  does  him  no  honour. 
A  person  who  had  won  the  prize  in  the  chariot  races,  desired  Simonides  to 
compose  a  song  of  triumph  upon  that  subject.  The  poet,  not  thinking  the 
reward  sufficient,  replied,  that  he  could  not  treat  it  well.  This  prize  had  been 
won  by  mules,  and  he  pretended,  that  animal  did  not  afford  the  proper  matter 
for  praise.  Greater  offers  were  made  him,  which  ennobled  the  mule,  and  the 
poem  was  written.    Money  has  long  had  power  to  bestow  nobility  and  beauty  • 

£t  f  enus  et  formam  regina  pecunla  donat. 

As  this  animal  is  generated  between  a  she-ass  and  a  horse,  the  poet,  as 
Aristotle  observes,  considered  them  at  first  onl}''  on  the  base  side  of  their 
pedigree.  But  money  made  him  take  them  in  the  other  light,  and  he  styled 
them     illustrious  foals  of  rapid  steeds Xdi^fT' dcUoTrd^wv  ^67aTj«  iT7ra.v.§ 

Sappho.  She  was  of  the  same  place,  and  lived  at  the  same  time  with 
Alcaeus.  The  Sapphic  verse  took  its  name  from  her.  She  composed  a  con- 
siderable number  of  poems,  of  which  there  are  but  two  remaining ;  which  are 
sufficient  to  satisfy  us  that  the  praises  given  her  in  all  ages,  for  the  beauty, 
pathetic  softness,  numbers,  harmony,  and  infinite  graces  of  her  poetry,  are  not 
without  foundation.  As  a  farther  proof  of  her  merits  she  was  called  the  tenth 
muse ;  and  the  people  of  Mitylene  engraved  her  image  upon  their  njoney 
It  is  to  be  wished,  that  the  purity  of  her  manners  had  been  equal  to  the 
beauty  of  her  genius,  and  that  she  had  not  dishonoured  her  sex  by  her  vices 
and  irregularities. 

Anacrk*>n.  This  poet  was  of  Teos,  a  city  of  Ionia.  He  lived  in  the  72nd 
Olympiad  Anacreon  spent  a  great  part  of  his  time  at  the  court  of  Polycrates. 
that  happy  tyrant  of  Samos  ;  and  not  only  shared  in  all  his  pleasures,  but  was 
of  his  council. II  Plato  tells  us,  that  Hipparchus,  one  of  the  sons  of  Fisistratus, 
•ent  a  vessel  of  fifty  oars  for  Anacreon,  and  wrote  him  a  most  obliging  letter, 

*  Cic.  dc  Nat.  Deor  1.  i.  n.  15. 
f  Ccrte  hoc  est  Deus,  quod  ct  cum  dicitur,  non  potest  dici:  cum  asstimatur,  non  potest  aestimari ;  cum 
coroparatur,  nOD  potest  comparari ;  cum  definitur,  ipsa  definitione  crescit. — S.  Aug',  serro.  de  temp.  cix. 

Nobis  ad  intellectum  pectus  ang-ustum  est.  FA  ideo  sic  eum  (UeumJ  digne  aestimamus,  dum  inacstimabi- 
lem  dicimus.  Eloquar  quemadmodum  sentio.  Magnitudincm  Dei  qui  se  putat  nosse,  m'auit:  qui  noo  vuU 
■aiflucra,  Qon  norit. — Minut.  Felix. 

t  Vhmix  I  iv.  \  Rh«t.  1.  iii.c.  S  %  H«r«a.  1.  Ul.  «.  Ui 


HISTORY  OF  13REECE. 

entreating  him  to  come  to  Athens,  where  his  excellent  works  would  be  esteemed 
and  relished  as  they  deserved.*  It  is  said,  the  only  study  of  this  poet  was 
joy  and  pleasure :  and  those  remains  we  have  of  his  poetry  sufficiently  confirm 
it.  We  see  plainly  in  all  his  verses,  thai  his  hand  writes  what  his  heart  feels 
and  dictates.  It  is  impossible  to  express  the  elegance  and  delicacy  of  his 
poems ;  nothing  could  be  more  estimable,  had  their  object  been  more  noble. 

Thespis.  He  was  the  first  inventor  of  tragedy.  I  defer  speaking  of  him 
till  I  come  to  give  some  account  of  the  tragic  poets. 

OF  THE  SEVEN  WISE  MEN  OF  GREECE. 

These  men  are  too  famous  in  antiquity  to  be  omitted  in  the  present  history 
Their  lives  are  written  by  Diogenes  Laertius. 

Thales,  the  Milesian.  If  Cicero  is  to  be  believed,  Thales  was  the  most 
illustrious  of  the  seven  wise  men.t  It  was  he  that  laid  the  first  foundations  of 
philosophy  in  Greece^  and  gave  rise  to  the  sect  called  the  Ionic  sect;  because 
he,  the  founder  of  it,  was  born  in  the  country  of  Ionia. 

He  held  water  to  be  the  first  principle  of  all  things ;  and  that  God  was  that 
Intelligent  being,  by  whom  all  things  were  formed  from  water.J  The  first  of 
these  opinions  he  had  borrowed  from  the  Egyptians,  who,  seeing  the  Nile  to 
be  the  cause  of  the  fertility  of  all  their  lands,  might  easily  imagine  from  thence, 
that  water  was  the  principle  of  all  things. 

He  was  the  first  of  the  Greeks  that  studied  astronomy  ;  he  had  exactly  fore- 
told the  time  of  the  eclipse  of  the  sun  that  happened  in  the  reign  of  Astyages, 
king  of  Media,  which  has  been  already  mentioned. 

He  was  also  the  first  that  fixed  the  term  and  duration  of  the  solar  year  among  the 
Grecians.  By  comparing  the  size  of  the  sun's  body  with  that  of  the  moon 
he  thought  he  had  discovered  that  the  body  of  the  moon  was  in  solidity  but 
the  720th  part  of  the  sun's  body.  .  This  computation  is  very  far  from  being 
true,  as  the  sun's  solidity  exceeds  not  only  700  times,  but  many  millions  M 
times,  the  moon's  magnitude  or  solidity.  But  we  know,  that  in  all  these  mat- 
ters, and  particularly  in  that  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  the  first  observa- 
tions  and  discoveries  were  very  imperfect. 

When  Thales  travelled  into  Egypt,  he  discovered  an  easy  and  certain 
method  for  taking  the  exact  height  of  the  pyramids,  by  observing  the  time  when 
the  shadow  of  a  body  is  equal  in  length  to  the  height  of  the  body  itself.§ 

To  show  that  philosophers  were  not  so  destitute,  as  some  people  imagined, 
of  that  sort  of  talents  and  capacity  which  is  proper  for  business  ;  and  that  they 
would  be  as  successful  as  others  in  growing  rich,  if  they  thought  fit  to  apply 
themselves  that  way,  he  bought  the  fruit  of  all  the  olive-trees  in  the  territory 
of  Miletus,  before  they  were  in  blossom.  The  profound  knowledge  he  had  of 
nature,  had  probably  enabled  him  to  foresee  that  the  year  would  be  ex- 
tremely fertile.  It  proved  so  in  effect,  and  he  made  a  considerable  profit  by 
bis  bargain.ll 

He  used  to  thank  the  gods  for  three  things  :  that  he  was  born  a  reasonable 
creature,  and  not  a  beast ;  a  man,  and  not  a  woman ;  a  Greek,  and  not  a  bar- 
barian. Upon  his  mother's  pressing  him  to  marry  when  he  was  young,  he  told 
her  it  was  then  too  soon  :  and  after  several  years  were  elapsed,  he  told  her  it 
was  then  too  late. 

As  he  was  once  walking,  and  very  attentively  contemplating  the  stars,  he 
chanced  to  fall  into  a  ditch.  Ha !  says  a  good  old  woman  that  was  by,  how 
will  you  perceive  what  passes  in  the  heavens,  and  what  is  so  infinitely  above 
your  head,  if  you  cannot  see  what  is  just  at  your  feet,  and  before  your  nose  ? 

He  was  born  the  first  year  of  the  35th,  and  died  the  first  year  of  the  58tli 
Olympiad  ;  consequently  he  lived  to  be  above  ninety  years  of  age.H 

Solon.    His  life  has  been  already  related  at  length. 


♦  In  Hipparch.  p.  228.  229. 
f  Princepi  Thales,  unui  c  s«5pt«m,  cui  sex  rellquoi  concessisse  primas  f^runt. — Lib.  ir.  Acad.  Q,u<tt  b.  111. 
i  Lib.  i.  d«  Nat.  D«or.  n.  ^S.  ^  Plln.  lib.  xxxvi.  cap.  12.  y  C'-  'Vi*  I  d«  Dirio.  ■.111. 

V  A  M.  545:.    A-at,  J.  C.  647. 


#48 


HltnOR^  OF  GREECE. 


ChiLO.  He  was  a  Lacedaemonian ;  very  little  is  related  of  him.  iEs(  p 
•sked  him  one  day,  how  Jupiter  employed  himself?  ''In  humbling  those/' 
said  he,  *'  that  exalt  themselves,  and  exalting  those  that  abase  themselves!" 

He  died  of  joy  at  Pisa,  upon  seeing  his  son  gain  the  prize  of  boxing,  at  the 
Olympic  games.  He  said  when  he  was  dying,  that  he  was  not  conscious  tc 
himself  of  having  committed  any  fault  during  the  whole  course  of  his  life  ;  an 
opinion  well  becoming  the  pride  and  blindness  of  a  heathen  philosopher  ;  un- 
less it  vyas  once,  by  having  made  use  of  a  little  dissimulation  and  evasion,  in 
giving  judgment  in  favour  of  a  friend :  in  which  action  he  did  noi  know  whether 
he  had  done  well  or  ill.    He  died  about  the  52d  Olympiad. 

PiTTACus.  He  was  of  Mitylene,  a  city  of  Lesbos.  Joining  with  the  brothcn 
of  Alcaeus,  the  famous  lyric  poet,  and  with  Alcaeus  himself,  who  was  at  the 
bead  of  the  exiled  party,  he  expelled  from  that  island  the  tyrants  wlio  had 
usurped  the  government. 

The  inhabitants  of  Mitylene  being  at  war  with  the  Athenians,  gave  Pittacus 
the  command  of  the  army.  To  spare  the  blood  of  his  fellow-citizens,  he 
offered  to  fight  Phrynon,  the  enemy's  general,  in  single  combat.  The  challenge 
was  accepted.  Pittacus  was  victorious,  and  killed  his  adversary.  The  Mity- 
lenians,  out  o^  gratitude,  with  unanimous  consent  conferred  the  sovereignty  of 
the  city  upon  him,  which  he  accepted,  and  behaved  himself  with  so  much  mode- 
ration and  wisdom,  that  he  was  always  respected  and  beloved  by  his  subjects. 

In  the  mean  t.'me  Alcaeus,  who  was  a  declared  enemy  to  all  tyrants,  did  not 
spare  Pittacus  in  his  verses,  notwithstanding  the  mildness  of  his  government  and 
temper,  but  inveighed  severely  against  him.  The  poet  afterwards  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Pittacus,  who  was  so  far  from  taking  revenge,  that  he  gave  him  his 
liberty,  and  showed  by  that  act  of  clemency  and  generosity,  that  he  was  only 
a  tyrant  in  name. 

After  having  governed  ten  years  with  great  equity  and  wisdom,  he  volunta- 
rily resigned  his  authority,  and  retired.  He  used  to  say,  that  the  proof  of  a 
ood  government  was,  to  engage  the  subjects,  not  to  be  afraid  of  then  prince, 
ut  to  be  afraid  for  him.j  It  was  a  maxim  with  him,  that  no  man  should  ever 
ive  himself  the  liberty  of  speaking  ill  of  a  friend,  or  even  of  an  enemy.  He 
ied  in  the  52d  Olympiad. 

Bias.  We  know  but  very  little  of  Bias.  He  obliged  Alyattes,  king  of  Ly 
dia,  by  stratagem,  to  raise  the  siege  of  Priene,  where  he  was  born.  This  city 
was  hard  pressed  with  famine ;  upon  which  he  caused  two  mules  to  be  fattened, 
and  contrived  a  way  to  have  them  pass  into  the  enemy's  camp.  The  good 
condition  they* were  in  astonished  the  king,  who  thereupon  sent  deputies  into 
the  city  upon  pretence  of  offering  terms  of  peace,  but  really  to  observe  the 
state  of  the  town  and  the  people.  Bias,  surmising  their  errand,  ordered  the 
granaries  to  be  filled  with  great  heaps  of  sand,  and  those  heaps  to  be  covered 
over  with  corn.  When  the  deputies  returned,  and  made  report  to  the  king  of 
the  great  plent}'' of  provision  they  had  seen  in  the  city,  he  hesitated  no  longer, 
but  concluded  a  treaty,  and  raised  the  siege.  One  of  the  maxims  Bias  par- 
ticularly taught  and  recommended  was,  to  do  all  the  good  we  can,  and  ascribe 
ail  the  gloiy  of  it  to  the  gods.J 

Cleobulus.  We  know  as  little  of  this  wise  man,  as  of  the  former.  He  wau 
born  at  Lindos,  a  town  in  the  isle  of  Rhodes,  or  according  to  some,  in  Caria^ 
He  invited  Solon  to  come  and  live  with  him,  when  Pisistratus  bad  usurped, 
the  sovereignty  of  Athens. 

Periander.  He  was  numbered  among  the  wise  men,  though  he  was  a  ty- 
rant ot  Corinth.  When  he  had  first  made  himself  master  of  that  city,  he  wrote 
to  Thrasybulus,  tyrant  of  Miletus,  to  know  what  measures  he  shoula  take  with 
his  newly  acquired  subjects.  The  latter,  without  any  other  answer,  led  the 
messenger  into  a  field  of  wheat,  where,  in  walking  along,  he  beat  down  with 
bis  cane  all  the  ears  of  corn  that  were  higher  than  the  rest.    Periander  per- 


t  El  tut  urnnSHt  s  dfx«»  ira?a^ww5i<rf •!  ^o€«»o-9<l'  ^lA  abrh,  dXX'  vwi$  airS — Plut.  in  Conv.  Sept 
Ba4>  f.  1S2.  ;  'Chi  Av  dyokUv  r^drTTii,  $lt,  Ms  dvdrcturi 


HISTORY  OF  GKEBC£L 


449 


fectly  well  understood  the  meaning  of  this  enigmatical  answer,  which  was  i 
tacit  intimation  to  him,  that,  in  order  to  secure  his  own  life,  he  should  cut  off 
the  most  eminent  of  the  Corinthian  citizens.  But  if  we  may  believe  Plutarch, 
Pcriander  did  not  approve  so  cruel  an  advice.* 

He  wrote  circular  letters  to  all  the  wise  men,  inviting  them  to  pass  some  time 
with  him  at  Corinth,  as  they  had  done  the  year  before  at  Sardis  with  Croesus.t 
Princes,  in  those  days,  thought  themselves  highly  honoured,  when  they  could 
have  such  guests  in  their  houses.  Plutarch  describes  an  entertainment  which 
Periander  gave  to  these  illustrious  guests,  and  observes  at  the  same  time,  that 
the  decent  simplicity  of  it,  adapted  to  the  taste  and  humour  of  the  persons  en- 
tertained, did  him  much  more  honour  than  could  have  been  derived  from  the 
gre;\test  magnificence.  The  subject  of  their  discourse  at  table  was  sometimes 
grave  and  serious,  at  other  times  pleasant  and  gay.  One  of  the  company  pro- 
posed this  question, "  Which  is  the  most  perfect  popular  government  r '  That, 
answered  Solon,  where  an  injury  done  to  any  private  citizen  is  considered  an 
injury  to  the  whole  body :  that  said  Bias,  where  the  law  has  no  superior ; 
that,  answered  Thales,  where  the  inhabitants  are  neither  too  rich  nor  too  poor : 
that,  said  Anacharsis,  where  virtue  is  honoured,  and  vice  detested :  said  Pit- 
tacus,  where  dignities  are  always  conferred  upon  the  virtuous,  and  never  upon 
the  wicked  :  said  Cleobulus,  where  the  citizens  fear  blame  more  than  punish- 
ment :  said  Chi'lo,  wh*^re  the  laws  are  more  regarded,  and  have  more  authority 
than  the  orators.  From  all  these  opinions,  Periander  concluded,  that  the  most 
perfect  popular  government  would  be  that  which  came  nearest  to  aristocracy, 
where  the  sovereign  authority  is  lodged  in  the  hands  of  a  few  men  of  honour 
and  virtue.^ 

While  these  wise  men  were  assembled  together  at  Periander's  court,  a  cou- 
rier arrived  from  Amasis,  king  of  Egypt,  with  a  letter  for  Bias,  with  whom  that 
king  kept  a  close  correspondence.  The  purport  of  this  letter  was,  to  consult 
him  how  he  should  answer  a  proposal  made  to  him.  by  the  king  of  Ethiopia, 
for  his  drinking  up  the  sea  ;  in  which  case  the  Ethiopian  king  promised  to  re- 
sign to  him  a  certain  number  of  cities  in  his  dominions  ;  but  if  he  did  not  do 
it,  then  he,  Amasis,  was  to  give  up  the  same  number  of  his  cities  to  the  king  of 
Ethiopia.  It  was  usual  in  those  days  for  princes  to  propound  such  enigmatical 
r^nd  perplexing  questions  to  one  another.  Bias  answered  him  directly,  and  ad- 
f  isea  him  to  accept  the  offer,  on  condition  that  the  king  of  Ethiopia  would  stop 
all  the  rivers  that  flow  into  the  sea ;  for  the  business  was  only  to  drink  up  the  sea, 
and  not  the  rivers.    We  find  an  answer  to  the  same  effect  ascribed  to  iEsop. 

I  must  not  here  forget  to  take  notice,  that  these  wise  men,  of  whom  I  have 
been  speaking,  were  all  lovers  of  poetry,  and  composed  verses  themselves, 
some  of  them  a  considerable  number,  upon  subjects  of  morality  and  policy, 
which  are  certainly  topics  not  unworthy  of  the  muses.  Solon,  however,  is  re- 
proached for  having  written  some  licentious  verses  ;  which  may  teach  us  what 
judgment  we  ought  to  form  of  these  pretended  wise  men  of  the  pagan  world. § 

Instead  of  the  wise  men  whom  I  have  mentioned,  some  authors  have  substi- 
tuted others ;  as  Anacharsis,  for  example,  Myso,  Epimenides,  Pherecydes 
The  first  of  these  is  best  known  in  history. 

Anacharsis.  Long  before  Solon's  time,  the  Scythian  Nomades  were  in 
g^reat  reputation  for  their  simplicity,  frugality,  temperance  and  justice.  Homer 
calls  them  a  veiyjuSi  nation.*  Anacharsis  was  one  of  these  Scythians,  and  of 
the  royal  family.  A  certain  Athenian,  once  in  company  with  Anacharsis,  re- 
proached him  with  his  country ;  "  my  country,  you  think,"  replied  Anacharsis, 
"  is  no  great  honour  to  me  ;  and  you,  sir,  in  my  opinion,  are  no  great  honour  to 
your  country."  His  good  sense,  profound  knowledge,  and  great  experience, 
made  him  piss  for  one  of  the  seven  wise  men.  He  wrote  a  treatise  in  vers* 
upon  tlie  military  art,  and  composed  another  tract  on  the  laws  of  Scythia. 


•  In  Conv.  Sept.  Sap.  f  Dice.  Laert.  in  Tit.  Per. 

t  In  Cmnv.  Sept.  Sap.  i  Plut.  la  p.  7a  (j  Ihad.  lib  xiii.  w%f,  ft. 

Vox.  h 


45a 


BlflTO^Y  OF  GREECE. 


He  frequently  visited  Solon.  It  was  in  a  conversation  with  him  that  he  com- 
pared laws  to  cobwebs,  which  only  entangle  small  flies,  while  wasps  and  hor- 
nets break  through  them. 

Being  inured  to  the  austere  and  poor  life  of  the  Scythians,  he  set  little  value  * 
upon  riches.  Crcesus  invited  him  to  come  and  see  him,  and  without  doubt 
hinted  to  him,  that  he  was  able  to  mend  his  fortune.  "  I  have  no  occasion  for 
•your  gold,"  said  the  Scythian  in  his  answer  ;  "  I  came  into  Greece  only  to  en^ 
rich  my  mind,  and  improve  my  understanding ;  I  shall  be  very  well  satisfied, 
if  1  return  into  my  own  country,  not  with  an  addition  to  my  wealth,  but  with 
an  increase  of  knowledge  and  virtue."  Anacharsis  however,  accepted  the  in- 
vitation, and  went  to  that  prince's  court. 

We  have  already  observed,  that  Msop  was  much  surprised  and  dissatisfied 
It  the  cold  and  indifferent  manner  in  which  Solon  viewed  the  magnificence  of 
the  palace,  and  the  vast  treasures  of  Croesus ;  because  it  was  the  master,  and 
not  the  house,  that  the  philosopher  desired  to  have  reason  to  admire.  "  Cer- 
tainly," says  Anacharsis  to  iEsop  on  that  occasion,  "  you  have  forgot  your  own 
fable  of  the  fox  and  panther.  The  latter,  for  her  highest  virtue,  could  only 
show  her  fine  skin,  beautifully  marked  and  spotted  with  different  colours :  the 
fox's  skin,  on  the  contraiy,  was  very  plain,  but  contained  within  it  a  treasure 
of  subtleties  and  stratagems  of  infinite  value.  This  very  image,"  continued 
the  Scythian,  "  shows  me  your  own  character.  You  are  affected  with  a  splen- 
did outside,  while  you  pay  little  or  no  regard  to  what  is  truly  the  man,  that  is, 
to  that  w^hich  is  in  him,  and  consequently  properly  his." 

This  w^ould  be  a  proper  place  for  an  epitome  of  the  life  and  sentiments  of 
Pythagoras,  who  flourished  in  the  time  of  which  I  have  been  speaking.  But 
this  1  defer  till  I  come  to  another  volume,  wherein  I  design  to  join  a  great  many 
philosophers  together,  in  order  to  give  the  reader  the  better  opportunity  of  com- 
paring their  respective  doctrines  and  tenets. 

iEsop.  1  rank  jEsop  with  the  wis3  men  of  Greece,  not  only  because  he  was 
often  among  them,  but  because  he  taught  true  wisdom  with  far  more  art  than 
they  do  who  teach  it  by  rules  and  definitions.J 

iEsop  was  by  birth  a  Phrygian.  As  to  his  mind,  he  had  abundance  of  wit ; 
but  with  regard  to  his  body,  he  was  hump-backed,  little,  crooked,  deformed, 
and  of  a  very  uncomely  countenance ;  having  scarce  the  figure  of  a  man ;  and  for 
a  considerable  time,  almost  without  the  use  of  speech.  He  ^vas  moreover  a 
slave  ;  and  the  merchant  who  had  bought  him,  found  it  very  difiicult  to  dispose 
of  him,  so  extremely  were  people  shocked  at  his  unsightly  figure  and  deformity. 

The  first  master  he  served  sent  him  to  labour  in  the  fields  ;  either  because 
he  thought  him  incapable  of  any  better  employment,  or  only  to  remove  so  dis- 
agreeable an  object  from  his  sight. 

He  was  afterwards  sold  to  a  philosopher  named  Xanthus.  I  should  never 
have  done,  should  1  relate  all  the  strokes  of  wit,  the  spritely  repartees,  and 
the  arch  and  humorous  circumstances  of  his  words  and  behaviour.  One  day 
his  master,  designing  to  treat  some  of  his  friends,  ordered  -^sop  to  provide  the 
bebt  things  he  could  find  in  the  market,  ^sop  thereupon  made  a  large  pro- 
vision of  tongues,  Avhich  he  desired  the  cook  to  serve  up  with  different  sauces. 
When  dinner  came,  the  first  and  second  courses,  the  side  dishes,  and  the  re- 
moves were  all  tongues.  "  Did  I  not  order  you,'  said  Xanthus  in  a  violent  pas- 
sion," to  buy  the  best  victuals  the  market  afforded?"  ''And  have  I  not  obeyed 
your  orders  ?"  said  -^sop.  "  Is  there  any  thing  better  than  tongues  ?  Is  not 
the  tongue  the  bond  of  civil  society,  the  key  of  sciences,  and  the  organ  of 
truth  and  reason  ?  By  means  of  the  tongue  cities  are  built,  and  governments 
established  and  administered  ;  with  that,  men  instruct,  persuade,  and  preside 


*  Plut.  iu  Conv.  Sept.  Sap.  p.  155. 
t  JEsopus  ille  e  Phryg'ia  fabulator,  baud  immerito  sapient  existimatui  eit ;  cum  <^i^  utilia  monitu  «ua»tt 
que  erant,  non  sercrc,  non  imperiose  pr»cepit  et  censuit,  ut  phil«s«phis  bim  est,  sed  fe9tiv»t  delect^bilet^W 
t  polotri  I  commentus,  res  salubriter  ac  prospicienter  animadversas,  in  mentes  aninMsque  hominuro,  cum  «v 
^I'-ndi  padam  illccebra  induit  *  Aul.  Gcll.  Noct  Alt.  lib.  u.  cap.  29. 


HISTORY  OP  GRCECB. 

m  assemblies ;  it  is  the  instrument  by  which  we  atxjuit  ourselves  of  the  chief 
of  ail  our  duties,  the  praising  and  adoring  the  gods.  **  Well,  then,"  replied 
Xanthus,  thinking  to  catch  him,  "  go  to  market  again  to-morrow,  and  buy  me 
the  worst  things  you  can  find.  This  same  company  will  dine  with  me,  and 
I  have  a  mind  to  diversify  my  entertainment."  JEsop,  the  next  day,  provided 
nothing  but  the  very  same  dishes  :  telling  his  master,  that  the  tongue  was  the 
worst  thing  in  the  world.  "  It  is,"  said  he,  "  the  instrument  of  all  strife  and 
contention,  the  fomentor  of  law-suits,  and  the  source  of  divisions  and  wars ; 
it  is  the  oi^an  of  error,  of  lies,  of  calumny,  and  blasphemy." 

^sop  found  it  very  difficult  to  obtain  his  liberty.  One  of  the  first  uses  he 
made  of  it  was  to  go  to  Crcesus,  who,  on  account  of  his  great  reputation  and 
fame,  had  been  long  desirous  of  seeing  him.  The  strange  deformity  of  iEsop's 
person  at  first  shocked  the  king,  and  much  abated  the  good  opinion  he  had 
conceived  of  him.  But  the  beauty  of  his  mind  soon  discovered  itself  through 
the  coarse  veil  that  covered  it,  and  Croesus  found,  as  iEsop  said  on  another 
occasion,  that  we  ought  not  to  consider  the  form  of  the  vessel,  but  the  quality 
of  the  liquor  it  contains. 

He  made  several  voyages  into  Greece,  either  for  pleasure,  or  upon  the  af- 
fail's  of  Croesus-  Being  at  Athens  shortly  after  Pisistratus  had  usurped  the 
sovereignty,  and  abolished  the  popular  government,  and  observing  that  the 
Athenians  bore  this  new  yoke  with  great  impatience,  he  repeated  to  them  the 
table  of  the  frogs,  who  demanded  a  king  from  Jupiter.* 

It  is  doubted  whether  the  fables  of  ^sop,  such  as  we  have  them,  are  all  his, 
at  least,  in  regard  to  the  expression.  Great  part  of  them  are  ascribed  to  Planu- 
des,  who  wrote  his  life,  and  lived  in  the  14th  century. 

^sop  is  reckoned  the  author  and  inventor  of  this  simple  and  natural  man- 
ner of  conveying  instruction  by  tales  and  fables ;  in  which  light  Phaedrus  speaks 
of  him : 

i£sopu8  auctor  quam  materiam  reperit, 
Hanc  ego  polivi  versibus  senariis. 

But  the  glory  of  this  invention  belongs  properly  to  the  poet  Hesiod  ;T  an 
invention  which  does  not  seem  to  be  of  any  great  importance,  or  extraordi- 
nary merit,  and  yet  has  been  much  esteemed  and  made  use  of  by  the  great- 
est philosophers  and  ablest  politicians.  Plato  tells  us  that  Socrates,  a  short 
time  before  he  died,  turned  some  of  ^sop's  fables  into  verse  ;X  and  Plato 
himself  earnestly  recommends  it  to  nurses  to  instruct  their  children  in  them 
betimes,  in  order  to  form  their  manners,  and  to  inspire  them  early  with  the 
love  of  wisdom.§ 

Fables  could  never  have  been  so  universally  adopted  by  all  nations,  as  we 
see  they  have,  if  there  was  not  a  vast  fund  of  useful  truths  contained  in  them, 
4igreeably  concealed  under  that  plain  and  negligent  disguise,  in  which  their 
peculiar  character  consists.  The  Creator,  certainly  designing  the  prospect 
of  nature  for  the  instruction  of  mankind,  endowed  the  brute  part  of  it  with 
various  instincts,  mclinations  and  properties,  to  serve  as  so  many  pictures  in 
miniature  to  man  of  the  several  duties  incumbent  upon  him,  and  to  point  out 
to  him  the  good  or  evil  qualities  he  ought  to  acquire  or  avoid.  Thus  has  he 
^iven  us,  for  instance,  a  lively  image  of  meekness  and  innocence  in  the  lamb ; 
of  fidelity  and  friendsnip  in  the  dog;  and  on  the  contrary,  of  violence,  rapa- 
ciousness  and  cruelty,  m  the  wolf,  the  lion,  and  the  tiger,  and  other  species  of 
animals.    All  this  he  has  designed,  not  only  as  instiaiction,  but  as  a  secret  re- 

Eroof  to  man,  if  he  should  be  indifferent  about  those  qualities  in  himself,  which 
e  cannot  forbear  esteeming  or  detesting,  even  in  the  brutes  themselves. 

*  Phedr.  I.  i.  fab.  2. 

t  lUae  quoque  fabulae,  qu«,  etiamci  ori^inem  non  ab  iCsopc  acceperunt  (nam  videtui  eanim  primut  auc 
tor  Hesiodus,)  nomine  tamen  Alsopi  maxime  celebrantur,  ducere  animos  lolent,  praecipue  rustieortim  et  im. 
perit^iMm  :  qui  ct  simplicius  quae  ficta  sunt  audiunt,  et  capti  voluptate,  facile  iis  quibui  delectantur  cooven. 
tisnt^Q,mntil.  1  v.  c.  12. 

t  Plut.  in  Fbaedr.  p.  60.  j  Lib.  ii.  d«  Rep.  p.  37t. 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

This  is  a  dumb  language  which  all  nations  understand ;  it  is  a  sentiment 
mterwoven  in  our  nature,  which  every  man  carries  about  with  him.  iEsop 
was  the  first  of  all  the  profane  writers  who  laid  hold  of  and  unfolded  it,  "Tiadc 
happy  applications  of  it,  and  attracted  men's  attentions  to  this  sort  of  geuuin€ 
and  natural  instruction,  which  is  within  the  reach  of  all  capacities,  and  equally 
adapted  to  persons  of  all  ages  and  conditions.  ^  He  was  the  first  that,  in  ordei 
to  give  body  and  substance  to  virtues,  vices,  duties,  and  maxims  of  society, 
did,  by  an  ingenious  artifice  and  innocent  fiction,  invent  the  method  of  clothing 
them  with  graceful  and  familiar  images  borrowed  from  nature,  by  giving  lan- 
guage to  brute  beasts,  and  ascribing  sense  and  reason  to  plants  and  trees,  and 
?}\  ^orts  of  inanimate  creatures. 

The  fables  of  .^sop  are  void  of  all  ornament,  but  abound  with  good  sen.se, 
and  are  adapted  to  the  capacity  of  children,  for  whom  they  were  more  parti* 
cularly  composed.  Those  of  Phaedrus  are  in  a  style  somewhat  more  elevated 
and  diffused,  but  at  the  same  time  have  a  simplicity  and  elegance  that  very 
much  resembles  the  Attic  spirit  and  style,  in  the  plain  way  of  writing,  which 
was  the  finest  and  most  delicate  kind  of  composition  in  us**  among  the  Gre- 
cians. Monsieur  de  la  Fontaine,  who  was  very  sensible  that  the  French  tongue 
is  not  susceptible  of  the  same  elegant  simplicity,  has  enlivened  his  fables  with 
a  spritely  and  original  turn  of  thought  and  expression  peculiar  to  himself, 
which  no  other  person  has  yet  been  able  to  imitate. 

It  is  not  easy  to  conceive  why  Seneca  lajrs  down  as  a  fact,  that  the  Romans, 
to  his  time,  had  never  tried  their  pens  in  this  kind  of  composition.  Were  the 
fables  of  Phaedrus  unknown  to  him  ?* 

Plutarch  relates  the  manner  of  iEsop's  death.t  He  went  to  Delphos  with 
a  great  quantity  of  gold  and  silver,  to  offer,  in  the  name  of  Croesus,  a  great 
sacrifice  to  Apollo,  and  tc  give  each  inhabitant  a  considerable  sum.J;  A  quar- 
rel  which  arose  between  him  and  the  people  of  Delphos,  occasioned  him,  after 
the  sacrifice,  to  send  back  the  money  to  Croesus,  and  to  inform  him  that  those 
lor  whom  it  was  intended  had  rendered  themselves  unworthy  of  his  bounty 
The  inhabitants  of  Delphos  caused  him  to  be  condemned  as  guilty  of  sacri- 
lege, and  to  be  thrown  down  from  the  top  of  a  rock.  The  god,  offended  by 
this  action,  punished  them  with  a  plague  and  famine ;  so  that,  to  put  an  end 
to  those  evils,  they  caused  it  to  be  announced  in  all  the  assemblies  of  Greece, 
that  if  any  one,  for  the  honour  of  iEsop,  would  come  and  claim  vengeance  for 
his  death,  they  would  give  him  satisfaction.  At  the  third  generation,  a  nian 
fmm  Samos  presented  himself,  who  had  no  other  relation  to  Msoip,  than  being 
descended  from  the  persons  who  had  bought  that  fabulist.  The  Delphians 
made  this  man  satisfaction,  and  thereby  delivered  themselves  from  the  pesti- 
lence and  famine.that  distressed  them.§ 

The  Athenians,  those  excellent  judges  of  true  glory,  erected  a  noble  statue 
to  this  learned  and  ingenious  slave ;  to  let  all  the  people  know,  says  Phpsdrus,!! 
that  the  ways  of  honour  were  equally  open  to  all  mankind,  and  that  it  wai 
Rot  to  birth,  but  merit,  they  paid  so  honourable  a  distinction. 

jEsopo  ingentem  statuam  posuere  Attici, 
Servumque  collocarunt  Etcrna  in  basi, 
Patere  honoris  seirent  ut  cuncti  viam, 
Nec  generi  tribui,  sed  rzrtut'  i^loriam. 


♦  JJcB  avdeo  te  usque  co  producerc,  ut  fabellas  quoque  el  ^sopeos  logos,  inUntatum  Romanis  ingenm 
MnM.tolit&  tibi  vennstate  connectas. — Senec.  de  Consol.  ad  Polyb.  c.  27. 
t  Dt  lera  Nuniinis  rindicta,  p.  550,  557.  X  ^^^^  minae,  equml  to  340  lirreit or  nesHj  $S9 

j  Herod,  lib.  ii.  cap.  134.  1)  Lib.  ii. 


END  or  VOL.  I 


If 


